Looking to better understand the supply chain industry and how TQL fits into the mix? Click on the questions below to find out more about the industry, the types of companies involved, plus TQL's role as a third party logistics provider.
What is the supply chain industry?
What is involved in the transportation function?
What is a third party logistics provider?
Why do companies use 3PLs?
So, what does TQL do?
A company’s supply chain is its central nervous system for how it creates and distributes a product. The industry is made up of the key players who participate in this process, including manufacturers, wholesalers or distributors, retailers and transportation companies.
There are three main areas of a company’s supply chain. They include:
- Procurement or the “buying” process. This includes the purchasing of the raw materials needed to make the products.
- Production or the “making” process. This includes the manufacturing or assembling of the raw components into the finished goods or parts.
- Distribution or the “movement” process. This includes everything involved in the logistical flow of getting the products from one point to the next. The distribution portion of the supply chain is also called “logistics” and involves aspects such as warehouse management, materials handling, inventory control, packaging and transportation.
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A company’s transportation network includes the scheduling of raw materials or products coming into its production facility as well as the scheduling of the finished products leaving its facility for the next link in the chain.
A company can chose from a variety of different modes or ways of transporting its products. These include by sea, air, land and railway and can be executed by the company’s own resources, such as its private fleet of trucks and truck drivers, or outsourced to a logistics supplier.
If they choose to outsource, a company can hire an independent carrier or a company known as a third party logistics provider. Independent carrier companies range in size from small owner/operators (a person who drives the truck they own) to larger companies that own as many as 10,000+ trucks. TQL is a third party logistics provider.
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Third party logistics providers, also known as 3PLs, serve a similar role as an internal transportation department. They work with carriers and drivers to manage the scheduling and movement of products from point A to point B.
Some 3PLs can do much more than just strictly manage a company’s transportation. For instance, they may also have a cold storage facility in which they warehouse the company’s products. Other 3PLs, like TQL, strictly manage the physical transportation of the company's products.
Additionally, 3PLs can be asset-based, meaning they own their own trucks, or non-asset based (like TQL) in which they do not own any physical assets. They hire the independent carrier companies mentioned above to haul the client's products.
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Often times, the benefit for a company to use a 3PL (versus owning a private fleet or working directly with a carrier company) is time and money savings. Instead of making numerous calls to find a carrier, the company only has to make one call to the 3PL. The 3PL, in turn, does the work to find and negotiate with a carrier. Third party logistics providers also offer their clients greater flexibility, industry expertise and knowledge, large networks of carrier resources and better technology capabilities.
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As a non-asset based third party logistics provider, TQL serves as the middle man between a company who needs to ship something and the carrier who is interested in transporting that product. More specifically, our team of Logistics Account Executives handles all of the details in their clients’ transportation process including sourcing the carrier, negotiating the rates and monitoring the goods while they are in-transit to ensure they are delivered safely and on-time.
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