The Perfect Order: Right Destination

The fourth of Dr. Marien’s 8Rs of his Customer’s Bill of Rights is the Right Destination. Per his original article, the Right Destination was described as:

In today's world, the customer may specify locations that are not ultimate points of sale or use. As firms work on order and shipment consolidations among supplier locations, buyers may buy at the receiving dock of the "assembly" third-party provider.

Legal delivery may take place at the designated supplier's dock. In other cases, buyers want their product not only delivered to the right facility within a complex of facilities at a certain location, but they also want it delivered at point of use, point of sale, or even point of installation.

Adding to the complications are the so-called "gray" markets in which products are diverted to locations other than originally specified delivery locations.

I think that we need to consider the Right Destination from two vendor perspectives: First, what is the right destination for goods that we receive? Second, how do we ensure the right destination for goods that we ship?

Explainer: Responsibility for the Right Destination

Received goods need to be directed to where they will be fulfilled from. Remember the general rule that retailers require West Coast fulfillment from a West Coast location, and East Coast fulfillment from an East Coast location? As such, when you receive your goods, e.g., from overseas, you may receive them at one port (seaport, airport) of entry, which is the right destination for that segment of the supply chain, but the right destination where the distribution of the goods will finally be is likely to be one or more fulfillment centers that you own or contract. Even in-country manufactured goods will likely need to be directed to their right destination, whether that is a distribution center (e.g., if making to stock) or directly to the retailer (e.g., if making to order). Your goods may travel via multiple modes of transportation through multiple journey points from their source until they reach their right destination.

Shipping finished goods to the customer can involve deliveries to distribution centers, stores, or consumers’ homes. This goes back to the question as to who is the customer, a business (B2B) or a person (B2C or D2C), and it may be a combination of both. Note that Dr. Marien identified the right destination as being “point of use, point of sale, or even point of installation.” Could Dr. Marien have been speaking about now-common home delivery services that include set up of furniture, appliances, and electronics? That would have been quite the prediction!

Logistics attributes that are part of destination data and reliant upon good EDI data mapping and translation as well as good vendor compliance routing guide interpretation include:

• Carrier. Was the right carrier selected to ensure that the goods could be conveyed from the source to the destination? Does the selected carrier traverse the route from the source to the destination?
• Mode. Was the right mode (air, sea, land, rail, but realistically ground) selected to ensure that the goods would be properly conveyed?
• Service type. Notably and sometimes notoriously for ground transportation, is the service type correct based on customer requirements, e.g., standard, two-day, overnight?
• Service level. With consumer deliveries to homes of large items like appliances, furniture, bedding, and electronics, service levels can include curb, front door, inside, and setup. Destination is now measured by the inch when it comes to consumer delivery.
• Address. Verification (that the address is the correct one) and validation (that the address exists) of the delivery address helps to minimize errors. This is true whether the address is a distribution center, store, or a person’s home or office.

The Right Destination needs to be thought of from both ends of the supply chain: what is received, and what is shipped.

With an updated perspective of the fourth customer right, the Right Destination, we can move on to the fifth customer right. Up next: The Right Condition.

SC
MR