Operations Management At Cole International

Cole International is a customs brokerage firm who offers brokerage services, freight forwarding and trade consulting services. It was founded in Thunder Bay, Ontario and originally named Cole McCubbin Limited. The company began its primary activity in the late 1930s with the establishment of branch offices. The Organization also engaged in the acquisition of other firms to position themselves as one of the largest private-owned customs brokerage companies in the World (www.coleintl.com, 2015).
The first warehouse operated was in the late 1960s, and was located in Thunder Bay. From that point, Cole McCubbin Limited used a local cartage to manipulate the goods and services to warehouse operations and then gradually diversified its operations

This is where Cole International’s advantage plays; they have up-to-date information and knowledge of CBSA’S import regulations and the process to meet each customer’s importation needs.
However, there are a number of logistical requirements that should also be considered even before the shipment. These include packaging and containerization, packaging and shipping instructions, labeling and shipping marks, modes of transportation, forwarding agent, incoterms, insurance during transportation, shipping documents and receipt of consignment (www.ungm.org, 2012). Packaging of goods depends on the nature of the goods, the mode of shipment and the climatic conditions during transit. Other factors to consider include; durability, size, weight of the package in relation to the means of transportation. However, for safety, goods are shipped into 20/40-foot containers so as to avoid damages during transport (www.ungm.org, 2015). There are specific instructions and documents on the appropriate methods of how goods should be packed and shipped and who to notify upon shipment. These shipping instruction documents are required for customs clearance and payment

Shipment consolidation is a logistics strategy that combines 2 or more orders or shipments so that a larger quantity can be shipped o the same vehicle to the same location. It emphasizes on economies of scale and saves costs. However, this affects other logistical activities such as warehouse and inventory management (Murphy and Wood, 2011). This logistic strategy can be applied particularly to customers from the same region, which have similar goods imported to Canada. Cole International has developed the expertise in classifying goods and ensuring similar goods are loaded into the same container, same vessel and its outbound to similar customer