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Benefits of a 3PL: Minimizing Risk

The two monumental factors that affect the value of any business are cash flow and risk. We all know that cash is king and if you can increase profits, well, that’s the golden ticket to a valuable business. On the opposite end of the spectrum you must also know that your risks are well managed. Risk has many faces, which can include everything from the people that work within a company to the buildings that they work in.

Assessing the risk of a company is a pretty scary thing, if you truly think about it. Now truly think, are you equipped to handle a couple of employees missing work for a week? You probably are, but, what about paying workman’s comp for multiple employees if a piece of equipment has failed during the transportation process? What about a flood that fills the floor of an entire warehouse, housing a brand new million dollar piece of equipment, with a foot of water? There are many different factors that work into a company’s risk, some of which cannot be changed and some that have simple solutions. 3PLs can help to mitigate risk in a number of different areas of your company.

How 3PLs Mitigate Risk in Different Areas

Employees

“Murphy employees are trained to be experts in handling product, operating equipment safely and working in the most efficient manner,” says Wendy Pigorsch, VP of Talent Development at Murphy Warehouse. “Our people are what make us premier partners to the clients that we work with every day,” she continued. Last week we discussed the efficiency improvements that we 3PLs bring to the table because of our experienced and dedicated team. That expertise translates just as well into risk management. We have policies in place to make sure that all of product in our warehouses is handled with the most care possible. “ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications also ensure that we have numerous 3rd parties inspect the way that product is stored and handled in our warehouses,” Murphy CFO Tom Griep said in the conversation with Pigorsch.  “There is also an added layer of insurance, on top of a company’s business insurance, when using a 3PL,” he added.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure benefits are usually attributed into the cost savings bucket. That is definitely true, but using a 3PL also mitigates many risks when it comes to infrastructure as well. A 3PL has the option to scale space to a larger or smaller footprint, depending on the needs of a client, meaning that a company will never have to worry about having too little or too much space. Since Murphy has 15 facilities we are always equipped to handle change to a company’s volume! We also have gained a great reputation throughout the nation in the past 110 years, making it easy for us to move into new facilities if the need arises. A few years ago, a long-time client of ours was expanding their operation to Kansas City, MO. They had been working with us for many years, and were wary about using another company to handle their storage and distribution needs. There was a strategic move between both parties to open up Murphy facilities in Kansas City. Now Murphy has two 100,000 square foot facilities operating for multiple customers in that market.  

Supply Chain

Finally, what does your supply chain look like? We all know that the trucking market has been tightening for years, and will probably continue to follow the trend that we have seen for the past decade. Are you relying on finding somebody to carry each load that you need delivered, or do you have a regular schedule of deliveries that doesn’t tend to change each week? What about backup options if a load is refused or the carrier isn’t available? If a driver goes down sick, or runs out of hours due to backups when unloading, will you be able to get your product into the hands of your customer? Murphy has the equipment and people in place to handle any changes in volumes, schedules and even emergencies like a driver not being available. We also have a strategic team in place to find a new carrier at a moment’s notice if that’s what our client needs.

Thanks for reading, be sure to check back every week to learn more about our growing industry and company! Next week we will talk about how 3PLs can help a company save valuable time and money!