FARO New 3PL Client Requirements Questionnaire - …



FARO New 3PL Client Requirements QuestionnaireAverage number of orders shipping out per week? (see a)Average number of SKU's (products) per Order (see b)Average lines per order outbound?Average units per line outbound? Number of unique SKU's (Products) in InventoryNumber of total units in InventoryNumber of pallets of product to be stored? (see c)How many inbound shipments do you receive per day on average? What are the average lines per inbound receipt? What are the average units per line inbound? How would you most accurately describe the picking breakdown for your orders??(see d)Are there any Hazardous Materials or dangerous goods storing and shipping requirements for your products and if so, please advise the details below (see E)Are there any physical controls required such as FIFO (see F)Are there any environmental controls required such as refrigeration? (see G)For the inbound process (receiving),how are your products clearly marked by: Lot # Item # Serial # Barcoded Description? (see H)Do products require special lot number or serial number controls? (see I)Will FARO receive returns from your customers? (see J)What percent of the time do you use the following shipping services? (see K)Overnight 2 Day Air 3 Day Air Ground International USPS (US Mail) LTL (Less than Truck Load) OtherWhat is the approximate value of a typical order? (see L)Are there any specific security requirements to protect your stock on hand assets?Do you deliver business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C), if both please advise the percentage; i.e. how would you most accurately describe the breakdown of your shipments between Residential and Commercial? (see M)Do you require any Value Added Services?KittingBundlingLabelingBar-codingSpecific Packaging OtherHow many customers do you have and what is the geographic spread of these customers (i.e. how many customers per state)? Do you offer customers back orders, if so are they sent out as soon as they arrive or with the next order? What are your customer's expectations in regards to deliveries from order placement, what is a standard lead time??Overnight 48 hours 72 hours 4-7 days 1 week or greaterAre there service level agreements in place with your customer base??Are you able to send orders electronically and if so, please advise what method you would prefer??CSV fileEDIWeb ServicesXMLOther?Do you offer or provide your customers parcel tracking online???Do you send ASN's (advance shipping notices) or consignment details at the time of dispatch??Additional requirements or comments?Footnotes:A fulfillment order is a single request for one or more items in inventory to be picked, packed and shipped to a specific consignee. Orders are often automatically fed in from the client’s website and represent a single purchase from that website. Orders generally receive an order reference number in which all charges are associated. When orders are shipped from the fulfillment center they become shipments. The tracking number(s) for the shipment are then assigned to the order.Products in inventory are represented by SKUs, or Stock Keeping Units. A SKU is a unique item in inventory, like a small red t-shirt. There can be multiple quantities for one SKU but all items must be identical.Product storage represents the act of warehousing inventory over a period of time. All SKUs, cross docks, freight shipments or forwarded shipments that stay in a warehouse for over a day are being stored. Fulfillment houses charge storage on shipments or inventory in their warehouse. This storage can be calculated on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Often a grace period will be given for cross dock and freight shipments so that those simply passing through do not get charged for storage.Pieces and cases are picked into fulfillment orders. Pieces are individual picks of SKUs. Cases are picks of entire cases of SKUs. The benefit to picking entire cases of SKUs is that less time and resources are needed to place the items from the case into an order than if they were picked individually. The time taken to pick one case (or box) is much different than the time taken to pick all 12 items contained within the case. Fulfillment houses will often charge a set amount for picking a case, usually just a little more than picking an individual piece. Clients should be aware of their case sizes when placing orders to minimize their picking cost.Hazardous materials are those items designated by the federal government to contain hazardous components. Hazardous materials require special permits, training and equipment to handle.FIFO and LIFO are used in the management of inventory flow. FIFO (First In First Out) means that inventory is picked off the shelf in the order it was received. LIFO (Last In Last Out) means that last items received into the warehouse are always the first to be shipped out. FIFO is the most common inventory control method in order fulfillment. Specifically with lot-controlled food products, clients would like to keep their inventory current and fresh and ensure that older items on the shelf are the first to ship out. FIFO and LIFO are not as important for non-food based products since one shipment of a widget is likely identical to another. Also FEFO for Expiry dates.Food based product often needs to be refrigerated while being stored in a warehouse. Fulfillment houses will keep special refrigerators on hand, or even have entire rooms or buildings dedicated to storing products with specific temperature needs.Product inventory items (or SKUs) within a warehouse can be identified in a variety of ways. The two most common ways to identify product are through product labels and/or product barcodes. The label will either have the product’s SKU name or description while the barcode will represent the products unique UPC code. By far the best way to identify a product is with both a product label and barcode. This allows product to be identified quickly without the use of electronic devices, while also allowing for scanning systems to automate the process of receiving, inventorying, moving and picking the product. Scanning can save a significant amount of time and money as well as reduce the error rate to close to 0%.Lot numbers are used to track lot-controlled product and are required for any product that is consumed by humans. Lot numbers are issued and regulated by the FDA (or Food and Drug Administration). Lot numbers contain expiration dates or dates after which the product can no longer be sold. Warehouses will employee FIFO (or First In First Out) for lot-controlled product to ensure that older product is shipped out first and does not expire. Higher value products such as electronics are most often marked with serial numbers. Serial numbers are unique numbers representing each product. Clients often request that fulfillment houses track which serial numbers are in inventory and/or which serial numbers are associated with individual outbound shipments.Returns processing goes hand in hand with shipping orders. Fulfillment clients need a place for their customers to send damaged, unwanted or warranted product. Third Party Logistics warehouses receive returns, enter them into their system and then wait for instructions from the client on where to send the returns. Many returns, if undamaged, go back on the shelf to be shipped out again with another order.Standard Shipping Service LevelsOvernight – Arrives the next business day2 Day Air – Arrives within two business days3 Day Air – Arrives within three business daysGround – Shipped by truck; time in transit based on zone; arrives within one to five business daysInternational – Shipped outside of the United StatesUS Mail – Sent through the US postage systemLTL – Palletized freightShipment commercial value is the total commercial value of the goods contained within a single shipment. This is most often the invoiced amount to the end consignee. Commercial value is important on international shipments for the purposes of duties and taxes. The value of a shipment can also be important when considering insurance.Small package carriers like FedEx and UPS charge a residential fee anytime they deliver a package to a residence. This is designed to cover the cost of driving out to a neighborhood and delivering directly to an individual’s front door. This fee goes up each year and currently sits around $2.45 (2011). Residential fees are initially assessed based on whether there is a business name associated with the address. Any shipment not being sent to an address with a business name is charged the fee; however, it is still up to the delivery driver’s discretion to charge the fee upon delivery. Often, a home business will still be charged the residential fee when the driver discovers that the business is actually at a residence. ................
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