Warehousing and export packing are both evergreen priorities for countless businesses, many of whom use separate suppliers to manage each one. That often seems like the most logical choice, but it can increase the time that your team spends coordinating suppliers, and create gaps in accountability. Additional handling between providers can also increase the risk of damage or delays. An all-in-one provider can bring both services together to give your business a single point of contact and a clearer view of how your goods move through storage, preparation and dispatch.
At Tuplin, we offer warehousing and export packing as an integrated service, which can help to maximise your business’s operational efficiency at each stage, as well as ensure that your shipment schedules can be coordinated with greater accuracy. Here, our team goes into more detail about how integration can make such an important difference to your storage and shipping operations.
What’s the problem with splitting warehousing and export packing?
Some of the biggest issues with using different suppliers aren’t always evident right from the off, but they can start to become gradually clearer once your goods begin moving between the storage and packing stages. Some can be specific to certain businesses, but the most universal disadvantages can be broadly categorised into the following.
Delays and damage
One of the clearest risks can arise when your goods need to move between separate suppliers. Every handover can introduce extra handling and additional transit – for example, your goods may need to leave the warehouse, travel to a separate packing facility and be handled again before they’re prepared for shipment. That movement can create further opportunities for delays or damage, especially when your goods are large, fragile, high-value or time-sensitive. Even when each supplier manages their own stage carefully, the transfer between them can still cause potentially avoidable disruption to your overall schedule.
Communication
If your warehouse and export packing services are managed by different suppliers, it often means that each team only holds part of the information about your goods. The warehouse team may know how your items have been stored and handled, while the packing company may receive only the details that have been passed on before the handover. That division can create ambiguity around critical information like the condition of your goods, their handling history, and their specific packing requirements. Your team may then need to act as the link between both suppliers, which can slow decisions and increase the amount of coordination that each project requires. On a time-sensitive shipment, even a small communication gap can affect your deadline.
Culpability
If your goods are subject to any damage or delays, any kind of divided responsibility on a larger scale can make it harder to establish where the problem began. It’s possible the warehouse may attribute the issue to the packing company, while the packing company may point to the goods’ storage or handling before arrival. If that happens, you may ultimately find yourself involved in resolving a dispute between two suppliers, gathering records and establishing who’s accountable. That process can take time away from dealing with the shipment itself, and make it harder to reach a quick resolution. It can also affect your deadline while each supplier reviews their own part of the process.
Costs
This is a fairly obvious one, but still worth highlighting; using two separate organisations can create duplicated costs across your operation. You may be paying for storage, transport between facilities and packing as separate services, alongside the internal cost of managing both supplier relationships. Those additional charges can accumulate across regular or high-volume shipments, while your team may also spend more time arranging handovers, checking progress and reconciling invoices between both providers.
How Tuplin’s integrated service can help
At Tuplin, we provide both warehousing and export packing to our clients as part of an integrated service, which means that your goods can remain under our care throughout their time in storage and their preparation for shipment. Keeping everything within one organisation can reduce unnecessary handling, give your team clearer visibility and make the whole process easier to coordinate. Here’s how each part of our service works together to manage your goods throughout their journey.
Receiving and storage
When your goods arrive at one of our warehouses, our staff can receive them, book them in and store them securely until you need them. As part of this, we record the relevant details at the point of arrival, giving you a clear record of your goods and their location. Our warehouse staff are also trained in packing, so you can trust that the people who handle your goods during storage can remain involved when those goods need to be prepared for export. That can help to preserve important information about their condition, handling requirements and storage history.
Export packing
Once you request a shipment, our team can assess the goods you have earmarked for transport, and determine the most appropriate packaging for them. We can then design and manufacture a bespoke case where necessary, taking account of each item’s dimensions, weight and transport requirements. We can also pack your goods to the relevant export standards within the same facility, with the packaging prepared around the needs of the shipment. This means your goods won’t need to travel to a separate packing company before dispatch, which can reduce the amount of handling the shipment requires.
Freight forwarding
If your operations call for it, we can also arrange your freight forwarding through the same facility. Our freight team can manage your booking, prepare your documentation and arrange your collection according to your shipment’s destination and requirements. They can also coordinate the collection around the packing schedule and the point at which your goods are ready to leave the warehouse, so your shipment can move through the facility more efficiently, with fewer administrative steps for your team.
Account management
Our warehouse staff, packing technicians and freight teams all work within the same organisation, which means that your shipment can progress through each stage as part of one coordinated service. You’ll have a single account manager to oversee the entire process, giving your business a consistent point of contact with full visibility of your project. This account manager can track your goods throughout their time in the warehouse and coordinate the relevant teams once you’re ready to prepare your shipment for dispatch.
The operational benefits at a glance
Who benefits the most from this type of service?
Our customers encompass include organisations working in a wide range of different sectors, including (but not limited to):
- Manufacturers and distributors who ship to international customers on a regular basis
- Businesses with irregular but high-value export projects – giving them the flexibility to store things without a long term commitment and pack when required
- Companies that have had shipment damage under a previous packing arrangement, and want a higher-accountability solution
- Businesses who are managing time-critical projects, and have previously dealt with problems arising from delays between storage and packing
Tuplin’s warehousing and export packing capability
Our integrated service is backed by more than 62,000 sq ft of warehouse space across our Gatwick, Stansted, Royston and Newmarket sites. This network gives you access to short-term and long-term storage that can accommodate your project schedule, with trained export packing technicians managing the receipt and storage of your goods at every location.
Each site has the equipment and technical capability required to handle a wide range of consignments. Our forklift and heavy-lifting capacity extends to loads of up to 10,000kg, which means that our teams can safely manage substantial machinery and other specialist goods within the facility.
We also manufacture ISPM15-certified timber packaging on-site, providing case design and manufacturing services tailored to your goods and their transport requirements. Depending on the level of protection your shipment requires, our technicians can incorporate foam lining, vapour barriers, corrosion protection and heat-sealed wrapping into the packing specification. Our freight team can then arrange the onward shipment and prepare the relevant customs documentation through the same site.
Choose an integrated service for complete peace of mind
With more than 40 years of experience, at Tuplin, we combine warehousing, export packing and freight forwarding into a single turnkey service. That’s made us the top choice for businesses all over the UK, many of whom choose us for the flexibility and accountability we provide.
Our 62,000 sq ft of warehousing capacity means that we can accommodate regular storage requirements and time-sensitive project work across all four of our sites. Our warehouse staff and packing technicians can then coordinate each consignment throughout storage and export preparation, giving your business one consistent point of contact throughout the project. That means you can benefit from fewer handovers and clearer communication, especially with high-value goods or time-sensitive projects.
If you currently use separate providers for warehousing and export packing, or you want to reduce the time that your team spends coordinating both, we can review your storage requirements and export schedule before recommending the right approach. Get in touch with our team today.
