Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Providers Need to "Reinvent" Themselves

A new report was released this week by Capgemini and the Georgia Institute of Technology to offer more strategic and standardized solutions for users. The findings stress the importance of using technology in the 3PL supply chain process to balance cost concerns and strategic needs.

While 90 percent of respondents agreed that IT capability is a necessary element of overall 3PL provider expertise, only 38 percent are satisfied with their providers' capabilities.

This suggests that as more firms progress further into outsourced logistics relationships, the complexity requires the use of effective IT services for a broad spectrum of supply chain processes.

Survey respondents identified the top three future requirements of IT-based services:

• radio frequency identification (RFID)
  
• Internet-based transportation/logistics markets
  
• supplier management systems.
  

Intellareturn Take: Based on this research, express logistics couriers – including FedEx, DHL, UPS and the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency – need to begin evaluating pilots for RFID-based reverse logistics applications to provide a new level of service beyond traditional asset-focused "slap and ship" processes.