On behalf of the entire DCL team I hope that 2019 has been a successful year for you and your business. Thank you for making DCL Logistics your 3PL partner.
As we reach the end of the year, DCL Logistics continues to see strong shipping growth across our network of warehouses, not just during peak holiday dates, but steadily throughout the year.
It’s been a phenomenally fun year—I’ve enjoyed working with our amazing customers on their growth strategies and collaborating with our internal teams to build capacity for the future. Here are my reflections on 2019, and aspirations for the coming year, 2020:
The Louisville Facility is Live! – We finally opened our new facility in the spring of this year! While it was thoughtfully planned (and was 3 years in the making), it has blown away my expectations in terms of design and scalability. It has made a difference to have bicoastal shipping to many of our customers — approximately 25% of our brands have moved to a distributed inventory model, shipping across multiple locations and taking advantage of Louisville’s central location to express delivery times and lower shipping costs. If you are interested in shipping out of Louisville, we would love to host you for a visit and tour of the facility at any time.
Adding Automation: Picking Robots – At the end of last year, we embarked on an audacious plan to develop our own robots. By automating more of our shipping processes we plan to offset annual rising labor costs of 4%-7% and increase fulfillment capacity. This past quarter, we launched the first picking robots in our Fremont facility with a few select clients, and we are amazed with its speed and picking quality. In 2020, we’ll be looking to release more of these robots in the other facilities. We are excited about the potential of this automation. If you are in the area, let us give you a demo!
Our DCL Team is Growing – We believe that every person at DCL makes a huge impact and contribution to our business, and to our customers’ business since we are an extension of your brand. We added key members to the leadership team to push improved customer satisfaction and operational excellence—notably Brian Tu (CRO), John Crick (Director of Client Services), and Paul Shoup (Director of Operations, Louisville). In addition to these three, there are many other new and talented team members who joined us in 2019, especially in our growing Louisville operation.
Support of High Growth Brands – One of the fun aspects of our job is that we get to work with high growth brands who are innovating in their respective spaces. I’m proud that we have launched them into new B2C or retail channels for the first time or have supported them with value-added customized services. We must continue to adapt to your ever-changing needs. Here are a few of the recent brands we’re proud to be partnered with – Skydio, Bond Touch, and Rylo.
Our team will be attending CES 2020 in early January. If you plan to be at CES this year, we would love for you to join us at our annual DCL/Flexport party on Tuesday, January 7th. If you cannot make the party but would like to connect at CES please reach out to us at [email protected] to schedule some time.
It’s always a challenge to balance the unique requirements of our customers with strong growth across multiple facilities, but customer satisfaction and quality continues to be our number one focus. With that in mind, we started a program to measure our performance through quarterly customer surveys. It’s been huge for the leadership team to receive feedback throughout the year—we are dedicated to making our services the best we possibly can for our customers.
We always love hearing from you, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, suggestions, or feedback. Wishing you a successful end to 2019 and a great start to the New Year. I look forward to connecting with you soon!
Cheers,
DCL Logistics, President
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