Blog

Shipping capacity is the last thing millions of Texans have on their minds as residents begin rebuilding following the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. After making landfall August 25, 2017, the Category 4 storm soaked areas in and around Houston with 50-plus inches of rain. Lives were lost; homes flooded; businesses and their equipment destroyed. As flood waters recede, experts predict recovery and rebuilding costs will top $150 billion.

Perhaps Pete Townshend, lead guitarist for The Who, is more of a visionary than many of us might have believed. Townshend’s 1971 hit “Going Mobile” celebrates the power of cutting ties to everyday hassles and heading out on the road. If we didn’t know any better, we might have assumed he worked at a trucking company:

“Hang on, we’re in for a bumpy ride.”

Competition today is increasingly fierce. Increasing cost of materials, increasing costs of labor and increasing costs of distribution are putting more pressure on profit margins than ever before. Delivering customer value while making a healthy, sustainable profit has never been harder. But there are disciplines and tools available that help companies do just that. First things first; what exactly is customer value? We must ask the customer because it’s their view – and only their view – that matters here. Research shows some common components of customer value, regardless of the industry. Customers say a big portion of customer value is doing what you said you’d do, when and how you said you would do it. Keeping your commitments or being reliable is the core underpinning of customer value whether you’re delivering a product or service or a combination of both.

Technology influences everything today, even tried-and-true industries like trucking and transportation. The short list of 12 trends briefly covers how tech is changing life on the road as well as in the office.

Summer might be a time of backyard barbecues and trips to the beach, but participants at every level of the food supply chain – including freight brokers and 3PLs – most likely have other things on their minds thanks to the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food (STF) rule, a central component of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

“The closer that America comes to fully employing the talents of all its citizens, the greater the output of goods and services will be.”--Warren Buffett

ELD--the initials can drive up blood pressure and strike anxiety in transportation providers across the country...especially if a decision has not been made on the type, scope and vendor to use. The key to low stress is knowing how to choose the right Electronic Logging Device for your business.

Trucking is a business of pennies. Even the most successful carriers operate on razor-sharp margins, with the majority of carriers being “on the bubble” with an operating ratio that can easily shift from slightly positive to negative.

It’s clear: visibility of transportation problems will lead your enterprise to greater insight!

Today, transportation problems arise no matter the type or model of your business. These problems range from shipper-oriented bid requests to complex multi-modal transportation challenges. We each need to be mindful of our transportation landscape to better understand how we can manage our spend. In addition, route tracking software can provide additional visibility into the pains of transportation problems to provide greater understanding of your fleet’s operations.