There always seems to be some "expert" or "guru" proclaiming they know the best and newest way to profitability, employee retention, or how to get another 15 miles out of a tank of fuel.

I will be the first to point out that industry issues need to be addressed and information disseminated for the benefit of everyone. This is part of what I do, and the lack of current and up to date information about industry issues can be scary.... Read More

Part V: A Call to Action

Using Labor Efficiency to Master the Next Trucking Frontier

You get what you measure. Surprisingly, although fleets track time and delivery, they seldom have a method of measuring, or understanding, how the actions of the labor force directly influence profitability. Now that customers have squeezed productivity from their supply chains, fleets are looking for ways to further increase competitiveness. Identifying ways to help the workforce become more productive affords that next big opportunity.... Read More

Part IV: Moving from Administering Human Resources to Measuring the Workforce Investment

What Employee Optimization Can Tell Managers

Managers in the trucking industry have invested in workforce management tools, but until recently most money was spent to manage human resources from an administrative point of view. The true power of employee optimization is its ability to show cause and effect. It identifies problems that cut into profitability and shows how investments in human resources pay off.... Read More

Part III: Achieving an Effective Workforce

Asset utilization and efficiency does not have a comparable cost metric — and for good reason, as fleet equipment generally has predictable costs, such as depreciation and scheduled maintenance. Adding a labor element to an operation brings in three dimensions of variable costs.... Read More

Part II: Defining Effective Driver Labor

Optimizing workforce performance requires new insight. Attaining that insight requires companies to establish methods of quantifying, diagnosing, and ultimately predicting the performance of their workforce—one of the most important and highly variable elements of efficiency and profitability.... Read More

Part I

A sound measurement framework is something every successful fleet operation would like to have. Yet today, most measurement systems focus on asset utilization or production as measurement of revenue per mile. Most fleets measure time and mileage carefully, but beyond that, few have a method for understanding the effective use of their workforce.... Read More

Match Shipper Lanes to Carrier Sweet Spots

Once the lane structures are defined, the largest and the most frequently missed savings opportunity comes from matching shipper lanes with carrier sweet spots. To succeed, the shipper must have an understanding of carrier economics. While the costs of operating a tractor trailer unit on a lane varies from carrier to carrier (based upon driver pay, maintenance, and fuel optimization), the single largest factor is the carrier's empty miles.... Read More

Go to Market Prepared

Sourcing your transportation spend can be a complex and emotion-filled process. Managing the process, introducing new potential providers, creating a competitive marketplace, and balancing service and price can be challenging even for the most seasoned project manager. Overcoming the challenges requires a fact-based, economics-driven, comprehensive approach.... Read More

Identifying Alternative Savings Levers

As we noted earlier, the analysis of a shipper's transportation management practices and service requirements, combined with evaluation of the carrier market, results in the detailed sourcing strategy and identification of alternative savings levers. In practice, these two tasks are performed simultaneously.... Read More

Trucking Economics, OR, Understanding Your Customers' Sophisticated Approach to Transportation Spend, and How Easy You've Made it for them to Take Advantage of You.

Formulate Detailed Sourcing Strategies

In the mid ‘90s, when strategic sourcing practices became widely accepted across industries, many shippers attempted to apply these same practices to transportation, instead of developing transportation specific sourcing strategies and identifying alternative savings levers.... Read More