As business organizations in every vertical sector know all too well, inbound logistics is one aspect of the trading-partner community that is rife with problems. Because there are so many steps involved in getting materials or products from the supplier to the buyer, there are so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Each error is a potentially expensive one, in terms of time, labor, money, customer satisfaction and, ultimately, competitive position in the marketplace.

The complexity of inbound logistics makes it tough to get a handle on the process. Fortunately, however, there are strategic and tactical tools available to help companies boost the logistics performance of their trading partners. By putting in place a formal partner performance management program, a business organization can dramatically reduce the number and impact of inbound-logistics problems and thereby dramatically strengthen its competitive abilities.

This white paper will take a brief look at some of the common pain points associated with inbound logistics; discuss how a formal program to manage trading partners performance can tackle those pain points; and detail some strategies that make up such a program.