Study: 3PLs need to focus more on value-added IT improvements

Study: 3PLs need to focus more on value-added IT improvements    International shippers are generally satisfied with the services of third-party logistics providers, but believe these operators must do more to improve the value of their information technology in supply chain management.
   “While customers agree that IT capabilities are a necessity for 3PL providers, the responses suggest that less than half of the users are satisfied with 3PL IT capabilities; even fewer rely on their 3PL providers for leadership in this critical area,” said the eighth annual Third-Party Logistics Study, released at the Council of Logistics Management meeting in Chicago Tuesday.
   Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Georgia Institute of Technology and FedEx Supply Chain Services conducted the study.
   The study covered global shippers from a dozen industries, such as aerospace, chemical, electronics, retail and telecommunications. “These industries were selected because they view logistics as strategically important and because they are purposefully moving toward integrated supply chain management,” the study said.
   Other key findings in the study regarding the 3PL industry are:
   * Disappointment with some key 3PL core competencies.
   * Dependency of 3PL relationships on greater process integration and broader-based logistics coverage.
   * Increasing value of information.
   * Emerging role of supply chain integration.
   * Need for 3PL providers and shippers to re-invent themselves.
   * Global evolution of 3PL usage.
   “The 3PL industry continues to go through an evolutionary change,” the study said. “Not only are 3PL providers and their capabilities changing, but the expectations that user firms have of their 3PL providers and their services are changing.”
   The study added: “the 3PL industry is finding itself moving forward and beginning to show signs of progress toward maturity.”