THOUGHT Leaders SPONSORED CONTENT
Selecting a Consolidation and Fulfillment Partner to Navigate a Tough Landscape
Q How has Hub Group navigated the current state of the industry? A It’s certainly a challenging environment with consumer spending down, costs increasing, and capacity leaving the market. It’s important to stay up-to-date on these trends and provide our customers with the right solutions. At Hub Group, we have flexible, end-to-end, multi-modal solutions that are focused on the customer. We’re seeing our customers benefit from our consolidation and fulfillment program, which unlocks cost savings opportunities while increasing the efficacy and efficiency of their supply chain. And coupling this with our middle mile offerings—intermodal and truckload— increases those savings. Q What are some key factors customers should take into account when selecting a consolidation and fulfillment provider? A Choosing a warehouse provider with the right network, technology, and expertise makes all the difference. Hub Group has a nationwide network of both asset and non- asset warehouses with over 10 million square feet of capacity that’s designed to deliver consolidation, warehousing, and ecommerce fulfillment services to complement our customers’ supply chains. Utilizing Hub’s expertise, we analyze your network to develop a program that offers the most savings and efficiency for each customer, while delivering the service their customers, retailers, and consumers demand.
With the many moving parts of the supply chain, visibility and technology play an important role in achieving the best service and making informed decisions. Utilizing a warehouse management system (WMS) ensures inventory is properly handled, improves accuracy, and reduces labor costs while generating real-time data for all parties. Adding AI technology, GPS, and a robust transportation management system (TMS), customers receive further visibility of their supply chain. Taking it a step further, we provide a customer-facing platform to help access important shipment level information for tracking and reporting in an easy-to-use interface. Lastly, retailer compliance is ever-changing. Choosing a provider that’s consistently monitoring retailer requirements and can perform against their metrics holds significant value. Hub Group offers formal retail consolidation programs that generate significant savings for our customers by turning their LTL freight into full truckload with consistent sailing schedules and delivering to retailer compliance expectations. Q Where do you see consolidation and fulfillment trends heading? A The use of consolidation programs and ecommerce fulfillment will continue to expand. The investments and advancements of technology will continue to create efficiencies, especially in inventory management, warehouse operations, and fulfilling consumer shipments. Retailer compliance will continue to become stricter—and partnering with a provider that can navigate the landscape effectively will be critical.
Joby Homesley Executive Vice President, Consolidation & Fulfillment Hub Group info@hubgroup.com
hubgroup.com 800-377-5833
20 Inbound Logistics • June 2024
Powered by FlippingBook