DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES AND PROCEDURES
If you are a small or medium size company and you want to do business in the CFZ, the BusinessPanama Group has an alliance partner in the Colon Free Zone that is a well-known and fully licensed company with complete warehouses and logistic services in the Colon Free Zone. Our Colon Free Zone Alliance Partner will act as the representative of your corporation. We will receive the merchandise, send it to its distributors, invoice it and send you a detailed report. Together, the BusinessPanama Group and its alliance partner in the Colon Free Zone will provide you the full services detailed below.
Reception of goods
Upon receipt of notification from the manufacturer/shipper, we provide the shipment tracking up to the arrival of the goods. Shipment of goods consigned to the Colon Free Zone must be accompanied by the previous receipt of the invoice, bill of lading and other documents pertaining to the shipment (certificate of origin, certificate of analysis) in other to expedite the movement of the goods from the port or airport of arrival to our warehouse.
Classification of goods
Upon arrival to our warehouse, the merchandise is examined in order to detect any signs of breakage or theft (if any evidence is detected, the merchandise is inspected and the survey agent is notified). The shipment is transferred to the area of the warehouse assigned to the client, the contents are verified with the packing list and the goods are stored separately according to the product, presentation and batch number.
Storage of goods
The goods are stored in adequate warehouses. The movement of the goods is accomplished with the use of pallets and they in turn are mobilized with the adequate equipment. The location of the merchandise is assigned and controlled by means of an automated inventory system.
Management of orders
The orders are received from the distributors or the regional office of our clients.
If the order is received directly from the distributor, the order is entered into our computer system and the quantities available are communicated to our client for his approval. The merchandise is not selected until we have received the confirmation of shipment from our client.
Preparation of commercial and shipping documents
Once the packing list has been prepared and is returned to our offices, it is processed in the computer. The picking and packing lists are automatically verified and approved. The freight cost is calculated in order to issue the invoice in the approved format pre-selected by the client. Other documents necessary for the shipment of the merchandise are issued or obtained. The department of Quality Control verifies the documentation and the necessary modifications or corrections are solicited. The shipping document is issued. Final documents are submitted to the Operations Manager for the verification and final approval. As an option, the distributors are pre-alerted with the dates that the merchandise and documents were sent.
Invoicing of shipments sent directly from the factory to the country of destination (Offshore operations) can be processed through our computer. By order of such contractual conditions of these shipments are negotiated separately.
Shipment of goods
The documents can be sent prior to consignment of the shipment to the carrier in order to advance the importation formalities. In this case, the goods can be retained up to two days after having sent the courier with the client's approval. The tracking of the reception of the courier can be traced via the available tracking systems in the Internet.
The delivery of the shipment is coordinated between our CFZ partner and the transportation agent in order to ship the merchandise at the opportune time. If possible, reservations of space available are made in order to warrant the shipment date. Follow-up calls are made to confirm that the shipment have effectively been made at the specified times. The confirmation of departure of the shipment is entered in the computer.
Reports
The reports are issued to the client in other to provide the following information:
The main reports issued are the following:
Weekly Report : This report details the orders that have 1) received confirmation of departure from Panamanian territory, 2) have departed Farmazona but have not received confirmation of departure from Panamá, 3) are retained in Farmazona with its explanation of status 4) have been received during the week, 5) entries of goods physically received in our warehouses, and 6) incoming shipments in transit from the manufacturer. The report also contains other information pertinent to the listed orders.
Inventory Report : This report quantifies the changes in inventory, divided into Initial Balance, Product Entries, Product shipments, Adjustments, Breakage, and Ending Balance.
Movement Report : This report details each transaction that affects the inventory of goods, including the document number, Type of Transaction, Quantities, Goods Balance, Name of Distributor-Manufacturer, Order Number.
Monthly Expense Report : This report summarizes all the invoices sent to destination according to their Invoice Number, Name of Importer, Country of Destination, Amount of the Invoice, Date of Invoice, Method of Transportation, Freight Costs, Consular Costs, Others Expenses and Total Expenses. Additionally to this information, the report includes our service commission and all other expenses that do not have a direct relation with the shipments forwarding to its final destination.
Availability Report : This report contains all the available quantities in order to process new picking lists, excluding all the pending orders and the reserved quantities for specific reason (bids, institutional sales).
The mentioned products in these reports are subdivided by batch numbers. The conditions of the order reports are classified according to the number of the order and/or invoice
There are other reports available such as statistics of annual sales by distributor in each country, and financial and accounting reports.
Communications
The mentioned reports, e-mail and invoicing inventory data are available via Electronic Data Interchange through the Internet or direct link.
Other advantages such as the order placement by the distributors/clients directly in our web page, with the copy to your mail for your approval, will soon be available.
The traditional methods of communication such as telephone and fax are equally used in all those other cases where modern technologies are not still available.
Personnel
The policy of our firm is to assign a Work Team for each individual client such a work team is composed of the following groups:
Documentation : Personnel responsible for the activities related to the reception of orders selection of goods, invoicing and delivery of the shipments. Assistants will be assigned according to the amount of orders to be processed
Inventory : Comprises of one supervisor and as many assistants as deemed necessary in order to provide proper goods reception, picking, packing, marking and shipping
The Operation Manager supervises the process and provides the necessary -stance to accomplish the task.
Other departments that assist the Work Team are: Traffic, Information Technology, Accounting Repackaging and Freight Forwarding.
The exterior communications are channeled throughout the Operations Manager who in turn instructs the Work Team on any developments or particular instructions, which have been given by the client.
Physical Inventories
At a determined date, generally towards the end of the year, a physical inventory is taken. This physical inventory can be made in the presence of a delegate on the part of the client, a member of an audit firm contacted by the client, or under our responsibility. The client is free to choose any option.
Breakage and Destruction of Merchandise
The goods with a limited shelf life can expire during the storage in our facilities, for reasons beyond our control. After having received the authorization for the destruction, the merchandise is physically destroyed in the presence of public officials from the various government agencies. A Destruction Act is obtained, and is later sent to the clients for his records.
Final Comments
Certain clients have specific procedures and necessities that they would like to implement in the activities to be performed that have not been mentioned in this description. We try to comply with such needs and gladly collaborate in its implementation during the normal course of all our operations.
For more information, please contact us at
BusinessPanama Group
Plaza 2000 Tower, 10th Floor
50th Avenue
Panama City
Tel (+507) 223-6788
Fax (+507) 263-2460
info@businesspanama.com