As I shared two days ago (see here), I’m helping my friend’s start-up. He created his own brand and products for it, and he’s manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping them to customers. I’ve been trying to help him resolve some logistics challenges. Here are our insights so far:

• Partners – International manufacturing and logistics partners are important, especially when things don’t go as planned, so it’s important to choose reliable, communicative ones.
• Network distance – The more network distance there is (that is, the more companies there are) between you and a shipment, the longer it takes and the harder it is to resolve problems.
• Cross border – Language and cultural differences can affect how fast problems are solved.

It’s still early and I’m sure I’ll learn more, but those are the lessons so far.