Businesses gain success by striving to beat their targets, smashing their goals and seeking to perform better. Your shipping processes need quality management as much as any other area of your business operations. To help you focus on improving your shipping procedures, consider the following five options.
1. The Right Freight Service
Not all freight forwarding companies offer the same quality and pricing. If you use freight forwarding services, it’s wise to review a few options. For example, many believe that Leeline is Best Freight Forwarder. The Leeline company is based in China, renowned for its cost-efficient transportation services across the world. Choosing Leeline can help your business to save on shipping costs and meet your shipping deadlines. It can be useful to make a list of your needs, when shopping around for a freight service.
2. Shipping Applications
To support and improve your shipping processes, there are several shipping applications which can help you.
Shipstation: The ShipStation app allows you to manage inventory, print labels, import orders, and send your customers tracking info. The application can be integrated with many different channels, so it’s easy to work with the major shipping carriers.
Shyp: The Shyp application is useful for those who are based in Chicago, LA, San Francisco or NY. The Shyp company will collect your items and take care of the packaging, as well as printing labels and tracking. With the online dashboard, you can also manage your orders using various major carriers, eBay and Shopify.
Applications can help you to save time, streamline your shipping processes and provide an improved customer service.
3. Lean Principles
Lean principles are taken from the lean manufacturing approach which focuses on reducing waste. Though the concept originated in manufacturing, it can be applied throughout various different industries. Applying lean principles to your shipping processes can help you to reduce waste, save money and save time. The approach involves reviewing each of your production processes in detail, to see where improvements can be made.
4. Consider Sustainability
When you are looking to improve your shipping processes, it’s essential to consider sustainability. How could your current processes become more eco-friendly? Which steps do you need to take to prioritize sustainable shipping? A few simple ideas to start with include.
- Offset emissions (offer a carbon-neutral shipping option).
- Ship in bulk as much as possible.
- Create a program to return product containers
- Use earth-friendly packaging materials
Sustainability is important for our earth, and it’s also helpful to boost your credibility and even improve your branding.
5. Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI for short, is a system to replace paperwork with electronic data. Transporters often adopt an EDI system. Using EDI allows for cost-savings and faster shipping processes. With Electronic Data Interchange, you can also reduce errors and boost your productivity. Throughout your shipping processes, you can use EDI to improve communication and ensure that your products are traceable and trackable. Consumers want to be able to track their items and receive frequent updates, and EDI makes this a possibility.
