Keeping labor costs in check is critical to the success of any company in food service warehousing. As a typical warehouse’s biggest operating expense, labor costs can take up anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of the average company’s warehousing budget.
Managing and reducing labor-related expenses, while simultaneously maintaining a high level of customer service, enhancing efficiency, and boosting warehouse productivity, is a balance that many warehouse managers struggle to keep.
The Value of Outsourced Staffing to Managed Labor Strategies
Outsourced managed labor providers play a major role in the success of this critical process. One advantage of this outsourcing model is staffing efficiency; time-sensitive jobs such as customer service, product distribution, order fulfilment, and inventory management can be implemented more smoothly because warehouse and distribution center (DC) workers are specially trained to perform these tasks. Outsourced staffing helps decrease fixed costs (in workers’ salaries and benefits) and lessen HR management requirements.
Furthermore, outsourcing labor demands that challenge many businesses offers greater cohesion in year-round staffing and supports companies in building workforces with a stronger focus of skills in a company’s core functions. For many businesses, choosing a provider with a high level of customer service capabilities is a crucial deciding factor. Warehousing and distribution can be cost-restrictive, which is why an on-site freight management vendor like Costa can offer a better alternative.
The Costa Solutions Brand of Managed Labor
Companies that are looking to enlist the services of an outsourced managed labor provider should consider what types of warehouse facilities and services they need. In the warehouse and food service industries, Costa Solutions has proven itself to be experts in supply chain managed labor. We bring top-notch customer service, communication channels, personnel mix, and dedication to our partnerships with clients.
Costa Solutions provides round-the-clock managed labor support in three key areas: inbound, outbound, and warehouse services.
- Inbound: Costa Solutions’ inbound managed labor support includes the reconfiguration or unloading of container, railcar, and truck, as well as shipment documentation and verification. Loads and order are time-stamped to monitor carrier and vendor performance and examine load/order breakdowns and possible issues in the process flow. They also provide trend analysis reports that indicate performance tracking for clients so they have a clear picture of efficiency gains and areas for improvement.
- Outbound: This type of support entails order selection and supervising the loading process of shipping freight according to the client’s instructions. This ensures load stability, unit configurations, and specific product segregation, thereby improving the shipment process.
- Warehouse: Costa Solutions’ warehouse support customizes managed labor projects and added services in order to keep up with the clients’ changing needs and third-party audit requirements. They provide turnkey round-the-clock onsite support to standardize and facilitate services in order for clients to utilize their resources in the most efficient way possible.
- Production Support: A challenge that many companies face is ensuring streamlined processes in the assignment of tasks. To boost a company’s manpower without causing employee expenses to skyrocket, Costa Solutions deploys teams of highly skilled and trained professionals who can perform practically any type of special project required to fulfill the goals of the company. This way, businesses can focus on core activities without sacrificing the quality of labor.
The highly trained and experienced professionals at Costa Solutions have one goal: to optimize the supply chain labor and warehouse process in order for food service companies to make the most out of their resources. In today’s economic climate, maintaining internal staff containment and maximizing cost control without sacrificing quality can determine the success of a business.