Value Added Logistics Services

Most of the cost that importers think is unavoidable is created by where work happens rather than whether it happens. Labels applied at a factory in Asia to the wrong specification have to be reapplied in the United Kingdom anyway. Cartons packed for a wholesaler have to be broken down for a retailer. A production run held for a missing component sits in a container while a two hour job goes undone. Nostrac Shipping does that work in the warehouse, between the port and the customer, where it is cheap, fast and correctable. It is the part of our service clients notice least at the quotation stage and value most after a season of it.

What We Do in the Warehouse

All of the following are carried out on receipt, in storage or at the point of despatch:

• Labelling and barcoding — Retailer specific case and pallet labels, barcode application and verification, product and carton marking, multilingual label sets for export orders and relabelling where a buyer changes specification after production.
• Kitting, bundling and sub assembly — Building multipacks, promotional bundles, display ready units, spare parts kits and simple sub assemblies from components received separately, so one saleable item goes out instead of five pieces.
• Repacking and repalletising — Breaking bulk into retail or trade packs, changing carton counts, rebuilding to pallet specifications and configurations the receiving depot accepts, and turning loose loaded containers into stable palletised units.
• Quality inspection and rework — Goods in checks against your specification, counting and weighing, sample inspection, and rework of damaged, mislabelled or non conforming stock instead of returning it to origin.
• Export and protective packing — Case and crate packing, corner and edge protection, moisture protection and desiccants, shrink and stretch wrapping, banding and load securing for road, sea and air movements.
• Pick and pack fulfilment — Order picking to line or item level, packing to your presentation standard, insert and documentation handling, and despatch through parcel, pallet or courier channels.
• Returns and reverse flows — Receipt, inspection, grading, repackaging of saleable stock and consolidation of what has to go back to the supplier or on for disposal.

Why Doing It Here Usually Costs Less

The arithmetic is consistent across sectors:

• Mistakes are caught before they multiply — A labelling error found at the factory becomes a whole shipment wrong. The same error found on receipt into our warehouse affects the pallets you have not sent out yet.
• You ship product, not packaging — Bulk packed goods use the container far better than retail ready cases do. Building the presentation here means paying freight on goods rather than on air and cardboard.
• Specifications change late — Buyers change labels, pack counts and promotions after the goods have been made. Work held in the warehouse can follow those changes. Work completed in a factory eight weeks away cannot.
• Storage and handling combine — If the stock is already with us, the work happens between receipt and despatch with no extra movement, no extra transport leg and no double handling charge.
• Small volumes stay viable — Factories price setup, so short runs and trial lines are expensive to have finished at origin. Warehouse work scales down to a pallet, which is what a new line needs.

Running It Properly

Value added work fails when it is treated as informal labour, so we run it as a controlled process:

• A written work instruction — Every job has a specification agreed with you before it starts, with a sample or photograph of the finished unit, so the result does not depend on who is on shift.
• First off approval — The first completed unit is checked and signed off, and where you want it, photographed and sent to you before the run continues.
• Stock accuracy throughout — Components in and finished units out are recorded, so your stock report shows what exists rather than what was ordered, and batch or lot references survive the process.
• Lead times you can plan against — Jobs are quoted with a realistic turnaround, and we tell you early if a component shortage or a volume spike will move it, which is usually recoverable if you hear about it days rather than hours ahead.

Related Services

• Storage, stock control and call off delivery on our warehousing and 3PL page
• Retailer compliance and depot delivery on our retail and FMCG logistics page
• Garment processing and presentation on our textiles and apparel page
• Declarations and procedures through our UK customs clearance service
• Spare parts and component kitting on our automotive logistics page

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the smallest job you will take on?

A pallet. Short runs, trial lines and one off rework jobs are a normal part of the work, and they are often the ones where doing the job at origin makes no commercial sense because of factory setup costs. We will tell you honestly when a job is small enough that the setup outweighs the benefit.

Can you apply retailer specific labels and pack to their pallet specification?

Yes, and this is one of the most common reasons clients move the work to us. Send us the retailer's supplier manual or the label template and pallet specification, and we build to it: label format and placement, carton marking, pallet type, height and wrapping. Getting this right before the vehicle loads is what prevents a rejection at the depot door.

How do you price value added work?

Either per unit for repeatable tasks such as labelling, kitting or repacking, or per hour for inspection and rework where the scope is unpredictable until the stock is opened. For a new job we run a small sample first, measure how long it actually takes, and price from that rather than from a guess. Quotes state what is included, because handling, consumables and disposal of packaging are where surprise costs usually hide.

Can you inspect goods on arrival and tell me what condition they are in?

Yes. We check quantities against the packing list, look for transit damage, and inspect against your own specification to an agreed sample size, with photographs. Doing this on receipt matters commercially: claims against a carrier or an insurer are far easier to support with dated records and images made at the point of unload than with a complaint raised weeks later by an end customer.

Do you handle export packing for sea and air shipments?

Yes, including case and crate packing, protective and moisture packing, banding, wrapping and load securing, with the packing list and marks prepared to match. Where goods are sensitive to handling or to moisture on a long sea leg, tell us the destination and the transit time, because the right protection for a short road move is not enough for a monsoon season arrival.

Can you build promotional multipacks and display units?

Yes. Multipacks, banded offers, mixed cases and display ready units are built to your specification with a first off approval before the run. This is work best done close to the market, since promotions are agreed with buyers at short notice and rarely fit a production run that left the factory two months earlier.

Will value added work slow my deliveries down?

It should not, if it is planned into the flow rather than discovered at despatch. When we know the job at the time the goods are booked, the work sits in the window between arrival and the delivery date and costs you nothing in time. Problems appear when a labelling requirement is raised the day a depot booking is due, which is why we ask about value added work at the quotation stage.

Talk to Nostrac about your requirements and we will tell you what is realistic before you commit to it.

Contact Us