Public Warehousing
Today’s fast pace and complex fulfillment needs demand that you react rapidly to evolving supply chain needs. You need “turn on a dime” flexibility during seasonal sales spikes. And you must have the ability to speedily respond to fluctuating and unpredictable demands.
First Logistics public warehousing offers you a flexible warehousing solution. The concept is simple – a unit in/unit out rate structure with a straightforward monthly storage rate. You can opt to pay by pallet, ton, case, pound, piece, or any other unit of measure that makes sense for your business.
Since you share labor and operating expenses with other customers, public warehousing is an affordable solution that can significantly lower costs.
Should your organization consider public warehousing? The answer is “yes” if you have:
- Fluctuating space requirements
- Surging seasonal demands
- Overflow of products in your current designated warehouse space
- Multiple distribution point needs
- New market entry for a product launch
Contract Warehousing
Your business is growing by leaps and bounds and now you need additional warehousing capabilities. When warehousing needs are more long-term and predictable, contract warehousing ensures that you receive guaranteed space whenever you want it at a reliable cost for the amount of time you specify. Dedicated services and specially-chosen resources are precisely designed to meet your needs.
First Logistics will perform the warehousing functions for you. Your contract warehousing agreement provides you with a one-stop integrated logistics solution that can be combined with cross docking, kitting, pick & pack, material handling services, and even freight brokerage. As a result, you can focus more fully on the strategic side of business development and at the same time, save substantially on operating costs.
If your products require special care, your volumes are predictable, your customers require system functionality that you don’t offer, or if your labor agreements discourage adding company head count, contract warehousing may be a smart choice for you.
Should your organization consider contract warehousing? The answer is “yes” if you have:
- Multiple locations that you wish to centralize to make your business more efficient
- A new client base that is emerging in another region from your headquarters
- The need to scale-up or scale-down on an as-needed basis as the situation demands
Subscription Boxes
It’s a fact: according to Internet Retailer, subscription box retail has grown nearly 3,000 percent over a three-year period. Customers love them because they are a convenient way to receive the items they need on their doorstep on a regular basis.
But that can introduce a challenge to a warehouse that is not prepared to carry and process a wide range of SKUs each month in a time-efficient and professional manner. It’s reassuring to know, then, that accurate, precise and seamless assembly is our specialty at First Logistics. We:
- Oversee the procurement and printing of the box and marketing materials.
- Pack and mail the monthly parcels.
- Offer on-time shipping—either same day or next day.
- Give your company access to our significant parcel discount programs.
- Manage zone skipping and freight consolidation for marked savings.
- Include a customized packing slip with your company log, website, and customer service information.
Real Estate
Location, location, location. Those are the three most essential factors for supply chain management and distribution success. The biggest hurdle for companies, though, is the enormous outlay of capital and the lack of internal design-and-engineering expertise. That’s where First Logistics comes in.
Leasing
There is much more to warehousing leasing than negotiating the right amount of square footage at the best price. You need to ask yourself: is the location near a hub so that we can quickly ship directly to customers? Is it configured to get your products from racks to trucks and back? Is there temperature control for perishable items?
First Logistics can carve out any amount of space, structured as a basic lease and based on a per square foot rental. We work with each customer individually to determine the best warehouse space for the business’ special needs.
Build-To-Suit
First Logistic will perform a rigorous analysis to identify the optimal location of your warehouse, taking into account such factors as transportation costs and distribution requirements.
Based on strong and trusted relationships with real estate experts, lenders, construction specialists, and engineers, we will build the customized warehouse that suits your needs. In addition, we will engage with local and federal agencies to secure financial incentives. Our leasing options do not require a huge cash outlay, which frees up capital assets that you can invest in other strategic business initiatives.
You can simply lease space. Or, you could combine a leased space arrangement with a handling agreement; you pay the rent and First Logistics takes care of all your handling and inventory management needs. Whatever you choose, First Logistics will identify a flexible and cost-appropriate solution to preserve your assets and save you money.
