What is logistics management to you?
Logistics is the age-old dilemma that has faced companies, countries, and empires for thousands of years. In the modern age, logistics management is one of the chief concerns of any company or individual trying to move their product from one place to another.
Gilbert International is a company dedicated to getting your product where it needs to be. Logistics management is a passion of ours. The Gilbert family has been involved in this business for 80 years for a reason. Our quality has never dipped, and we are always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to improve.
Logistics is about more than delivery; it’s about meeting client expectations and ensuring a flawless experience on the receiving end. Read on for more about logistics management with Gilbert International.
Logistics Management Services We Offer
We offer a range of integrated services from start to finish to meet your needs. No matter what you require to get your product in customers’ hands, we can help you get there.
Distribution Warehousing
The storage of your product is essential to getting it where it needs to go safely and efficiently. The warehouse for dairy products won’t be the same as the one for toys.
Our company owns and operates several warehouses across multiple locations. These facilities are ready to handle the storage requirements of any product you throw at them. Depending on our customer’s needs, we have the following specialized storage facilities to offer you:
● Refrigerated Warehouse - The cold chain requires specialized knowledge to efficiently and safely operate. Products that have strict temperature requirements will find a temporary home in our state-of-the-art cold facilities. We have built our own refrigerated warehousing but have also been given management over others.
● Dry Warehouse - For products that don’t have strict temperature requirements, dry storage is the best option. Our facilities have sophisticated organization and racks to keep track of your product no matter where it is stored.
● Food Grade Warehouse - An essential link in the supply chain between farmers, food processors, retailers, and consumers. Any food product needs adequate and unique storage facilities, whether for produce like onions and carrots or meat products like beef and poultry. Clean facilities and highly-trained staff are essential for safe and effective food storage.
Transportation
Getting your goods from A to B is one of the key considerations of managing logistics in a company. We know that it can be a headache, especially when you don’t own and operate the trucks and other vehicles necessary for transportation.
With Gilbert, you can trust that your product will be safely and quickly transported to the locations you need. It doesn’t matter if that’s in the United States, Mexico, or Canada. Your product will get where it needs to go.
Gilbert International is a 3PL Provider, meaning we handle products from every sort of company you can imagine. We don’t profit from the sale of any of the products in our facilities. This means we can focus entirely on your business's transportation aspects, so you don’t have to.
A vital area that often gets mismanaged or overlooked when managing logistics is transloading, the process of transferring your products from one mode of transportation to another. When you have a fragile or temperature-strict product, transloading becomes crucial.
Whether it be from the cargo ship to the 18-wheeler or the forklift to the flatbed, Gilbert International has the vehicles and staff specially-trained to get the job done.
We also offer instant-rate quotes. If you need to know precisely how much your transportation costs will be, contact one of our customer service operatives today.
Logistics
Logistics management isn’t limited to transportation and storage of the products you trust us with. It is a multifaceted process that uniquely addresses customer’s needs. Logistics services also include:
● Freight forwarding - We handle all of the third party contracts necessary for the transportation of your product. This includes signing contracts and establishing partnerships.
● Kitting, labeling, and final assembly - If your product needs some final touches before getting into customers’ hands, we can help. Many logistics companies handle kitting multiple products together. Then, they apply labels and arrange for the final assembly of the components.
● Reverse logistics - Repurposing or reselling products is a specialty of ours. If you need to get products or materials back from customers, we can help you get from B back to A in no time.
● Quality inspection - Making sure your products are up to pay is an essential part of any business. Our quality inspection specialists can examine your product for defects before they hit the transportation line.
● Border inspection - Border patrol is extremely strict with products crossing both the Mexican and Canadian borders into the United States, and vice versa. We can unload and reload products for intensive inspection, helping Border Patrol agents quickly get through your products so they aren’t held up.
Customs Brokerage
Transporting goods across borders can be a nightmare if you’re using the wrong company. Inexperienced or unqualified logistics management services won’t know the requirements of each government that you are dealing with, especially across the borders to Mexico or Canada.
We offer specialized customs clearance consulting that will get your product exactly where it needs to go and when it needs to be there.
You can’t be expected to know everything about cross-border transportation. There are complex aspects that may fall outside of your range of expertise. That’s why we’re here. With over 80 years of experience, we know the ins and outs of moving products across country borders within the timeframe provided.
There are so many rapid-fire updates to cross-border control that it’s hard to keep up. We have entire teams dedicated to keeping our company up to date on the many changes in trade agreements and regulations. No matter which administration or department is overseeing your products, we can help you broker the customs requirements you will face.
