In the age of large e-commerce platforms and globally connected supply chains, Third-Party Logistics (3PL) organizations have seen a large increase in demand. In fact, As of 2014, 80% of all Fortune 500 companies use some form of 3PL service. 3PL companies allow businesses to accomplish more with less, and offer tools and infrastructure that ensure an optimized supply chain.
While 3PL companies offer cutting-edge solutions to their customer-base, they are often left in need of a reliable pallet solutions provider they can rely on to recycle pallets efficiently.
That was the case when Kamps was approached by a national 3PL company looking for a reliable pallet partner that would provide standardized pallet recycling solutions on a large scale.
Challenges of Pallet Recycling for 3PL Companies
The size of a 3PL company is often a challenge when it comes to receiving exceptional quality of service and care from a pallet recycling company.
This was the case with the Kamps 3PL customer as well.
The company has over 20 locations nationwide and offers over 10 varying solutions to customers – ranging from food service distribution to procurement. With this many variables at play, there was a large amount (and variety) of pallets moving through their warehouses nationwide. If not managed properly, these pallets can cause warehouse space to become scarce, staff to become overwhelmed (due to extra tasks), and real dollars to be lost due to lack of transparency.
Our Solution
Kamps formulated a custom pallet recycling plan that focused on overcoming the major challenges that a 3PL company faces. The program catered to the fast-paced nature of 3PL operations by taking advantage of Kamp’s national fleet and drop-trailers.
Optimized Space & Efficiency
Kamps optimized warehouse space, and overall program efficiency, by deploying a drop-trailer pallet recycling program – catered to the fast-paced nature of 3PL operations. This meant trailer swaps within 24 hours and constant monitoring by our customer service support team.
Within the first few weeks of launching the program, the company experienced an unpredictable spike in their southern region. Kamps reacted to this spike by deploying an extra trailer to accommadte for the spike; ensuring the flow of pallets and operations was not impeded.
Efficient Workforce
The impact of our pallet recycling program improved the efficiency of the 3PL company’s workforce on two fronts. The first was an efficient warehouse and operations staff due to the Kamps timely pick-ups and trailer swaps. Kamps’ industry-leading data management and reporting tools also provided increased efficiency at the HQ level.
Transparency & Reporting
Kamps took a comprehensive approach to the transparency and reporting aspects of the pallet recycling program.
This was done via a three-step approach
- Kamps staff counted and sorted the pallets accurately, recording all meaningful data in a load / sort report
- Paying fair market price on all accurately sorted loads.
- Making all reports available within 48 hours.
All of this information was made available on our intuitive and easy-to-use customer portal (KP Portal). The KP Portal allows HQ to log in and see in almost real-time the quality of the loads, what loads were purchased, and what was owed.
“The Kamps Customer Portal [KP Portal] gives us visibility into our pallet recycling program across multiple locations directly at HQ” – 3PL Company
