CBIP's 6-Step Process For Great Logistics

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read up on 4PL businesses and you’re intrigued about having more control over your logistics.

You’ve also probably heard the reasons why you should use a 4PL like CBIP:

• We have a large network of providers around the world that can manage every aspect of your logistics from the manufacturer to the last mile.
• We can create a bespoke, cost-effective logistics network just for your business
• We can change which provider you are using if you want to adjust
• We’re constantly adding new providers with cutting edge tech to connect to our network

We know it sounds good in a short blurb, but we also know you might want to know about what happens behind the scenes around here before committing.

So what goes on after you’ve scheduled your free consultation with CBIP and told us a little bit about what your business needs? We cooked up this blog to better explain what happens behind the scenes before we give you your tailored logistics plan.

CBIP’s 6-Step Process For Creating Your Perfect Supply Chain

1. Data analysis

This step is no different from when a banker assesses your personal finances to help you create a financial plan. Once we’ve agreed to get things moving, we collect between 25 and 50 different data points about your business. We want to know everything important to your process like:

• Rolling inventory
• Average order size
• Average number of products in an order
• SKU manufacturing data
• And more

After your business shares your needs with us, we sit down and take a closer look at the data. We also look up all external data points you’ll need like origin setup, PO management, shipping times, import markets, warehousing, and sales channels. This gives us everything we need to carry on to step two.

2. Scenario simulations

You don’t want any surprises in your supply chain and neither do we. Once we have some ideas on how we can help your business from the data, we draft and simulate multiple logistics scenarios or workflows.

To do this, we build your current workflow into a chart and do a thorough SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. From here, using the data we collected from step one, we overlay two to three alternative ways we might run your supply chain to improve operations.

For example: Say you have one warehouse in China but eighty percent of your customers are in the US. We might look at your process and decide to simulate hauling more inventory on the front end over to the US to store in warehouses so you can cut down lead times and air freight costs. We’ll do a couple of theoretical flows like this one before settling on our final options.

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3. Financial modeling

Once we have about three to four scenarios that we think are potential winners, we go in deep to figure out exactly what each one will cost. We can even generate your very own profit and loss statement (P&L) based on the data and assumptions provided by you.

Here we can demonstrate where we save you money. But it’s not all about savings. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money. We can also show you areas where your business can operate more effectively at a slightly higher price. Our goal is to give you as much information as possible.

4. Solution feasibility

Now that we have a couple of scenarios priced out, we measure them against what you’ve told us about your business operations. If your solutions fall short of the mark in any way, we either scrap them or leave them in as backup options. We repeat this process until we have at least two viable solutions for you.

For example: Say we’ve come up with three great options for your logistics. Unfortunately, the timing of your production cycle makes one invalid and another one doesn’t clear shipping regulations in one particular region where you operate. We move these options to the back burner, keep the third one, and go back to step one to find a second solution.

5. Risks and contingencies: 

Once we’ve chosen at least two options that are viable for your business, we look at every single risk or setback you could possibly have - no matter how small. An easy solution one month could be a nightmare another month without proper planning.

For example: Say we go with the scenario in the example from section two. If you move half of your inventory from China to the US to reduce lead time for the US market you could be exposed to weaknesses in China. What happens if suddenly you need more supply in China? What if your factory on the mainland completely burns down? We try to come up with a long list of contingency plans even for unlikely scenarios like these.

6. External Review

We think we’re pretty good at this, but we also understand that everyone has different interpretations of good logistics. That’s why for your final step, we always take our work to a third party for verification.

Our third-party checks are always done by partners who have been in the business for years and work in every aspect of logistics. This isn’t just a quick glance either, out of every ten plans we submit for review, usually, only five are approved and another half of the approved plans get extensive revisions.

The Result? Only The Best Options For Your Business

There you have it. Once you see the list we send you, it has already gone through six steps of scrutiny and checks. You won’t see any solution from CBIP unless we think we can scare you away from our competition.

Interested in getting your own bespoke logistics network from CBIP? Fill out a form to get your free consultation today. We’ll get started on your six-step plan right away.