$3$PLS

Third$-$party logistics $(3$PL$)$ refers to outside companies that provide logistical services to organizations, including freight forwarding, distribution, warehousing, and transportation. Businesses may streamline their supply chain management and free up resources to focus on key activities by outsourcing these duties. This kind of cooperation streamlines processes, boosts productivity, and helps companies respond faster to market needs. $3$PLs are essential to many industries, such as manufacturing, ecommerce, retail, healthcare, and automotive, since they increase customer happiness, lower costs, and improve supply chain efficiency.

Some of the many different services provided by $3$PLs are outlined below.

Transportation $-$ USE MULTIPLE MODES

$-$Warehousing $-$ provide enough space to accommodate seasonal and other variations

Pick and pack $-$ Picking many SKUs and combining them into a single unit

$-$Vendor managed inventory

Light manufacturing $-$ serving as OEMs' contract manufacturers while sometimes doing minimal production themselves.

Customs clearance and related legal requirements, such certifications for food safety and permissions for hazardous materials.

Trade financing $-$ mitigating currency exposure.

Managing reverse logistics $-$ Sometimes $3$PLs handle all repairs and returns in addition to overseeing the complete reverse logistics process for a customer.