Question 1

What is contract warehousing?

Accepted Answer

Contract warehousing is a dedicated logistics model in which a third-party logistics provider operates warehouse space, labor, technology, equipment, and distribution processes for a single customer under a long-term operating agreement. Unlike public warehousing, where multiple customers share space and resources, contract warehousing is designed around one company's inventory profile, throughput, compliance requirements, systems, service levels, and growth plans.

Question 2

What is a dedicated distribution center?

Accepted Answer

A dedicated distribution center is a warehouse operated exclusively for one company. Labor, technology, equipment, inventory processes, reporting, and operating procedures are designed around that customer's supply chain rather than shared across multiple warehouse customers.

Question 3

What does a contract warehousing provider manage?

Accepted Answer

A contract warehousing provider may manage the facility, workforce, warehouse management system, material handling equipment, automation, inventory control, quality programs, value-added services, reporting, transportation coordination, and continuous improvement.

Question 4

What is the difference between contract warehousing and public warehousing?

Accepted Answer

Contract or dedicated warehousing assigns space, labor, technology, and processes to one customer under a long-term operating agreement. Public warehousing shares those resources across multiple customers on a variable rate card. Contract fits stable, high-volume, complex operations; public fits seasonal, overflow, or early-stage volume. Taylor operates both models.

Question 5

Can Taylor Logistics take over an existing warehouse from another 3PL?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Taylor Logistics can assume management of an existing warehouse or distribution center, including operational leadership, workforce transition, inventory validation, SOP development, technology strategy, training, KPI baselining, systems cutover, and go-live stabilization.

Question 6

Can Taylor Logistics retain our existing warehouse employees?

Accepted Answer

In many transitions, yes. Taylor evaluates the existing workforce, retains valuable institutional knowledge where appropriate, and layers Taylor leadership, training standards, and SOPs on top.

Question 7

How long does a contract warehouse implementation take?

Accepted Answer

Existing-facility takeovers typically run 6 to 10 weeks. New-building standups run a typical 16-week plan covering scoping, lease and build-out, racking and material handling installation, SynapseWMS configuration, hiring, training, inventory migration, parallel run, and go-live.

Question 8

What WMS does Taylor Logistics use?

Accepted Answer

Every Taylor warehouse runs SynapseWMS by Made4Net, supported by an in-house implementation and superuser team. Real-time inventory, directed putaway, multi-mode picking, lot and serial control, FEFO and FIFO enforcement, labor management, and EDI and API integration are standard.

Question 9

Does Taylor Logistics support EDI and API integration?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Standard warehouse EDI transactions are supported including 940, 943, 944, 945, 947, 856 ASN, 810 Invoice, and 997 Functional Acknowledgment. APIs support near-real-time exchanges such as inventory lookups, order creation, shipment status, receipt confirmation, and exception notifications.

Question 10

Can Taylor Logistics integrate with SAP, Oracle, or other ERP systems?

Accepted Answer

Taylor designs warehouse integrations around enterprise ERP environments including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, NetSuite, and Infor. Integration scope is defined during implementation based on the existing architecture and data requirements, typically via EDI, API, SFTP, or flat file.

Question 11

Can Taylor Logistics operate inside a customer-required WMS such as Blue Yonder or Manhattan?

Accepted Answer

For enterprises with established technology standards, Taylor can evaluate operating requirements involving customer-directed platforms such as Blue Yonder, Manhattan, SAP, or Oracle. Three paths exist: deploy Synapse as the core, integrate Synapse into the customer stack, or evaluate operating within a customer-required WMS environment.

Question 12

Does Taylor Logistics provide inventory visibility and custom reporting?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A customer portal provides real-time inventory by SKU, lot, and location, plus order status, receiving history, and inbound and outbound reporting. Taylor's in-house WMS team builds and revises operational, inventory, quality, and financial reports against customer KPIs.

Question 13

Does Taylor Logistics operate food-grade and SQF warehouses?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Taylor brings the food-safety playbook from its public food-grade warehouses to dedicated sites, including SQF audit preparation, master sanitation, allergen segregation, integrated pest management, GMP training, and audit-day support.

Question 14

How does Taylor Logistics manage warehouse quality holds?

Accepted Answer

Lot, serial, and expiration data are captured at receipt. Inventory failing inspection is placed on hold, physically segregated and systemically blocked from allocation, then routed through customer QA review and dispositioned as release, rework, or disposal with a documented audit trail.

Question 15

How much does contract warehousing cost?

Accepted Answer

Contract warehousing is typically priced as a combination of storage, handling, value-added services, and a management component, structured against forecasted volume. Rather than quoting a generic rate card, Taylor builds a current-state versus future-state total-cost model including real estate, labor, turnover, material handling equipment, racking, WMS and IT, compliance, idle capacity, and transportation before recommending a solution.

Question 16

Can Taylor Logistics implement warehouse automation?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Taylor evaluates and implements bolt-on technologies around the core WMS based on volume, SKU profile, labor requirements, order characteristics, storage density, throughput, and return on investment. Deployed examples include Gather AI inventory drones, Cascade layer picking, and Robopac automated wrapping.

Question 17

Can Taylor Logistics manage transportation from a dedicated warehouse?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Taylor's freight brokerage covers truckload, LTL, drayage, intermodal, and expedited across all 50 states, and Taylor Distributing provides asset-based Midwest capacity out of Cincinnati. Both can be tendered through the same account team that runs the dedicated facility.

Question 18

When should a company consider contract warehousing?

Accepted Answer

Common triggers include entering a new market or distribution region, outgrowing an existing distribution center, high warehouse labor turnover, an approaching lease expiration, facility acquisition or consolidation, near-plant inventory needs, reducing warehouse capital requirements, implementing automation, WMS performance problems, D2C or omnichannel expansion, preparing for volume growth, higher food-safety requirements, and building supply-chain contingency capacity.

Question 19

How does Taylor Logistics measure dedicated warehouse performance?

Accepted Answer

Performance is measured against agreed SLAs and KPIs including OTIF, inventory accuracy, dock-to-stock, order cycle time, units per labor hour, throughput, and exception rates. Reporting runs daily operationally, weekly as a KPI scorecard, monthly in performance review, and quarterly in executive business review.

Question 20

How long has Taylor Logistics been in business?

Accepted Answer

Taylor Logistics was founded in 1850 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is now in its 6th and 7th generation of family leadership. It is women- and family-owned with no private equity ownership. The dedicated contract warehousing model has been delivered in its current form since 2014.