The analyts at Gartner recently releasd a research note calling out interesting examples of innovation in the third-party logistics (3PL) sector. (See Top 3PL Innovators.)

As part of that note, Gartner included a graphic it has used for several years that offers a maturirty model of sorts for shipper-3PL relationships, as shown below:

Interestingly, Gartner notes that "3PL providers are becoming more selective of customers, choosing to invest their best talent and knowledge in customers that value their service and relationship, and are willing to pay a fair price for their abilities.

SCDigest will note that not all 3PL relationships need to operate at advanced levels. Purely transactional relationships are just fine for some processes and providers -just not for all of them,

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