Operating any company requires a lot of strategic decision making, especially when it comes to hiring talent for specialized job roles like those in logistics and the supply chain.
Talented employees are hard to find in the logistics space. Each new hire a company makes is a risk – one that is magnified for an SMB enterprise. What manager hasn’t felt the sting of a bad hire?
Hiring is expensive too. Onboarding and training new employees, regardless of level, takes time. And when employees quit, the investment in training and a lot of “intellectual capital” is walking out the door with them.
Fortunately, most logistics functions lend themselves well to outsourcing to a 3PL – which is a simple and cost effective way to bring important skills and experience to your supply chain operation without adding headcount. Here are a few ways engaging a 3PL is a better option than hiring more people.
With proper due diligence you can count on your new partner to be an expert who’ll know the logistics of your industry as well, or better than you. They’ll bring a broader industry perspective by way of their experience with other similar companies and an operation built to support your business. Your company has its own core competency – running your logistics operation is theirs.
Even better, a quality 3PL will come with technology that brings a new level of efficiency to your business at a fraction of the cost if you were to buy the technology yourself.
A 3PL also makes it simple to handle the fluctuations and seasonality of your business. They can scale their support based on your needs at the time. Hiring full time employees are fixed costs your company pays year round.
Lastly, outsourcing puts the burden of training on the 3PL. People come and go at 3PL’s too, but having an established infrastructure to serve customers makes training and transitioning in new team members easier.
Let’s talk if you are curious to learn about outsourcing as a viable option to fill a gap in your logistics operation. It may be worth considering ways to outsource parts of your logistics operation as a way to replace headcount. Contact me anytime at miker@4way.com