How Gilbert International Excels
The ways we go about logistics management in a company set us apart from our competitors in several ways. The quality of our facilities, the cutting-edge technology we use, and our excellent team all make us the best choice for managing your logistical needs.
Excellent Planning
Essential to managing logistics for a company is planning. If your logistics company doesn’t have a detailed plan in place for the storage, transportation, and distribution, then you’re in trouble.
Gilbert International always has a plan for receiving your products, storing them in specialized facilities, and delivering them to the exact location you require. Any plan is multifaceted and complex, involving multiple modes of transportation across strict timetables.
Further, any plan needs to take into consideration the costs of transport and storage. You need a logistics management company that will accomplish everything you need within the budget you provide.
However, everyone knows that budgets often overrun expectations. An excellent logistics management team will consider these extra costs and honestly relay the possibility of overrun to its customers.
Gilbert International will always have full and open communication with you regarding your budget and the transportation and storage costs of your products.
Beyond basic planning, excellent planning involves having emergency backups in place of supply chain failure. While no one likes to think that something will go wrong, a good logistics company will always plan for the worst.
Gilbert International has contingencies in place for every type of problem that can arise. Not only that, but our managers and employees are versatile enough to deal with the ones no one could see coming.
Embracing Innovation
Automation is turning the logistics industry on its head. Technology is increasingly playing a role in managing logistics, and any firm must be willing to embrace these changes to the fullest extent possible.
Gilbert International is embracing what many firms are unable or unwilling to. We use technology to increase our efficiency, incorporating automation into every aspect of managing logistics within our company.
As an example, automation is providing us information that would have otherwise been much harder to procure. We use software that gives us automatic updates on the whereabouts of our products, product receipt, and storage requirements, to name a few.
By eliminating the manual entry required to provide these types of updates, we not only save you time but money as well. The cost of continually updating the status and location of the products we care for is reduced year after year with new updates in automation technology.
Trained in the Cutting Edge
In the modern age, companies use technology to make managing logistics safer and more efficient. As previously mentioned, automation has changed the way managing logistics looks.
However, that doesn’t mean our company is employed by robots. Living, breathing, caring members of our team are here to provide you with the help you need to reach your goals. From the truck driver to the customer service representative, every member of the Gilbert family is specially trained in their role to provide you with the resources your products deserve.
Using technology is part of that training. With every year, new technology is developed to make managing logistics more efficient and streamlined. That means that every year employees need to be trained on innovations that make their job better.
Gilbert International is always on the lookout for new tech that will make our employees more efficient. If we find something that can help us transport, store, distribute your product, we incorporate it into our supply chain as fast as possible.
Warehouse Operations Management
The key to the success of storing any type of product is effective warehouse operations management. All of our managers and partners are trained to consider the individual needs and requirements of the products they handle.
Whether warehouses built ourselves or managed as a third-party operation, all of our facilities are state of the art and secure. We pride ourselves on utilizing all the technology at our disposal to make our warehouse managers more efficient and cost-effective.
Our warehouse managers oversee the storage and transport of a plethora of products. Each facility is unique, meaning each manager is specially trained in the features of their charge. Cold storage, food safety, and hazardous materials transport and storage are all within their purview.
Gilbert International is experienced in managing logistics for any product you may have for us. We place our full trust in our warehouse operations management staff to get the job done in the best and most efficient way possible.
Speedy and Safe Transportation
Transportation needs to be constantly examined and reevaluated as time goes on. The route that worked last year for our trucks may not be the best way to deliver our products anymore.
Changes in border controls, highway construction, and storage facility locations are just some of what factors into our transportation routes. Our employees always give us feedback on what they experience on the road to give us a better understanding of what changes are necessary for the future.
The efficient transport of your product is our chief concern. If we believe there is a better way to get your goods where they need to go, we will take it.
However, faster isn’t always better. Sometimes a faster route will increase your costs in the long run. Our analysts’ jobs predict speed, cost, and efficiency to find the perfect balance for you.
Your Feedback
We constantly use our customers’ feedback to improve our performance. In the rare case that something goes wrong or we don’t get it quite right, we instantly move to solve the issue. There is never a time where you would say, “Gilbert didn’t adequately address our concerns.”
Whatever concerns you may have, bring them up with our representatives and we can work together to make it right.
Conclusion
Managing logistics can be a hassle, but it doesn’t have to be. With the help of Gilbert International, you will find that your logistics planning becomes so much easier. Our trained transportation specialists, unique and modern facilities, and excellent planning will all help get your products where they need to go.