Within every business, there are many different positions associated with the shipments: logistics (Ça va sans dire!), sales, after-sales, the administration, purchases, the production. And there may still be more.

How do these functions face the shipments topic?

Here there are four rules to follow (we call them the Cooper’s rules for logistics):

  • All shipments are important
  • Do not apply an express service to not urgent shipments
  • Do not arrange a single order shipment: create “windows” for shipment consolidation
  • Identify both your service level and what is behind it

Let’s analyse them one by one.

All shipments are important

It may sound obvious, granted; while for us it is a fundamental reminder to focus on the concept that every shipment must be compliant to the policy.

To be able to follow this principle, the shipment policy must be complete (all the hypothesis, arrangements and working processes shall have been carefully evaluated), clear (to avoid misunderstandings), efficient (to provide the maximum savings amount in relation to the expected service quality), and effectively communicated (within the working team).

 

Do not apply an express service for not urgent shipments

Likewise, even this rule could seem a banal statement.  Unfortunately, instead, often companies tend to rely on mediocre and defective attitudes that end to undermine both the research and the achievement of the business’ efficiency itself.

 

Do not arrange a single order shipment: create “windows” for shipment consolidation

Linking every order to a single shipment is the most automatic and simple move, but it results in lack of efficiency and waste of money.

Based on the service level granted to either the sales channel or the client (in respect of the segmentation criterion adopted), it may be appropriate to create some “windows” for the shipment consolidation with defined deadlines.

By so doing the number of both shipments and packaging is reduced (for those who deal with the final consumer, let’s think of the retail within the e-commerce), as well as the costs and the generation of CO² and other pollutants.

 

Identify both your service level and its background

Before setting a shipment, it is important to verify the service level required by either the sales channel or the client, considering that each service level has different shipment conditions and different costs.

That’s why we need to begin identifying the service level, and only after it, we can move to outline the type of the shipment and not the other way around, as often happens.

 

By this point, you may wonder who Cooper is.

 

John Dean “Jeff” Cooper has been an American Marine during the Second World War and the Korean War, in which he obtained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

He settled the four rules for safe gun handling:

  • All guns are always loaded
  • Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not prepared to destroy
  • Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target
  • Be sure of your target

Why this parallelism between logistics and outdoor shooting? Because in both cases the main part is the goal achievement.

 

Do you want to further explore how to apply the four rules within your company?

Contact us: sales@smartvco.com