NewStream Blog

Given all the details that a company has to attend to in order to design, develop, test, brand and market a product, it’s not surprising that many businesses don’t put a lot of thought into their product distribution network. That is, until they’re actually ready to start selling units.

Assembly, light assembly, subassembly... These terms can refer to labor processes that create a product by putting a set of pieces together in the form of a device or mechanism. 

Commonly, several different manufacturers supply the various components needed to build a product. Then, an experienced team and proper facilities are required for the assembling of those parts and pieces into finished goods.

Is your business making strides but now you’re starting to see bottlenecks and need to quickly scale your shipping and fulfillment processes to keep up with demand? In the United States, distribution is a design driver because of the increasingly wide range of products offered by companies and due to changes in the efficiency of retail logistics. Utilizing distribution centers not only helps ensure  product availability with minimal back orders, distribution centers also help keep product costs down.

At a fundamental level, companies need to have more cash coming into the business then cash going out. Cash flow, unlike profit, is a fluid concept regarding the movement of funds into and out of a business. During times of crisis or a downturn in the economy, more cash can end up going out than coming in, which can threaten the long-term survival of the business. 

A third-party logistics provider (3PL) offers a broad range of services that can include fulfilling orders. An order fulfillment provider is also sometimes called a fulfillment center and is defined as a company that takes care of tasks associated with picking, packing and shipping of customer orders.