Weakened Economies Demand Strong Warehouses
Whether it’s the credit crunch, housing slump, falling dollar, energy costs or the general financial market turmoil, most every business experiences or fears a negative impact. It’s “the recession” that experts agree is here or is soon to come to a theater near you. But if you’ve seen “it” affect your backlog much less your bottom line, then you know just how real it is.

When revenues soften, chopping costs typically get immediate mindshare. But the challenge is where to find and reduce waste while not compromising your ability to efficiently ship product. In a tighter economy are your customers or prospects any less demanding? Not likely. In good times or bad, they still want the right product, delivered when and where they want it. If confidence fades in their supply chain they grow more impatient in getting their “simple needs” fulfilled. Their contingency is your competitors.

So what does it cost your company to provide exceptional customer service? From an operation’s perspective, do you know your warehouse costs as a percent of sales? If you do, how does this compare with other distributors carrying a similar product line, adjusted for labor costs for a given part of the country?

In economic downturns many firms hunker down and retreat from pushing their well intended initiatives. The status quo, existing methods and overhead to ship product, gets protected. This “hope for the best” strategy simply squanders the opportunity to inject cost efficiencies into your logistics during times when your fulfillment operation should get lean and productive out of necessity.   

So seize the opportunity to spring ahead of your competition and gain market share. Prioritize your warehouse operations to your list of strategic investments. When the economy improves, you’ll have the infrastructure (people, process and technology) in place to provide exceptional delivery performance. So push ahead. Your most profitable customers are counting on you.

Thanks for your support!

Eric C. Allais
President & CEO

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