Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL

Built Ship Smarter after walking 500+ 3PLs. Scaling fulfillment for brands doing 7-9 figs. Supply chain ops/strategy, ecom growth and some humor sprinkled in.

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

DTC Fulfillment KPIs Thread ⬇️📈

Here are my favorite KPIs to keep a pulse on DTC fulfillment performance.

- Order to Delivery (days)
- Order Cycle Time (days)
- Parcel Transit Time (days)
- SLA Adherence (%)
- Parcel CPU ($)
- Fulfillment CPU ($)

I’ll expand on each below!

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@Seanfrank @jacob_posel I thought Jacob was an AI bot?

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

If I could’ve bought stock in @jacob_posel when we met a few years ago I would’ve. I don’t meet many people and say to myself “they’re on another level”, but he’s one of those. Dude is absolutely cracked…and jacked

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@ChadCarleton I’ve been in the walls, you’ve got even cooler muscles to flex for the ops nerds 🔥

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Every household should have a ULINE box cutter in it

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Today marked the end of an era. For the past 2 years, I’ve worn the same black RIDGE silicon ring daily. This wasn’t just any ring, we’ve been through some shit together…to name a few:
- survived 3 box cutter attacks
- prevented finger lacerations from said attacks
- facilitated the fulfillment of over a million DTC orders
- welcomed my son into the world

If the silicon ring did all that, I can only imagine what the metal ones can do. Can confirm wallet man (@Seanfrank) is also ring man. Joining RIDGE luggage army next, something tells me it’s the key to traversing scale.

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Who’s running https://t.co/lhngGjFWD9? If you don’t want to admit it publicly, fine, but please DM me. I’ve been bamboozled from your last product test before rebranding your site to something else. If I find out you’re a no-shipper and weren’t just running proof of concept, game on but you’re cooked.

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Maturity of the brands maybe?

Early on in a brand life cycle, brands are more likely to outsource to a 3PL or lease a building. Owning a warehouse would require a more significant capital commitment and scarier PG. Owning a building and having that risk over your head may lead to less ambition for scaling because the primary focus is on covering your fixed expense.

The 3PL model is so flexible, it’s easier to stay in scale mode. With leasing their own facility, perhaps it’s a case of a brand having that hunger to scale and not wanting to take on the risk of purchasing the real estate. They know with a lease they can outgrow their space and figure it out.

Maybe? That’s the best I’ve got, Aaron

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@Seanfrank Tbh, more bullish on Ridge AI than Allbirds AI

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@jacob_posel When in Indy, wear a hi-viz vest. Keep the people guessing what the AI savant is building

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Dear Nate,
The 12-tons of stolen product likely represents a really small amount of KitKat bar consumption in the region. A mature consumable brand like KitKat has loads of historical data to understand periodic runrates by geographical area and sales channel. Given this data, they likely hold a healthy amount of safety stock on hand across packaging, raw materials, WIP and finished goods in their supply chain. So let’s pretend this did cause a shortage today, they’d likely be able to recover supply levels to meet immediate consumption needs in the region within 48-hrs. Keep calm and KitKat on

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@Seanfrank @drewfallon12 Ridge fragrance would do numbers

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Two like-minded 3PL founders walk into the largest Bass Pro Shop in the world…

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

You have data to indicate they’re selling the exact 50 lot numbers that were impacted, how many units of each lot number were produced and how many they have on hand? You know exactly where this issue stemmed from and that there are more lots impacted than what’s being reported?

Having seen and worked on several similar situations across food and bev and supplements, continuing to sell unaffected inventory is normal and allowed by governing bodies as long as the requested documentation has been provided to the governing bodies and their guidance is followed throughout the process.

The reason behind lot controlled inventory is two-fold:
1. Quality control - if something like this happens, you can be responsible and inform potentially impacted consumers.
2. Risk management - the amount of product to be recalled is isolated to impacted lots, not the entire net of inventory on-hand.

Just as this brand has lot controlled inventory, their suppliers should as well; from packaging down to raw materials. As finished goods are produced the BOMs for each batch should contain component lot numbers as well. I’m not associated with this brand in any way, but I’ve seen enough of these situations be due to everything other than gross negligence to know that the brand should not be dragged or judged until facts are known. ANY consumable brand runs the risk of an event like this; the responsible ones comply with governing bodies and bounce back, the negligent ones die.

Being an informed/concerned consumer is one thing, but passing judgment without having all facts in front of us is another. Time will tell, truly.

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@ZachOsterman A man of the people

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

@ryanhammer09 Have you been to Assembly Hall in Bloomington?

[Bryant Haines @Coach_BHaines]

Play 1. Try 5. Get 6. #NeverDaunted

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

I had to let someone go this year for not being incredibly productive. The final straw was ordering DoorDash AFTER lunch break, being told he cannot take food/drinks on the floor, then sneaking it back there and hiding behind a pallet eating. I went back there after I saw the Taco Bell bag gone from the break room and call his name….he poked his head out between two skids and looked me dead in the eye with a quesadilla hanging out of his mouth.

I wish this were satire

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

Maybe it’s my sleep-deprivation talking, but when I’m walking out of the warehouse late at night, missing my family, and I see this logo as a shadow, I feel a ton of pride and gratitude. I never would’ve thought that hopping on twitter sharing my supply chain thoughts would’ve evolved into this. It genuinely means the world to me that our brands trust us to take care of their babies and we take it personally. It means everything to me that I’ve got a staff that cares as much about this as I do.

From my staff and I - to the fellow 3PLs doing it the right way, we salute you. To our brands that trust us - thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. This means the world to my team and I. We love you all and we love Q4.

Cheers ❤️

[Cody | Supply Chain & 3PL @ShipSmarter]

If you know what this is, we should be friends