Do you know certain company that uses a good strategy as routing guide compliance on their customers? Are your cargos safe when you entrust it to them and is it cost effective or offering a good price? That is the questions usually popping out on a suppliers mind when transporting their package to their customers.
Huge rate savings... not!
Do not expect huge rate reductions just because you have decided to investigate a company which uses a good strategy in reducing the transportation cost. Rates are usually governed by the market price and less about cost. You should be sharing your rate information with your chosen company so they can work with you to put together a rate that is enough for you. You may be wondering, if the company you chose cannot get a good rate savings, then what is the benefit? The benefits come from mode shifting, lesser freight rates, order tracking efficiencies, logistics spend management savings, consolidations, improved carrier management, shipment visibility and the most important is risk reduction.
Mode Selection
Are you usually shipping using LTL? By working with a good company you can leverage their computer tracking systems or check if they are using good Transportation Management System to observe patterns that would be candidates for consolidation into truckload shipments. For example, if you are shipping twice a week 12 pallets from Toronto to Chicago, you would save considerable amount of money by shipping one full truck load once a week. While this sounds very simple, these opportunities exist in your shipping data. Try to check that your chosen company have software to find such opportunities and can surely help you take advantage of them.
Order Tracking
How many times have you needed to pay for expedited shipments because something did not go as planned? The problem with a lot of computer tracking systems or Logistics Software TMS software packages that your preferred carrier use is that they end at their shipping docks. As soon as the truck is loaded, the order is complete. You know what really matter is the happiness of your customer who receives your product on time. Intergate Social Media Logistics Industry into your marketing plan.
Time Savings
Do you have a routing guide? Have you already spent a lot of time trying to enforce it with all your shipping locations? On top of that, even if people are following the routing guide, have you ever considered all the time your people spend calling the chosen carriers on the list to find someone who is available when you need one? There is a big time that will be wasted here. Should not your customer service people be servicing your customers instead of looking for trucks? Having an Automatic Carrier Selection Device will help you conserve time. I think you know where this is going. A carrier company will take on this responsibility. You will always.
http://strugglingentrepreneur.com/2010/09/03/133-expertise-helps-ken-kowal-as-entrepreneur-in-fulfillment-and-shipping/
