In early 2020, Spin Master’s North American warehousing and logistics team was challenged to transform 3PL warehouse operations to reduce costs and improve customer service. To-date, we have reduced annual warehousing operating costs by 35%, reduced annual retail non-compliance charges by over 80%, and improved on-time shipments to 99.7%. Following are some of the best practices for successful 3PL partnerships that we learned along the way. Building a close partnership Fundamental to a successful relationship with a 3PL provider is finding a partner with whom you can establish a high level of trust. In my view, the ideal business relationship is far more than a transactional, “zero sum” relationship in which each partner is focused only on their own profitability. My preference is always to seek out synergistic relationships, where the 3PL is a trusted partner that treats the customer’s business as their own, not only providing world-class service but proactively showing the customer ways to improve operations and reduce costs. In return, the customer is always watching for opportunities to make the 3PL more effective, which can be as easy as simplifying order processes and sharing forecast information that will help the 3PL to plan labour schedules. As with any relationship, this requires good communication, mutual respect, and the willingness of both partners to always seek out the “win-win” in every scenario. At Spin Master, we have also domiciled our own, small on-site operations teams at each site. While regular video calls were useful in maintaining ongoing coordination at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are not a substitute for the informal communication, relationship building and “walking the floor” that is possible by having our own team resident in our 3PL facilities. As time and budgets permit, we also prioritize site visits by our senior leadership, including holding at least one Business Review on-site at each facility,

How does disciplined routing improve performance in airfreight logistics? Better routes often outperform bigger budgets, especially in air freight, where time sensitivity, regulatory exposure and cost pressure collide on a daily basis. King City Forwarding has internalized that reality through five decades of disciplined, service-led forwarding. The family-owned, IATA-certified firm treats logistics as an engineered service, applying human judgment to routing decisions that protect both timelines and budgets. “From the beginning, we believed logistics is a service, which means listening closely to how our customers operate, giving their shipments personal oversight and making cost-conscious routing decisions that protect both timelines and budgets,” says Peter Lovett, vice president. Why does direct oversight strengthen exception management in shipments? A great way to ensure that is to have the people making routing decisions also speaking with customers and tracking shipments through to delivery. This practice has made King City a natural fit for shipments that require more exception management—those moving under tight timelines, with regulatory sensitivity or under physical constraints. Moreover, by integrating air, ocean, ground and transloading services, the team limits handoffs and chooses routes based on real operating conditions rather than habit. For shippers, that translates into steadier control, fewer points of failure and more predictable costs. Routing as a Decision Discipline How can route redesign reduce regulatory and temperature risk? King City demonstrates why its active listening skills function as a hard operational asset for making the right routing decisions. The way the team handled perishable exports for a Canadian seafood producer is a case in point. For years, the company had relied on a cross-border trucking route to reach U.S. air hubs for international shipments. The route was familiar and functional, but it also carried hidden exposure in terms of additional regulatory scrutiny, bond requirements and delays that compounded risk for temperature-sensitive cargo..

How is modern third party logistics evolving beyond traditional fulfillment execution fundamentals? For decades, third-party logistics (3PLs) have required strong execution across a familiar set of fundamentals: receiving inventory, picking and packing orders, shipping accurately, and minimizing errors. HyperNile was, however, built on a different premise: that these fulfillment basics are table stakes and the real work lies in designing systems around them. While most 3PLs compete on price, speed, or warehouse count, HyperNile focuses on strengthening the processes, treating technology, automation, and flexibility as operational infrastructure rather than add-ons. The result is a fulfillment network designed not just to ship orders, but to adapt in real time to shifting demand, cross-border complexity, and the operational friction eCommerce brands face every day. Why does operational system design matter more than warehouse scale in modern logistics? At a baseline level, HyperNile consistently meets the core requirements customers expect from a modern 3PL. Where the company stands apart is in how it designs systems around that baseline. It has built an operation optimized for flexibility, responsiveness, and transparency, rather than forcing customers into rigid processes, reinforced by fast, direct communication. “The future of fulfillment isn’t bigger warehouses. It’s reducing manual effort, improving visibility, and enabling faster operational decisions as conditions change,” says Daniel Casaca, CEO of HyperNile. That operating logic is reflected in HyperNile’s approach to technology. Instead of attempting to build every system from scratch, the company uses ShipHero as its warehouse management backbone. From there, HyperNile layers pragmatic automation, targeted integrations, and internal tools to address long-standing operational pain points where manual work and poor visibility slow warehouses and their customers..