Does Your Business Understand the Need for Carrying Out a Vendor Compliance Manual?
By: George Mitchell Sr.
A vendor compliance manual is really a set of specifications to which a vendor must stick to when doing business with the client that formulated them. Vendor compliance manuals feature similar standards within the same industry, but they can also be designed as unique as the client wishes. Vendor compliance standards enable it to be easier for clients to streamline their receiving and retailing process, allowing them to work with hundreds or even thousands of customers without feeling overwhelmed. From the vendor perspective, however, fulfilling compliance standards can require the cost for new infrastructure.
The introduction of and adherence to compliance specifications can be a mind-numbing balance. If customers have no standards in position, the absence of efficiency in getting products to market could end up elevating product price, as the price of sticking with the standards could mean the seller needs to raise prices. When compliance standards are acceptable, the best strategy for keeping products competitively priced is perfect for vendors to secure a reputable approach to compliance as inexpensively as possible. Because many compliance issues involve aspects of the shipping process, most vendors seek quality logistics at a discount price.
Can a Vendor Compliance Manual Be Addressed By Shipping Logistics?
Whether a compliance guidebook can be completely addressed with shipping logistics varies by manual, however, many common compliance aspects affected by shipping logistics are: shipping documentation formats, bill of ladings, and SKUs. Typically, the effectiveness of addressing compliance manuals with shipping logistics depends upon possibilities through the logistic function. When companies lack their own logistics department and shipping fleet, they secure shipping logistics in one of two ways: by outsourcing to a 3rd party logistics (3PL) provider, or by executing logistics software, which performs the job of a logistics expert while offering the results via an easy to use interface.
Historically, companies without shipping and delivery fleets contract out their shipping demands to 3PL providers, which you will find four types: standard 3PL providers, which offer basic shipping services but seldom feature 3PL as a fundamental practice; service developers, which offer refined shipping services although not integrated shipping plans; customer developers, which manage a company’s existing shipping process; and customer adapters, who handle the shipping operation and develop new shipping solutions. As you would expect, getting a customer adapter is the most effective 3PL option for responding to compliance standards. But it is also probably the most expensive option.
Selecting logistics software rather than 3PL offers three advantages: it costs considerably less; it offers more shipping options because of the removal of 3PL business interest; and it is easily adaptable to new shipping needs when they arise. Logistics software’s flexibility of shipping options combined with its affordable implementation price show it to be the best choice for addressing compliance standards via the shipping process.
While conducting research for this article, I learned about vendor compliance issues and TL logistics software at www.Ratelinx.com.
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