3PL Manager

Berner Food & Beverage • Rockford, IL

4d • Onsite

About The Position

The Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Manager is responsible for managing strategic partnerships and operational performance across third-party warehousing and transportation providers. This role serves as the primary liaison between Berner and 3PL leadership teams to ensure operational excellence, inventory accuracy, customer satisfaction, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement initiatives are consistently achieved. The 3PL Manager will drive performance through collaborative leadership, KPI management, financial oversight, process optimization, and strong cross-functional engagement with internal stakeholders, including Supply Chain, Quality, EHS, Customer Service, Finance, HR, and Operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business, Operations Management, or a related field preferred.
• 5+ years of logistics, warehouse, supply chain, or 3PL management experience.
• Experience managing outsourced warehousing and transportation providers required.
• Strong knowledge of warehouse operations, transportation management, inventory control, and supply chain processes.
• Experience with ERP, WMS, and TMS systems.
• Proven ability to manage KPIs, budgets, contracts, and operational performance.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation, and organizational skills.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills with the ability to influence across all organizational levels.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Ensure contractual compliance, performance accountability, and alignment with Berner's operational and strategic objectives.
• Lead regular business reviews with 3PL leadership teams to evaluate service performance, identify risks, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Establish strong partnerships with provider leadership to ensure operational alignment, responsiveness, and proactive issue resolution.
• Oversee 3PL warehousing and transportation operations to ensure KPIs, processes, and procedures consistently meet Berner and customer specifications.
• Monitor and improve operational metrics including inventory accuracy, order fulfillment, on-time shipping, transportation performance, labor productivity, and cost management.
• Ensure standard operating procedures and work instructions are effectively implemented and maintained across 3PL operations.
• Partner with transportation providers and internal teams to optimize freight performance, capacity planning, and service levels.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement by partnering with 3PL leadership to identify operational inefficiencies and implement sustainable solutions.
• Ensure root cause analysis is conducted for operational failures, inventory discrepancies, customer complaints, and service disruptions.
• Lead and support corrective and preventive action (CAPA) activities to prevent recurrence of identified issues.
• Partner with 3PL providers to investigate inventory variances and implement corrective and preventative actions.
• Support cycle counting, reconciliation processes, and inventory audit activities.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to maintain accurate ERP, WMS, and transportation system data integrity.
• Drive overall P&L performance for outsourced logistics operations through forecasting, cost control, and operational efficiencies.
• Identify and implement year-over-year financial improvement opportunities while maintaining service excellence.
• Develop, monitor, and report KPIs, scorecards, and operational dashboards to leadership.
• Oversee warehouse-related compliance audits, investigations, CAPAs, and change control activities in partnership with 3PL providers.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, customer requirements, regulatory standards, and safety expectations.
• Collaborate with EHS, Quality, HR, and Operations teams to ensure warehouse employee, process, and equipment needs are fulfilled.
• Support and reinforce a strong safety culture within all outsourced logistics operations.
• Effectively communicate with all levels of the organization to provide business updates, remove obstacles, drive accountability, and escalate issues as needed.
• Work within the Berner ACTIONS and BOS framework to support operational excellence and strategic initiatives.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Customer Service, Procurement, Finance, Planning, and Manufacturing teams to align logistics execution with business needs.
• Lead or participate in strategic projects including network changes, startup activities, system implementations, and process transitions.

Benefits

• Full medical, dental, vision, and 401 (k) benefits offered.
• Hourly employees are eligible for health benefits on the 1st of the month after 60 days of employment.
• Hourly employees are eligible to participate in the 401K plan after 30 days of employment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager