Terminal personnel add immense value to the planning process. Their network knowledge is based on years of experience that provides them insight above the volume focused approach of a corporate analyst. That insight includes volume and backhaul influencers such as customer pick up and delivery restrictions, special equipment needs and how to best execute between-terminal load exchanges.

Of equal importance to obtaining their knowledge is obtaining their buy-in. Involving terminal personnel in the planning process makes them owners in the goal to improve laden mile performance. Since the new SOPs are based on their suggestions, they will be much more supportive of the plan.

An emphatic YES! Employee established goals developed in conjunction with a supportive action plan (such as our Laden Mile Improvement Plans) are usually both realistic and aggressive. Going through plan development allows employees to fully understand how much additional opportunity their new plans will generate. With that understanding, they are able to establish higher yet realistic performance goals for themselves that is reinforced with a strong confidence that the new goals are obtainable.

Keep in mind, in those rare cases where terminals aren’t aggressive enough with their plans and goals, the corporate review process will identify their shortcomings and send the plans back for revision.

Detail what your customers’ issues are, the impact those issues have on your operations and provide history of occurrence where possible. For example, during the last six months, 27 trucks arrived at Store XYZ at the scheduled arrival time of 6:30AM but weren’t unloaded until 8:00 AM or later. As a result, 16 of those trucks were delayed to the point where they couldn’t get their second load picked up and delivered.

When seeking customer assistance in making changes that will benefit your operations, you must provide a well documented business case that defines improvement opportunities for the two factors that most motivate shippers: Cost and Service.