You have parts coming from China and your own domestic vendors and production. You source materials from Africa and Central America. And you have a critical project component that is manufactured in Europe. To complete your industrial project, you need all of these parts, materials, and components to arrive on time and in good condition at your job sites around the world.
In seemingly no time at all, the world has become a smaller place. If you’re an industrial business, you are now a global business by default, with parts and products being shipped and received around the world. When you’re working with hundreds, or maybe thousands, of global vendors, your supply chain can quickly become an unwieldy process.
Your vendors likely all have their own packaging and quality standards, and some of those may not meet your own high standards. Some of your vendors may not offer the transparency you’d like, making it difficult to retain control of your process. And still others may have a difficult time meeting your tight deadlines.
A global industrial packaging hub brings a level of clarity and control to your supply chain that would be hard to accomplish to otherwise.
What’s the solution? You have major industrial projects underway and an efficient supply chain is critical to ensuring a positive outcome. How do you take back control of your global supply chain and keep it efficient and optimized?
One solution is a global industrial packaging hub. A global hub is a facility where all of your parts, materials, components, and other resources are received, checked, and packaged before being shipped to your facilities or work sites.
At first glance, this might seem like an extra step in the process. Why have your vendors ship to an extra facility when they can simply ship directly to your worksites and plants?
As you’ll see below, a global industrial packaging hub brings a level of clarity and control to your supply chain that would be hard to accomplish to otherwise. Here are three reasons why a global industrial packaging hub could be just what you need to create a more efficient supply chain.
(Factory → Deufol Solution → Results)
1. Quality Control
Your parts and materials have to arrive at your worksites in top condition. The quality and outcome of your project depends on it. Unfortunately, all of your vendors may not share your same commitment to quality preservation. While they may believe they are packaging in a way that ensures quality, you might want your parts and supplies packaged with a greater level of protection.
You can have your vendors ship to your global hub, where a team of knowledgeable and experience packaging engineers can unpack and repackage those parts to meet your standards. That way, you can be sure that your materials will be protected in transit and will arrive in top condition.
2. Transparency
It’s a challenge in any large-scale industrial project. You have parts coming from all over the word and from hundreds of vendors. You need to know that the parts will arrive at your worksite on schedule, but you also can’t track them in transit. You need more transparency so you can take back control of your process.
A global industrial packaging hub gives you that transparency because the parts come into your hub before being shipped to their final destination.
For example, in hubs we run for our customers, we often use barcode software that integrates with the company’s SAP software or other operating systems. We then scan all parts and crates as they move in and out of the hub.
The scanned data is transmitted to the company’s software so they can then track all shipments with just a few clicks of the mouse. We can also integrate GPS technology to give more detailed information, such as air pressure in the container, temperature, and precise location.
You gain control of your supply chain and are able to use precise information to make smarter decisions. That’s the power of transparency.
3. Experienced and Knowledgeable Support
Finally, when you partner with an industrial packaging company to manage your global hub, you’re able to tap into their global network of experienced and knowledgeable consultants. You may not have the infrastructure to support a global team to monitor your supply chain. A global packaging partner, though, will have that infrastructure in place for you to leverage.
Your packaging partner should be able to act as your eyes and ears around the world and in the global hub. They can ensure that all packages meet standards. They can unpack shipments from vendors and check for quality. They can work with customs officials in a variety of countries to avoid delays. And they can manage your schedule to make sure your packages get where you need them, when you need them.
At Deufol, we help our global industrial clients with all of these items and more as we set up and manage their industrial packaging hubs. If your global supply chain isn’t as efficient or transparent as you would like, consider how a global hub might help. It could be just what you need to take back control of your process.
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