Things To Do If You Want Help in Freight Management

For some businesses, freight management is an important part of their daily dealings. After all, it helps in supply chain optimization, transportation cost reduction, and even boosts customer satisfaction!

And If freight management is taken care of, you can improve your everyday operations, save money, and strengthen your reputation with your client.

On the other hand, poor freight management can affect your business dramatically, which might reduce your business’s effectiveness.

So, you should follow the tips below to increase the chances of better freight management.

1. Start With a Plan

The first step to any process is to have a foolproof plan. If you have a freight management plan in place, analyze it well.

Recognize the pain points or issues so that you can work on eliminating them one after another. Give it as much importance as an audit. See what are the things that need improvement and come up with a plan.

2. Make a Plan B

Your first plan might go awry, no matter how foolproof it has been designed to be. Therefore, you should always know that making the plan is only half the job done.

You should follow your supply chain at every point and solve issues when they arise. You should also be able to switch back to your original plan if needed and maintain flexibility between the two plans. This can, however, only be mastered with experience.

3. Manage the Warehouse Better

The warehouse is of utmost importance. You should be able to have a clear step-by-step process and a working warehouse management technology.

You must track all items well when they are moving out, coming in, and also when they are in-between locations. You can place sensors to track the items effectively.

However, if this is a hassle, you can seek help from a reputed freight broker like Freight People. They will provide you with a wide variety of options and also let you track your shipments.

4. Make Sure that the Trucks are Filled

While shipping, make sure your transport vehicle is full. Pay heed to this so that you get a sustainable truckload. If you don’t get full trucks, don’t send them off or hold them until they are filled.

5. Take Care of Your Packaging

With improved packaging, you will have a lot of benefits. The shipping process will be enhanced, and your contribution will be to protecting the environment. So, try to use minimal packaging to significantly decrease your expenses.

Moreover, statistics say that 78% of US consumers are more inclined to purchase products with cardboard packaging. So, make your choice wisely!

6. Measure and Establish KPIs

Analysis and measurement are most important in handling your freight management operations. You must consider tracking some important KPIs to optimize your freight management. Here are they:

a. OTIF or Delivery On-Time-In-Full

This metric calculates the shipment percentage delivered to the consumer at the perfect time, with the correct quantity and product.

b. Average Loading and Unloading Times

Through this metric, you can calculate the time needed to unload and load the freight in a carrier. You can identify the physical areas needing improvement from this KPI.

c. Trailer Utilization Rate

With this KPI, you can measure the efficiency of the capacity utilization of the trailer. It helps in finding out issues with loading and better planning of load.

d. Average Dwell Time

This is the time that a vehicle spends waiting at any stop. The metric helps in gauging the overall efficiency of delivery.

e. On-Time Pickup and Delivery

You can measure the order getting delivered or picked up at the agreed date and time through this metric. The timeliness of the carrier is measured through this.

7. Invest in the Analysis

A freight management analytics solution will help you look at your current performance and make a projection for your future performance.

With the complete analysis, you will get accurate results for the future. You can improve your current service and look at the areas that need improvement.

Conclusion

For optimal freight management, you must consider a lot of things. Needless to say, many companies put in effort and time to optimize freight management.

However, you can always employ the above steps to make things simpler and more effective. Remember, better freight management translates into better revenue.