Transfer Center-Model Export Hub Operations
Background
Companies are focusing greater attention on reducing logistics costs as part of their efforts to cut overall expenses. A key question confronting them is what specific measures to take to eliminate ineffectual logistics bases and transport modes. We believe that improvements to existing warehouse functions will themselves serve to resolve this issue.
Generally speaking, the warehouse functions offered by forwarding companies are those of transfer center-model warehouses that specialize in receiving cargo already sorted by the customer, weighing the cargo, and affixing airfreight labels to the same. Nippon Express, however, has developed warehouse functions that include sorting cargo at transfer center-model warehouses so that the sorting heretofore done by customers can be sub-contracted out to Nippon Express as a 3PL company.
We have thus been able to cut unnecessary logistics expenses and respond to the needs of our customers.
Operational Flow
(Example: TC-model operations for Company T, an electronic components manufacturer)
- Factory shipping data sent by the vendor is received and an invoice prepared using this data.
- Cargo is accepted directly from the vendor, and the delivery form barcode on the cargo's outer packaging is scanned to read the delivery form data (delivery form number, product name, quantity).
- The delivery form data is checked against the factory shipping data to confirm that the goods actually received at the warehouse correspond to those listed in the data.
- Using the shipping instruction data received from the customer, the data on the multiple delivery forms is compared and combined, and an invoice packing list is prepared on the basis of that data.
- The prepared invoice data serves as shipping instructions of the cargo from the warehouse.
- The prepared invoice data is then linked to automatic customs clearance and B/L preparation.
Benefits
- Consolidating the processing of data flow - delivery form data, warehousing delivery sorting orders, AWB preparation - and cargo flow enables us to eliminate the loss of labor/time and the risks associated with preparing export documentation.
- Fixed logistics costs can also be cut by performing at the transporter's logistics facilities the delivery and sorting tasks conventionally carried out by customers themselves. Managing these tasks in combination with subsequent processing helps us achieve shorter lead time in overall export operations.
- Using our standard system/facilities and outsourcing both administrative and warehousing tasks to our company cuts fixed costs with a minimal initial investment.
