Optimizing the Integration Process of New Customers in a 3PL Warehouse

Third-Party Logistics (3PL) warehouses can handle different types of customers with a wide variety in product sizes and handling needs. Integrating a new customer in a 3PL warehouse is a complicated task with a long processing time. Streamlining the integration process is expected to decrease the processing time and ensure a more standardized set of available services for the customers. This paper focuses on a 3PL warehouse company case study, and it focuses on the current handling of furniture from six different customers. It includes an AS-IS analysis of the current processes from sales to integration. The AS-IS analysis will investigate the needed information in each step and how a different flow can shorten implementation time and ensure a more standardized integration. Based on the AS-IS analysis, the paper suggests a new TO-BE flow based on a configurator to implement new clients. The configurator is made from a service variant master which gives an overview of the services and the performed processes in the warehouses. The paper will investigate the possible use of a configurator to help the warehouse understand the customer's potential in the specific warehouse. The sales department can use the configurator to match the customer’s needs and the services that the warehouse offers. The configurator can help to ensure that the offered services are aligned with the performed processes done by the warehouse operations. In the future, the sales department could also use a configurator on a bigger scale to identify which warehouses owned by the case company have the best fit for a specific customer based on location, available space, automation degree, etc.