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Logistics insourcing & outsourcing

Outsourcing is a strategic model based on deciding to select an external service provider or supplier to take care of and/or perform one or more of your business activities. It can be advantageous to change from an insourcing to an outsourcing strategy (or vice versa) for your warehousing operation, distribution center or transport activities, for instance. Insourcing or outsourcing allows logistics operations to be consolidated, which in turn enables you to save costs.

Insourcing & outsourcing advice

Logistics can make or break the success of a company. Customers have ever-higher expectations, so it is essential that your logistics execution is as solid as a rock. This can make the decision about insourcing or outsourcing your logistics a crucial one.

At consulting firm Groenewout, we have extensive experience of supporting insourcing and outsourcing projects. When preparing our advice on insourcing or outsourcing, we consider aspects such as strategy, financial drivers, service providers’ pricing structure and expectations, and the implementation of the new set-up. Our insourcing and outsourcing recommendations include coverage of topics such as:

  • Supply chain performance visibility
  • Insight into transport and/or warehousing costs
  • Insight into inventory levels and costs
  • Optimization of physical supply chain design
  • Risk analysis
  • Adapting and embedding process changes
  • Analysis of IT capacities and necessary adaptations

Just as with all of our recommendations, we focus on practical solutions and realistic implementation. We can also provide help and support with the roll-out.

Optimization supply chain design

Besides providing advice and support related to logistics insourcing and outsourcing, we can also analyze the design of the whole supply chain. Our supply chain consultancy is aimed at safeguarding your business objectives and strengthening your position in the chain. In order to maximize the benefits of supply chain management for you, we take a multidisciplinary approach.
More about supply chain management

Supply chain and distribution costs

Analyzing the supply chain and optimizing the physical distribution network can offer great potential to save costs. After conducting extensive analysis of your distribution network, we can redesign your network to optimally serve your customer base. Besides identifying cost savings, we also look at ways to optimize your transport, inventory and warehousing activities.
More about distribution network optimization.

Contact Groenewout’s consultants

Sound advice forms the basis of any insourcing & outsourcing project. Needless to say, it is also important to explore the profitability of the analysis activities. Once you have made a decision about insourcing or outsourcing based on our advice, we support you throughout the entire implementation process.

To learn more about logistics insourcing & outsourcing, feel free to contact our experts.

In- & outsourcing logistics references

FAQs

  • It can be advantageous to change from an insourcing to an outsourcing strategy (or vice versa) for your warehousing operation, distribution center or transport activities, for instance. Insourcing or outsourcing allows logistics operations to be consolidated, which in turn enables you to save costs.

  • Insourcing and outsourcing recommendations include coverage of topics such as: Supply chain performance visibility, Insight into transport and/or warehousing costs, Insight into inventory levels and costs, Optimization of physical supply chain design, Risk analysis, Adapting and embedding process changes, Analysis of IT capacities and necessary adaptations.

  • Please feel free to contact our consultants. We’re here to help!

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Topics in insourcing & outsourcing

Service Level Agreement

A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract that lays down the performance indicators and quality criteria for the goods or services to be supplied so that these can be verified at a later date. An SLA formalizes the rights and duties of both parties. An SLA is therefore an indispensable control tool when outsourcing services or making company departments independent.

Setting up a service level agreement with your logistics service providers, for instance, can be a challenging process, and even more so if the SLA must be defined within a legal document. At consulting firm Groenewout we can help you to draw up, formalize and subsequently monitor an SLA.

Implementation logistics outsourcing

In order to give you a sense of our approach relating to insourcing and outsourcing and how we provide insights into your logistics process, we are pleased to outline a project we completed for Boehringer Ingelheim. This manufacturer of pharmaceuticals for human and animal health had its own warehouse in Verviers, Belgium, serving the Belgian market. Meanwhile, the Dutch operation was outsourced to a logistics service provider in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Boehringer Ingelheim enlisted our help in researching the optimal distribution concept.

We supported Boehringer Ingelheim by conducting a feasibility study into whether or not to consolidate the activities. The study concluded that the best solution would be to centralize the logistics. We subsequently supervised the logistics tender process during which logistics service providers were asked to provide details of their service offering and rates. We then supported the implementation of the logistics outsourcing project. Boehringer Ingelheim has since merged its logistics operations in Belgium and The Netherlands and now outsources them to a German logistics service provider.

References

A selection of our customers