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Flash Global: Staying Ahead Of The Curve As Industry Shifts To Service Supply Chain

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Flash Global offers global service supply chain solutions to technology companies, large and small, anywhere they operate around the world. It’s no longer enough to provide traditional third-party logistics (3PL) services, which are often too transactional and narrow to help today’s high-tech companies expand.

To learn more about Flash Global, and the shifting perception of what a supply chain partner can and should do, we talked with Ryan Miller, Vice President of Global Marketing.

Q: How would you describe Flash Global?

A: When we talk to clients, we describe our approach as “the Simplicity of One.” Our clients are global technology companies that need something more than spare parts moved from point A to point B. Ultimately, they need to keep the promise they made to their customers, and we help them keep their word.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have service level agreements, a.k.a. SLAs, with their customers that outline the performance standards they promise to meet. So, for instance, if a part breaks or is unusable, the OEM promises to get the right spare part to their customer on time. In most cases, the SLA requires service by the next business day. In some cases, though, the SLA is 2 hours or 4 hours – globally.

Modern, high-tech OEMs – such as data storage, medical device or networking gear manufacturers – need every competitive advantage possible to grow market share. They need help with the entire post-sales service process or, as we say, “end to end.” This includes services like trade compliance; screen, test and repair; configure-to-order; network mapping; warehousing and transportation; and global field services, to name a few.

Our unique selling proposition is that we bring together this end-to-end global service supply chain under one contact. This means our customers have the pleasure of dealing with one contact and one technology platform. In our case, that platform is FlashTrac.

One of the intangibles that our customers love about us and what we love about them is that we have fun. Many of our competitors still wear suits and ties and act as such – stiff and stuck in their old ways. We’re proud to say that we are working on bringing back sexy in logistics.

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We help customers turn on the service supply chain, with detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation that includes an integrated set of logistics and professional services. All of our services are specifically designed to enable OEMs to support their products after the sale, whether the client is located in Atlanta or Zagreb.

Q: What makes Flash Global different?

A: Our CEO, Sam Mikles, is an incredible change agent and could see that third-party logistics was dying or, in some cases, dead. When Sam previously worked for a big technology company; he literally had 28 contacts within the 3PL company he hired. Each contact had their own system, and none of those contacts or systems talked to one another. It was a nightmare for him to manage.

He told me, “I left the OEM world to go build a company that offered all the services I could never find under one roof. I’m building the company I was always looking for.” When Sam came to Flash Global six years ago and rose through the ranks, he started by hiring the leaders in the OEM world and experts who specialized in the different service areas he wanted to build.

Today our mantra is “one contact, one contract, one world.” Our customers have one point of contact who knows them really well and makes their life easier.

We’ve also invested in proprietary technology that supports that vision. For example, FlashTrac lets any customer with an internet connection see where a part is at any time. End-to-end visibility like this helps our clients avert a crisis because they can see that a shipment is moving slower than expected because of an unexpected snowstorm and proactively pull inventory from other locations to make sure their clients’ needs are met.

Obviously, Sam’s ideas have worked because now we service many of the biggest technology customers in the world.

Q: What’s your biggest challenge?

A: We struggle to help people fully understand all the services we offer. We can literally serve as every department a company needs, from post-sales service support to repair and RMA management. Whether it’s inventory management, doing repairs, or getting products to customers on time, we can do it around the world 24/7/365.

Q: What do new customers get most excited about?

A: Customers love our global footprint. Our network allows us to have facilities and capabilities in every nook and cranny of the world. Smaller competitors can’t offer this, and the massive 3PLs won’t touch your business unless your annual spend with them is at least $5 million. Our business model allows us to effectively handle stealth-to-emerging brands all the way to the Fortune 50s.

Above all, our customers love that we not only save them money but we also help them make it. Many of our customers experience revenue acceleration because we’re able to support customers where they could not, allowing for greater sales opportunities.

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Q: Why is trade compliance such a differentiator for Flash Global?

A: Trade compliance is the unsung hero of global supply chain services. We treat it differently because we don’t farm out our trade compliance; we’ve got actual employees in all the countries where our customers need us to be. That’s important because they develop face-to-face relationships with customs officials and have a better feel for what’s happening.

Because we’ve got folks on the ground, we can help a client build compliance strategies as they’re ramping up in a new country. You can’t do that if all your compliance employees are sitting somewhere in an office in the U.S.

One client called us in to help after some of their equipment had been stuck in customs in a foreign country for six months. Millions of dollars’ worth of stuff. We came in, built a plan, physically went to the customs office, and got it cleared in 10 days.

Our personnel are backed by one of the best platforms in the world for managing trade compliance classification. This helps us ensure minimal risk and maximum effectiveness.

It’s so important to mitigate trade compliance risk. After all, you can be held personally liable for a mistake, which can lead to jail time and fines. We remove a lot of that risk because we ensure products are identified correctly and labeled correctly, all those details that allow you to sail through customs – if not done properly, you’ll get stuck.

Q: Why is continuous improvement so important to your company?

A: Our customers are industry leaders. They’re constantly driving, innovating, pushing change from a development standpoint. If they rely on fragmented supply chain services, they risk creating detrimental gaps in their ability to deliver to consumers. Their needs force us to work harder and innovate faster so we can support them on their journey.

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