When you own your own business, you know the pressures of keeping up with increasing consumer demands and expectations of efficiency. Sometimes, the demands for speed can seem impossible for a small business to meet, but there are ways to improve speeds. Check out this guide to learn how to improve your overseas shipping speeds.
Focus on manufacturing
If your manufacturing process takes a long time, it is indirectly slowing down your shipping speeds. Do a study on your own sales and production to find out where those numbers don’t match each other. If you adjust your manufacturing to keep up the needs and demands of your current market, you will have fewer delays in shipment because you won’t need to factor in manufacturing time before you can ship the items.
Reduce your damage during shipment
Damage to products during shipment can substantially slow down your shipment speeds. When products sustain damage, they are no longer viable to sell. This often results in costly reshipments to return the damaged products to the United States and ship out replacement products. This is expensive, wasteful, and slows down delivery times. To reduce this issue, learn how to prepare your goods for overseas delivery so you can properly wrap them, stack them, and ship them, knowing the loads won’t tip over or bend in transit.
Improve your distribution process
If your port is thousands of miles from your manufacturing plant, consider building a distribution center to help speed the distribution chain up. Often, a long distribution chain can lead to slower shipping speeds and higher employee turnover in transportation specialists and truck drivers. Hiring a distribution manager to oversee the processes, identify the places that lack efficiency, and fill those gaps is one of the best investments you can make for your business’s shipping speeds.
There are a ton of different ways to improve your overseas shipping speeds, and looking into all your options before deciding is the best course of action. Every business is unique, and your business needs a unique plan to fit your needs and your budget.