Looking for ways to reduce freight costs and improve your supply chain?

I recently was asked to put together and host a two part webinar series for presidents and CEOs called Navigating Supply Chain Cost Challenges. Hundreds of presidents and CEOs signed up, and I was delighted to get outstanding reviews and feedback about our panel of experts.

The first part in the series focused on helping our audience to understand the challenging supply chain conditions that ALL shippers are currently experiencing. This first webinar was so good that I got a call from my friend Peter and he said: “Congratulations, you have successfully scared the b-jeebees out of everyone so I hope your second session identifies solutions that they can use to manage their costs in this 'the sky is falling' supply chain world.” Once again our resources delivered and shared their insights about proactive things shippers can do to manage their costs and supply chain issues in this current environment.

Here are some key takeaways that you need to consider as you head into 2022. There was a consensus on the panel that the conditions are expected to last into 2022 as companies continue to catch up on inventory. When it came to solutions, I asked our resources to focus on two of the three P’s in the supply chain world. Specifically, how can shippers improve their Practices and Processes to lower their freight costs and improve their supply chain. The reason that this is critically important is because in today’s freight world, trying to drive down the Price (the other “P” in the equation) isn’t going to yield the results you want and need.

Some of the great advice shared by our resources included areas where improvements in processes and practices can produce significant savings and benefits. They talked about the areas to focus on and how to effect changes, with advice such as:

• Customer stratification is a must - shippers simply aren't able to offer ideal service to all their customers in this environment.
  
  
• Getting control over your inbound freight is essential.
  
  
• Make sure you have the right packaging to both utilize space and cut down on space you don’t need and damages that can be costly.
  
  
• Proactively working with your carriers and becoming a “shipper of choice” is essential. This may require giving your carriers a forecast as far ahead as possible and consolidating with a few partners. After all, if they know you're a serious customer who will provide repeated business you'll get much better pricing than transactional shippers who are always those shopping for rates.

One resource for continued learning that we offered after this webinar is our new eBook for creating a transportation spend management plan. Like the webinar series, this eBook focuses on practices and process your company can control, and will help you understand how the decisions your company makes impact your freight cost.

While it will continue to be a challenging market for a long time, we encourage you to keep looking for ways to make the best of it.

BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
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