WBSP232: Grow Your Business by Learning the Information Architecture Strategies for the Logistics Department, a Live Interview w/ a Panel of Experts

WBSRocks: Business Growth with ERP and Digital Transformation

While the 3PL and companies involved with freight movement may have much stronger needs for logistics and transportation processes, manufacturers and distributors can't be efficient if they treat logistics as their stepchild. In fact, more and more companies are managing their in-house fleets to meet the consumer expectations of faster delivery and issues such as driver shortages. The inhouse fleets are also required if you have regulated business or special requirements to ship your goods, such as Frozen food or if 3PLs might be cost-prohibitive for your business model. Even if you rely entirely on LTL and FTL carriers, you still have to manage the scheduling, timely loading or unloading, and coordination with your 3PL carriers if you want to avoid overages. So what are the needs and best practices to cost-effectively manage the logistics needs for a manufacturer or distributor? And what system and integrations would they require to manage them?

In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss logistics information architecture. We covered many grounds, including stories related to the different systems that logistics function needs and the role of POD and rate shopping systems in the architecture. Finally, we discussed why manufacturing and distribution companies need to think before bringing capabilities such as last-mile delivery in-house and how the supply chain companies have a very different business model than the traditional manufacturers and distributors.

For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.