In this episode, I was joined by the president of B&C Logistics, Brian Severson. B&C Logistics is a 3PL that provides multiple distribution services including food grade storage and handling for small to medium-sized businesses to help them grow and distribute to larger retailers. We discuss food grade warehouses, OTIF, and MABD.

Key Takeaways

• When it comes to distribution, often times a box is a box but there are some intricacies when it comes to different industries and types of products that you are handling. Last week we talked about some of the unique factors for the beer, wine and spirits industry with BWS Logistics and in this episode, I speak with Brian about some of the unique aspects of food-grade distribution. B&C Logistics provides food-grade storage and has a top rating when it comes to being audited to ensure that they are keeping food-grade products safe for the consumer. Brian dives into some of the challenges in maintaining a food-grade warehouse and how you should go about ensuring that your 3PL is keeping up to these standards. He recommends diving into the audit history and those report findings. He explains how detailed they can get even getting down to how many flies are in your trap and what type of species they are.
• B&C Logistics has vast experience dealing with larger retailers and their strict requirements. They specialize in helping to get your company distributed through Wal-Mart and one thing they know very well is the importance of OTIF when it comes to these retailers. OTIF stands for on time and in full meaning that the order was delivered on time when it was set to by the retailer and that the order was in full meaning all items and quantities were delivered together and at the correct time. Being on time ties into the MABD which is the must arrive by date. Hitting the MABD plays heavily into the on-time portion of OTIF. These metrics are incredibly important when dealing with these retailers because this is how they will score you. As Brian explains if your OTIF is low then there is a good chance you will lose shelf space at the retailer and that will severely hurt your business.

Listen to the episode below and let us know how you hit your OTIF numbers in the comments.