Consolidación de cuatro categorías en un 40HQ: Chile
Cliente
A motorcycle parts importer in Santiago, Chile
Industria
Import & Wholesale
Métricas clave de impacto
El Desafío
The importer was buying carburettors, clutch kits, brake pads and shock absorbers from four different suppliers. Each shipment had its own booking, its own documentation and its own customs entry, and none of them was large enough to fill a container.
The result was four sets of fixed costs on volume that could have travelled together. Customs brokerage alone was being paid four times for goods arriving within the same month.
There was also a quality-control gap: nobody was inspecting the goods before they left China, so discrepancies were being discovered in Santiago, after the freight had already been paid.
Nuestra Solución
We took over the consolidation and made the loading plan the core of the project.
- One purchase order: the four categories were combined into a single order with one delivery date, one set of documents and one bill of lading.
- Loading plan: heavy shocks at the floor and over the axles, cartons of pads used as filler in the voids, carburettors kept upright and away from the door end where handling impact is highest.
- Pre-shipment inspection: each supplier's goods inspected and photographed before being loaded, with photos sent to the importer before the container was sealed.
- Mixed pallets: where a full pallet of one SKU was not justified, we built mixed pallets with a printed manifest on each, so the importer could break them down without recounting.
El Resultado
Landed freight cost per unit fell 27%, and four customs entries became one. The importer has since run three more consolidated orders, adding brake discs as a fifth category.
The pre-shipment photo set turned out to be the part the importer valued most — not because it caught many problems, but because it moved the conversation about a problem from after arrival to before departure.
Fixed costs do not scale down
Booking, documentation, inspection and customs brokerage each carry a fixed component. Split a year's volume into twelve small shipments and you pay that component twelve times; consolidate into four and you pay it four times.
For a mid-sized importer the saving is usually larger than the freight-rate difference they spend weeks negotiating. It is also less visible, which is why it often goes unaddressed.
Why the loading plan matters more than the rate
A container is a three-dimensional puzzle with a weight limit. Loading shocks, pads and carburettors together without a plan wastes the voids, and voids are what you actually pay for. Getting the heavy goods low and over the axles also protects the cartons above them from crush damage on a long sea leg.
Carburettors need particular care. They are light, they do not stack well, and a carton that has been on the bottom of a stack for 30 days at sea will show bent throttle shafts. Keeping them upright and away from the door end is cheaper than the rejection rate.
What to put in the agreement
Agree who inspects, when, and what happens if the inspection fails. Agree the loading plan in writing before the container is booked, not after. And agree that photographs are taken before sealing — a photo taken at destination proves a problem exists, a photo taken before departure proves where it came from.
Aspectos destacados del proyecto
- Metodología de desarrollo ágil
- Gestor de proyecto dedicado
- Soporte y mantenimiento 24/7
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