5 ways our Supply Chain Solutions team can enhance your supply chain
VersaCold is an expansive end-to-end supply chain company and one of North America’s largest cold chain networks. But did you know we have an entire Supply Chain Solutions team dedicated to our customers? Meet the answer to the problems you never even knew you had. This is our know-how.
Our Supply Chain Solutions team works to assess our customers’ requirements, processes, and activities throughout the supply chain—including warehousing services, transportation, and network design. This unique team strives for continuous improvement with one end goal in mind: getting your food where it needs to be, efficiently, safely, and fresh.
Here are 5 ways our Supply Chain Solutions Team can enhance your supply chain.
1. IMPROVED PROCESSES AND EFFICIENCIES
With a team of supply chain experts dedicated to developing the optimal plan and solution for your products, of course you’ll see the benefits. The Supply Chain Solutions team offers solutions and recommendations to reduce your cost of business, drive incremental sales, reduce inventory, and meet your customer service goals.
Kirk Short, VP of Supply Chain Effectiveness at VersaCold, explains that his team begins by evaluating the job at hand.
“The team focuses on the inventory and the amount of space needed for storage. First, we calculate the resources that are needed to support the business in terms of racking, labour, MHE (material handling equipment), automation, and trucks. Considering all of these variables, we then assess which of our locations is best suited for the customer’s requirements,” says Short. “The solution developed provides the customer with the tools they need to optimize efficiencies and drive success moving forward.”
The Supply Chain Solutions team is focused on assessing customers’ requirements in all areas of the supply chain, so you’re covered from your overall network and warehousing through to the last mile of delivery.
2. TEAM OF DIVERSE TALENTS
Any successful team needs a good mix of talent, skills, and backgrounds. The Supply Chain Solutions team combines the competency of industrial engineering with supply chain management, deep analytical skills, and diverse educational backgrounds including business, engineering, and mathematics.
A diverse team also allows us to bring different perspectives to help solve customer problems. By properly understanding customers’ frustrations, challenges, and experiences, we can focus on every problem in their supply chain to find the right solution. Short, who has spanned a multitude of industries himself, can attest to this.
“I’ve spent the majority of my career managing global supply chains on the customer side, utilizing the services we now provide,” he says. “My background allows me to bring a customer view to the solution development process.”
It’s true what they say. No one understands the customer better than a customer themselves.
3. 6TH SENSE ANTICIPATION
The Supply Chain Solutions team takes customer understanding to the next level. “By conducting in-depth analysis of our customers’ business patterns, we’re able to highlight issues that are about to arise that may not be readily apparent to the customer,” explains Short. With proactive analysis, VersaCold can solve your problem before you even know you have one.
The team is armed to combat issues as they arise, such as fluctuations in volume, productivity, or flow. The team offers an objective set of eyes that help determine where gaps are and where improvements can be made.
Short recalls the time he spent on the floor of an operation that was going through a significant growth phase. “We looked at activity to determine where there was waste and how they could do things differently,” he says. “Feedback was provided to our operations and the customer to identify opportunities for improvement across the board.”
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to cold chain logistics. Anticipating and leaning into customer concerns keeps VersaCold ahead of supply chain issues.
4. FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
VersaCold’s Supply Chain Solutions team always focuses on the customer experience. If a customer isn’t satisfied, the job isn’t done.
“We work with new customers as well as existing accounts, hand in hand with business development and operations teams,” says Short. He stresses the importance of collaboration combined with communication for a good customer experience.
“Thorough probing conversations and deep review of the customer’s data allow us to uncover the specifics of a problem. When you better understand the problem, you can better prepare a solution.”
5. ONE STEP AHEAD
All this ladders back up to the well-rounded know-how that gives VersaCold its competitive edge. Being the leading company in cold chain logistics offering this type of resource gives VersaCold’s customers a real advantage.
Our Supply Chain Solutions team is the know-how of our network, providing an outside view of your organization, a fresh set of eyes to your problems, and a team of people dedicated to bettering your business. It’s just another way VersaCold ensures that your food matters.
