A Pathway to Efficiency and Growth for Consumer Brands
As consumer expectations continue to change and market conditions evolve amid a sea of non-stop challenges and disruptions, your fulfillment and logistics operations are becoming more and more critical to your brand’s success. Partnering with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) is a great way to scale your operations efficiently and give yourself time to devote to your core business.
However, simply outsourcing your fulfillment operations isn’t enough – you must ensure you find the right partner – one that prioritizes continuous improvement in their warehouses and throughout their operations to maintain competitiveness and agility in today’s dynamic market.
In this blog, we’ll cover the basics of continuous improvement in fulfillment and logistics and dig into why it’s important for your 3PL to be invested in it.
What is Continuous Improvement in Fulfillment & Logistics?
Continuous improvement is the practice of making incremental, data driven enhancements to operations. Businesses adopt this practice to ensure they stay up to date with market demands, technological advancements, and process hygiene.
There are a few different methodologies that make up the practice on continuous improvement.
Lean Methodology
Lean focuses on minimizing waste and maximizing value. In fulfillment and logistics, this can translate to:
- Reducing lead times by streamlining order processing.
- Eliminating bottlenecks in the supply chain.
- Improving inventory management to avoid stockouts and overstock situations.
By focusing on small, incremental changes, Lean methodologies can create significant efficiencies over time.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma focuses on reducing process variation and improving quality. Applying Six Sigma to logistics operations involves:
- Identifying defects (e.g., mis-shipments, damaged goods).
- Implementing standardized processes to ensure consistent, high-quality performance.
- Improving order accuracy, ensuring customers receive exactly what they’ve ordered.
Utilizing Six Sigma tools like DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) helps eliminate inefficiencies and improve the consistency of your fulfillment processes.
Kaizen (Good Change)
The Kaizen approach encourages small, continuous changes driven by employee involvement. Kaizen’s core principle is that everyone in the organization—from the warehouse team members to senior management—should be engaged in suggesting and implementing improvements.
At Motivational, we regularly review our processes and empower our teams to make data-driven recommendations and adjustments to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Data Analytics & AI
With advancements in data analytics and AI, consumer brands now have the tools to make more informed decisions and predict operational needs. Leveraging these technologies can help you:
- Optimize inventory levels based on predictive analytics.
- Improve order routing and shipping through data-driven decision-making.
- Enhance forecasting to anticipate demand spikes and adjust fulfillment operations accordingly.
Harnessing data allows for smarter decision-making and long-term optimization of logistics processes.
Automation & Robotics
Automation is rapidly transforming fulfillment and logistics operations. Things like autonomous mobile robots in warehouses reduce human error, speeds up processes, and drives consistency.
In 2024, we worked with one of our customers to launch Locus Robotics autonomous mobile robots in two of our facilities. This effort has not only reduced manual labor for our warehouse associates; it has also led to faster fulfillment times and higher customer satisfaction.
Why Continuous Improvement Matters in Fulfillment
Continuous improvement matters in fulfillment because it ensures your logistic processes are the most optimized and efficient as possible. Without a continuous improvement practice, your operations will stagnate, leaving you at risk of higher errors, increased costs, and unhappy customers.
Working with a logistics partner that prioritizes continuous improvement delivers tangible benefits. Common examples include:
- Fewer order errors
- Faster delivery times
- Lower costs per shipment
These improvements directly have an impact on your customer experience – think fewer returns due to damaged goods or inaccurate orders, or more five-star reviews for on-time deliveries. In other words, your 3PL has a greater effect on your brand reputation than you may realize.
Continuous improvement ensures your 3PL stays agile amid challenges like fluctuating demands, tariff changes, rising shipping costs, and other supply chain disruptions.
Continuous Improvement at Motivational
At Motivational, we are big advocates for the continuous improvement mindset. We’ve always worked to stay agile, efficient, and innovative, and in early 2023, we formalized our commitment to continuous improvement with the addition of Carlos Chavez to our leadership team as our Vice President of Continuous Improvement.
Carlos’ process for identifying areas of improvement combines data analysis with hands-on observation. His Gemba Walks (visits to the warehouses) help him assess flow and pinpoint disruptions. He takes time to discuss processes and operations with our warehouse team members who experience it all first-hand in their roles.
One of Carlos’ standout projects has been the transformation of our Fern warehouse. Carlos helped identify opportunities to improve productivity by addressing waste, constraints, and layout. This led to a 66% productivity boost during the peak season compared to the previous year’s productivity levels.
“The key,” Carlos emphasizes, “is that we’ve sustained these improvements, ensuring long-term benefits.”
These improvements not only enhanced our internal efficiency but also demonstrated our genuine care for our customers. “By ensuring on-time deliveries, maintaining quality, and using the appropriate workforce, we’ve strengthened our customer relationships and outcomes,” Carlos explains.
Something important that Carlos points out about continuous improvement at Motivational is how much we are dedicated to helping our people improve just as much as our processes and operations. We take the time and effort to train and educate our team members so they can continue to grow and improve as team members and in their own careers.
