With all the challenges facing our Supply Chain today are Logistics Service Providers of help to you.
Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.
Logistics outsourcing involves a relationship between a company and an LSP (Logistic Service Provider) which, compared with basic logistics services, has more customized offerings, encompasses a broad number of service activities, is characterized by a long-term orientation, and, thus, has a rather strategic nature.
An LSP is really what most people would see as a traditional 3PL provider offering a combination of warehousing and transportation services or one or the other. As global and multi-national providers enter the game, things have certainly changed, but the Logistics Service Provider at its core is fundamentally the same.
Third-Party Logistics Provider (3PL) involves using external organizations to execute logistics activities that have traditionally been performed within an organization itself. According to this definition, third-party logistics includes any form of outsourcing of logistics activities previously performed in-house. If, for example, a company with its own warehousing facilities decides to employ external transportation, this would be an example of third-party logistics. Logistics is an emerging business area in many countries.
If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can assist in managing your selection of a variety of logistics issues, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.
