Assess location vs. customer geography, bonded status, and proximity to major highways and border crossings. Verify WMS functionality, SKU handling limits, value-added services (kitting, returns, labeling), staffing models, scalability, SLA terms, and reporting. Confirm carrier connectivity and customs brokerage expertise that support your lead-time targets.

Chihuahua sits on primary highway corridors with frequent trucking lanes to U.S. ports of entry, regional rail connections, and growing air-cargo options. This delivers multiple carrier choices, shorter dray times to key crossings, and improved routing flexibility to manage seasonal peaks and carrier disruptions.

Compare facility rent per pallet position, labor rates, utilities, local taxes, and minimums. Factor in customs duties, bonded warehouse fees, inbound/outbound trucking rates, and inventory carrying costs. Investigate municipal or federal incentives for export zones and maquiladora adjacency that can lower overall landed cost.

Include OTIF and order accuracy, pick-and-pack cycle times, average dwell time, inventory accuracy (cycle count targets), returns processing time, and reporting cadence. Define chargeback rules, escalation paths, and capacity ramp schedules to align performance with peak-season and growth forecasts.

Bonded warehouses and cross-dock facilities allow duty deferral and consolidated shipments, reducing inventory days and lowering immediate duty expense. Efficient customs brokerage and bonded solutions improve landed-cost predictability and speed inventory flow, supporting nearshoring goals to shorten replenishment cycles.