THE MAJOR problem in outsourcing to a third party is that control of the operation is relinquished and the company does not have total access to what is happening in the new environment.
The answer to that says Robin Thompson, Kuehne & Nagel's Johannesburg-based sea freight manager, is to have one of your own staff members placed permanently within the new operation.
We find it safest to have someone right on their premises. They are then able to monitor what the sub-contractor is doing. We do it the other way around as well, when we have staff situated in the confines of the original shipper of the product we are to handle.
Sometimes there as many as four of our own staff based inhouse on the premises of a single shipper. The big motor industry people prefer to work on that concept and it proves very successful.
We outsource mainly our warehouse and transportation operations and, to some extent, our IT functions. Groupage operations, for instance, are handled by Thrutainers on our behalf. They sub-contract to us, do all the packing and unpacking, and their road department trucks all of our requirements in and out of neighbouring African states. We outsource all of our inland operations to another freight agent.
K&N has joint venture operations in warehousing in the coastal ports of Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London, but is now considering moving all of these services into one organisation in order to have greater control.
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