Three Reasons To House Your Own Metal Distributor On Your Industry Grounds

7 January 2015
 Categories: Industrial & Manufacturing, Blog


Running a metal fabrication factory means that every step in the production process is carefully choreographed to produce high-quality products. You want those products to be the best your company makes, both fresh off the line and when they arrive at your customers' doors.

For this reason, and a few others, you may want to consider building and keeping your own warehouse and distribution center on the same grounds as your fabrication plant:

Cutting Costs by Cutting Down on Shipping

This is one very good reason for having your own distribution center. The added expenses you might or currently have with shipping your products to a separate metal distributor are cut out of the equation completely. The delivery trucks can come directly to your factory, pick up the customers' orders, and take them back to the shipping company's local branch to ship across the country.

You are not paying to ship your products to a distributor, and then paying the distributor to store them, and paying the distributor again to ship to customers. 

Highly Organized Storage for All Your Products

Your own distribution center also means that all of the products your employees produce go from the inspection floor to the warehouse. Here, they are packaged, stacked, and inventoried in your very own computer system, allowing you to keep track of everything your industry has made, stored, and sold.

Additionally, you are able to keep track of your daily production rates, your average monthly production rates, and your sales numbers. All of it is much more accurate when your distribution center is connected directly to, and is an extension of, your own factory.

Damage to Your Products Is Caught Before Products are Shipped

It happens. It is a natural part of the shipping industry to expect that a certain percentage of goods will arrive in customers' hands slightly damaged. However, you can prevent almost all of the potentially damaged goods from shipping out by having your own distribution center.

Your distribution center employees can examine everything they ready for shipping before it is shipped out, and avoid shipping anything that does not meet your company's standards. That way, any damage done to your shipped products is the problem of your selected shipping company, and they have to reimburse you for damaged or lost goods that you have to replace.

An Alternative That Still Allows You Most of the Control

If you would prefer to avoid the building and operation costs associated with having your own distribution center onsite, then you could partner with another company. Your partner could build and operate the metal distribution center while you maintain control over the products stored and shipped and your computer system could be unified such that you still get all the benefits of having your own distribution center.

With the partner's building located on the same property as your factory, you can walk over and check on any aspect of the shipping business you want, any time you want. It is another way to cut many business expenses while still maintaining your personal level of standards for metal fabrication and distribution.

To learn more, contact a company like State Technology & Manufacturing with any questions you have.


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