October 19, 2021
5 Tips for Creating “Pandemic-Proof” Transportation Management
It’s amazing the difference a year can make. After coping with calamities such as worldwide lockdowns, uncertain oil prices, and stock market volatility in 2020, supply chain organizations everywhere learned some valuable lessons they can apply in 2021 and beyond. Here are five sure ways to “pandemic-proof” your ability to deliver the goods using intelligent transportation management going forward:
- Stick to the Script: We can’t say enough about standardized operating procedures after seeing so many logistics firms struggle to make conflicting operational styles, business rules, and processes work together under the same company banner. When location “A” works differently from location “B,” disconnects are bound to happen. Get on the same page and deliver consistent outcomes with speed and agility.
- Seek Full Transparency: If you don’t have a connected view of your supply chain operations, get one. Being able to see across silos, departments, and partner organizations is truly the only way to spot opportunities and problems as they arise. With full transparency, you can consolidate routes, optimize loads, identify who’s available and track performance – in real-time – and make better decisions.
- Track and Trace in Real-Time: It takes a unified transportation solution to monitor shipments from order to destination in real-time. When you know exact pick-up and delivery times based on verifiable information, you can begin to fulfill on-time-in-full and just-in-time mandates, cut labor costs, optimize productivity and build customer confidence on the way to improved customer satisfaction.
- Enable Dynamic Capacity Planning: The ability to optimize freight capacity and dynamically determine pricing in real-time can only be achieved with a fully integrated, modernized transportation management system (TMS). Firms that match supply and demand accurately and efficiently have a decided advantage, at the negotiating table and on the new business trail.
- Identify Your Top Performers: Tracking carrier performance positions your business for success in a fast-changing marketplace. Do you know who your best carriers are, by lane, load, acceptance rate, on-time performance, driver safety, billing accuracy, number of claims, and other metrics? If not, design this into your TMS and leverage the data to your benefit.
In our opinion, these five concepts should be baked into any TMS you’ll be relying on to keep your business going strong into the future.
