It's tough out there. Distribution managers are besieged to make their operations faster, cheaper, better. At the same time, customer service levels are expected to increase exponentially.

Unfortunately, those are increasingly competing objectives. Faster and cheaper have traditionally been the result of high volume and no customization. Yet customers today are submitting more, smaller orders requiring extensive customization. They also want product packaged for their convenience and ease of handling once it reaches their facilities. They want merchandise shelf ready, ticketed in advance and presented in ways that allow them to fly through their own facilities.

As a result, distribution managers are no longer able to optimize their operations on their terms but must do it on those of their customers. And that has called for some different tactics to get orders out the door faster, cheaper, better to specific customer requirements.

Crossdocking reduces the time product stays within a building. Items are received at one dock and sent directly to an outbound dock or they may be diverted for a short time to a processing area.

Sequencing requires that products be picked in the order that most reduces handling once they arrive at the destination. This saves customers time and costs preparing the products for their own customers.

Postponement delays some of the final manufacturing processes until an order is ready to be filled. As a result, standard products are customized at the last possible minute, maximizing customer service while making inventory more manageable.

Value-added services change a product in some way so that it has greater worth than it did when it entered the building.

While none of the four are a magic bullet to distribution success, each is a valuable tool in balancing the competing demands on DCs today.