When it comes to managing your freight and transportation costs, are you equipped to do the job?
Last week we talked about our 3E strategy that world class companies are using to control their freight costs. When it comes to freight these companies are Educated about market conditions, Equipped with the right tools to streamline and automate their processes, and focused on Execution - doing the right things right.
Since then we’ve gotten lots of great feedback and requests for us to elaborate on what each of these things mean. So last week we highlighted the value of being educated about what the carriers are doing and what happens in the marketplace because this has a direct impact on your transportation costs. And since it can also impact your sales and procurement strategies you need to be able to communicate throughout your organization with facts and examples about how these conditions are affecting your costs and profitability.
When it comes to being equipped, companies should look at whether they have the right tools in their toolbox and whether they know how to maximize the value of these tools. I jokingly had a friend who said that you can get anything done with the “right toolbox.” When I asked him what’s in the “right toolbox” he told me that for me that toolbox had better have a checkbook and a pen as I’m not the handiest person in the world.
What does the right toolbox look like for your company? I’m going to suggest that at a minimum, it must contains three things if you are serious about controlling your freight costs:
If your company doesn’t have one or more of these things in place and you’d like to learn more about how we address these needs, we encourage you to get in touch.
We also encourage you to take advantage of our Rapid Assessment process which offers a great starting point for learning what improvements your company can make to have a competitive supply chain.
BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
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