Industrial

Industry logistics is the transport, storage, distribution, and management of materials, parts, and products throughout the industrial supply chain. Industrial goods cover many different types of products including raw materials, parts, components, manufactured items, equipment, and finished items.

Industrial logistics covers many different sectors such as energy generation and supply, infrastructure and building projects, maritime logistics, heavy equipment, and much more.  

Industrial logistics includes:

• Storage and transport of materials and parts between suppliers, manufacturers, and projects.
• Integration with suppliers and manufacturers across systems, data, teams, and processes.
• Support for industrial production and assembly lines.
• Secure storage for highly valuable or sensitive industrial products. 
• Order and inventory management to ensure maximum availability for the production line process.
• Tracking and visibility for industrial products anywhere in the supply chain. 
• Transport and distribution across national networks to supply manufacturers, projects, and aftermarket vendors. 
• Supply of spare parts for maintenance and repair.
• Light assembly and kitting to prepare components for assembly lines or end customers.
• Delivery of industrial products and equipment for sale. 

The industrial supply chain is the collection of the steps needed to get industrial products to the people and projects that need them. This includes sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing into parts, assembly into finished products, and the ordering, storage, transport, and distribution of industrial goods.

Different aspects of the industrial supply chain can include:

• The transport of raw materials such as ore, minerals, and similar. 
• Storage and order management for raw materials until they’re needed for manufacturing.
• Supply of raw materials into early production and assembly lines for components and parts.
• Storage of components and parts until they are required for assembly.
• Transport of industrial parts and components to supply downstream production lines.
• Storage of finished industrial equipment, parts, and products until people, projects, and others require them.
• Transport and delivery of finished industrial parts and products to vendors, dealers, and customers. 
   

Exact needs vary between industrial manufacturers and suppliers, but will likely include the following:

• Order management and product flow optimization to take account of long lead times and ensure the availability of materials, parts, and products for manufacturing and projects.
• Support for a variety of industrial assembly lines and methods. 
• Resilient supply chains that can ensure the flow of goods during times of marketplace, economic, or other disruptions. 
• Compliance with industrial regulations in the U.S. and around the world.
• Rigorous security and quality control across all components, parts, and finished products.
• Deep data, systems, process, and team integration between the manufacturer / seller and the industrial logistics provider.
• Integration across industrial logistics services including freight forwarding, import, customs clearance, drayage, storage, warehousing, distribution, and delivery.
• Special handling and transport of raw materials, parts, and finished products.

Some of the issues within industrial supply chains are:

• Complexity: Industrial products can be comprised of hundreds or thousands of parts. Coordinating all of these raw materials, components, parts, and products requires deeply sophisticated technology, enhanced data and tracking, and an expert workforce.
• Lead times: The lead time between ordering a product and it being available for an assembly line could be weeks or months. Industrial manufacturers need expert forecasting, inventory, and order management to ensure they have the right products in the right place at the right time. 
• Resilience: The failure of one small part of the supply chain can have significant impacts elsewhere in the supply chain. 
• Projects: Large engineering projects require very careful planning, timing, and delivery of industrial products.
• Transport: The increasing costs of fuel and transport together with difficulties transporting dangerous or heavy industrial goods.
• Visibility: A lack of accuracy in tracking transport and inventory together with inefficient coordination and communication across the supply chain.

There are many ways to improve the industry supply chain, including:

• Deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning to create various scenarios, models, and forecasts for supply and demand, and building those findings into industrial order management. 
• Sourcing secondary suppliers and manufacturers for various components across the supply chain to build resilience.
• Using a wide logistics transport network for proximity to ports, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and customers.
• Staying ahead of changes in the industrial and logistics industry to reduce risks and issues due to changes in legislation, regulations, or marketplaces.

By outsourcing industrial logistics services, you can trust a provider to manage the logistics challenges so you can focus on growing your business. A third-party logistics provider can manage everything from your raw material sourcing to information flows, transport coordination, inventory forecasting, after-sales service, and returns.

We’ve been supporting industrial logistics for many years. We offer end-to-end, integrated logistics solutions that work effortlessly with suppliers, manufacturers, and project teams. Our range of supply chain services includes freight forwarding and customs clearance, warehousing and storage, order and inventory management, and distribution.

We focus on:

• Integrated industrial supply chain and logistics services.
• Industrial manufacturing and supply chains.
• End-to-end visibility and tracking of industrial logistics.
• Wide industry logistics network for distribution across national, regional, and local suppliers, vendors, and projects.
• Deep control and compliance across spares, parts, and products.
• Logistics tailored to the unique nature of industrial products.
• Strong focus on CSR and ESG responsibilities.