If you were an inventory, where would you like to be stored? The question may sound hilarious but it gets great answers; answers you would not have come across in your official suite meetings.

Technical employees know inside out about the characteristics of their inventory; whether finished goods, raw materials or work-in-process. Moreover, this knowledge helps them in coming up with a list of basic storage requirements for the inventory. In corporate meetings, the cost-reduction focus often eclipses all these requirements. However, asking this simple question helps the companies think from different angle; hence gaining significant insights. The answers can vary from ‘somewhere accessible’, ‘somewhere safe’, ‘somewhere big’ etc. Once you have the answers, it is time to move on to the next step: selecting the warehousing/storage partner. The choice of storage outsourcing partner is more of a matchmaking task. While selecting the best logistics partner, it is essential to compare the list of services offered by the third party with the requirement list. It may include tiniest of details, but they are definitely worth consideration. Once these requirements are fulfilled; then comes the time to consider and negotiate the cost structure.