20 Inventory Management KPIs That 3PLs Should Track
When 3PLs fulfill multiple orders, they can lose track of their stock levels. 28% of 3PLs admit they manage their inventory reactively, leading to misplaced records, shrinkage, and revenue loss. This is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help. KPIs give you clear data on inventory accuracy that, used intelligently, will lead to higher margins […]
What Is Zone Picking? How It Works, Best Practices, and Implementation Guide
Warehouse efficiency can make or break your order fulfillment process. And when dealing with high order volumes, optimizing your picking strategy is crucial. That’s where zone picking comes in. Instead of having pickers travel across the entire warehouse to fulfill an order, they are assigned to specific zones to reduce congestion and accelerate fulfillment. But […]
Warehouse Kitting: What It Is, How It Works & Why It Matters
Imagine you run an e-commerce store selling fitness gear. Instead of picking and packing a yoga mat, resistance bands, and a water bottle separately, your warehouse pre-assembles them into a ready-to-ship kit. That’s warehouse kitting in action; grouping individual items into pre-packaged “kits” or sets to streamline order fulfillment. But kitting isn’t just for e-commerce. […]
How to Reduce Warehouse Costs: 11 Proven Strategies to Cut Expenses
ent, labor, storage, equipment, utilities, and shipping—every aspect of warehouse operations is getting more expensive than ever. In fact, the national average asking rent for warehouse space in the US rose to $10.13 per square foot in Q4 2024. This is up 4.5% from the previous year and a whopping 61% from Q4 2019. And […]
What Is Lean Warehousing? Principles, Benefits & Implementation
Every business wants to reduce costs and improve productivity. Lean warehousing is an effective and specified method of simultaneously achieving both efficiencies, and could be the difference between struggling to meet targets and achieving set goals. Let’s explore the principles of lean warehousing and how you can effectively implement them in your warehouse processes. What […]
How to Measure Warehouse Efficiency and 11 Ways to Improve It
Efficiency isn’t just a nice-to-have in warehouse operations, it’s the difference between profitability and bottlenecks. Every extra minute spent on picking, every misplaced inventory item, and every incorrect order shipped out adds to costs and slows down fulfillment. In fact, mispicks alone cost responding warehouses an average of $389,000 per year in lost productivity and […]
Smart Warehousing for 3PLs: Strategies, Tools, and Industry Trends
As logistics grow complex, 3PLs need smarter solutions to overcome growing inventories, labor costs, order fulfillment delays, and unsustainable CO₂ emissions. Smart warehousing is an umbrella term for emerging technological innovations driving the trend for a more fully automated and efficient warehouse. You won’t hear workers in a warehouse talking about “smart warehousing.” But inside […]
How WMS Powers 3PL Logistics with Shared Warehousing
Today businesses routinely outsource their logistics to third-party warehouse operators, or 3PLs. In fact, 83% of businesses and 90% of Fortune 500 companies work with 3PL providers, and most of those arrangements involve shared warehousing, in which the 3PL manages the inventories of multiple businesses under one roof. But shared warehousing comes with challenges for […]
Best Practices for Warehouse Automation with a Cloud-Based WMS
Warehouse automation is accelerating, but adoption remains low. As of 2024, only 20% of warehouses in North America have automated some part of their operations. That number is expected to reach 25% by 2027, meaning most warehouses still rely on manual processes that slow down productivity and drive up costs. And that comes at a […]
What Is Warehouse Replenishment? Types, Challenges, and Best Practices
ecent study discovered that 32% of delays in order fulfilment and distribution were due to inefficient warehouse replenishment. Warehouse replenishment is critical to keeping operations running smoothly and maintaining adequate stock levels. Customers are constantly demanding faster deliveries, and if you want to excel in this industry as a warehouse manager, 3PL provider, or supply […]