Logistics Providers Adapt Services To Shifting Demand

Changing market dynamics, particularly globalization of manufacturing and sourcing, are impacting the types of value-added services customers want from third-party logistics providers.

July, 2006 - Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies Magazine
By: Jean V. Murphy

Fidelitone Logistics, Chicago, is one of the nation's largest service parts logistics specialists, supporting more than 1,000 well known consumer brands and more than 120,000 individual products. "If you break the glass tray in your Microwave or lose your television remote control, we are probably the company that will send out a replacement, on behalf of our client," says Tom Giovingo, executive vice president. Working with the nation's largest provider of home services, retailers like Best Buy and manufacturers like Weber and Black and Decker, Fidelitone Logistics provides database management, inventory forecasting, purchasing and distribution for repair parts and accessories.

"We maintain a database of more than seven million entries," says Giovingo. "If someone bought a Weber grill in 1999 and needs a part today, we have to be able to readily locate in our database the right part, its availability and today's price."

Fidelitone Logistics' solutions all are customized, he adds. "We don't handle the Best Buy order management or reverse flow in the same way we handle the Black and Decker business. Each customer has its own unique requirements." That is reflected in the variety of products Fidelitone Logistics stores and ships. "It ranges from a single two ounce screw or a fragile light bulb to 100 chest freezers and 200-pound air compressors," says Giovingo.*

*Excerpts from the July 2006 article.