Convert-To-Suit
Through our many years of real estate warehousing experience, we have learned which properties work best for our customers. Our convert-to-suit option leverages three of our core competencies: our knowledge of buildings and markets, our great familiarity with construction, and our insights into what you need to convert an existing building into a finely-honed specialized operation.
When compared to build-to-suit or traditional warehousing alternatives, building coolers, assembly rooms, packaging lines and more and converting them to fulfill your unique and specialized requirements offers savings efficiencies.
Packaging
Packaging is so much more than placing products in a box and hoping that it reaches its destination on time and undamaged.
In truth, the packaging process is heavily regulated and must meet strict federal guidelines. Many products – particularly food grade items and consumer goods – must be kept at an ideal temperature to ensure that the items arrive fresh. High levels of cleanliness are vital to avoid contamination from outside sources.
First Logistics lets you take advantage of a top-rate staff that is highly experienced at managing high capacity orders and a streamlined process that slashes your equipment and labor costs. The result is you get your products to market faster while, at the same time, meeting industry standards.
Kitting
When several SKUs are combined seamlessly into a single SKU that can be rapidly packaged and shipped, it’s called kitting. For retailers and mid-level marketers, kitting offers a multitude of benefits, ranging from reduced administrative costs to faster production cycles.
First Logistics consistently builds complex kits that can hold multiple products without starting from scratch. Since we pre-assemble most of the base kit, we have the capability to get your kit out the door quickly. By leveraging our decades of experience, you can anticipate:
- Greater savings: Your kits are pre-assembled, which ensures the most efficient use of labor.
- Minimized shipping errors: Since items are shipped in kits rather than individually, order fulfillment moves forward more seamlessly.
- Increased flexibility: If you experience a sudden volume spike or last-minute request, it can be efficiently handled since our kits are largely pre-assembled.
- Accuracy assurance: First Logistics provides built-in quality checks, resulting in an elevation of the entire inventory management supply chain by eliminating lost or misplaced parts.
Pick & Pack
Picking and packing single items into multi-pack cartons is far from a simple feat. There are many elements to consider: knowing the required box size and most appropriate packing materials and documentation, making sure accurate shipping labels are generated and affixed, ensuring that products get to the customer at the promised time through the right delivery method.
First Logistics knows just what it takes. Our pick and pack expertise dates back to the mid 1990s and we’ve grown to become one of Chicago’s most reliable pick and pack operations focused on Internet fulfillment. We swiftly displayed our ability to pick hundreds of multi-part orders for rapid next-day delivery. Some of our biggest accounts went on to become household names.
Whatever market you’re in, whatever you are selling or producing online, you can count on First Logistics to seamlessly manage the data, billing, and fulfillment to fulfill your greatest expectations. Today you can depend on us to:
- Lower costs while minimizing packaging material.
- Streamline transportation and ensure undamaged delivery.
- Free up time that you can use to focus on your core business.
- Provide a more satisfying customer experience.
- Handle more orders as your business evolves.
You can trust us to turn around your order quickly and get it to its destination, on time and undamaged.
Display Fulfillment
Retail POP displays and accessories for multiple store locations can tax the existing space of even the largest companies. With more than 1,000,000 square feet of storage, space, First Logistics can easily handle your largest displays, even for national rollout. We are experts at assembling, collating and shrink-wrapping even intricate POP displays.
And our fulfillment capabilities are second to none. We understand that potential sales revenue if your POP materials or brand promotional products do not reach your store locations on schedule. Count on us to make it happen. We are strategically located at America’s crossroads so that stores receive your displays quickly, no matter where they are located. We offer:
- Significant parcel discount programs.
- Same day or the following day shipping.
- Organized space with warehouses that are food certified and FDA registered.
- Skilled kitting and assembly employees with a proven track record of assembly accuracy.
Freight Brokerage
First Logistics is committed to being your one-stop customer development solutions company. Our value-added freight brokerage service delivers your freight shipments to and from your entire supply chain – manufacturers, distributors and retailers – with full origin-to-destination transparency and trained staff for special handling.
Our expanding solutions, culled by years of best practice experience, are designed to lower your transportation costs and reduce cycle. Our network of approved carriers will ensure your products are delivered on time and in budget.