Choosing the right TMS is a critical part of every chemical shipper’s transportation network. Modern TMS provides advanced visibility into your day-to-day transportation operations and documentation that ensures your chemical freight gets to your customers on time. The right TMS makes it easier, more efficient, and cost-effective to track, manage, and optimize logistics operations across all modes and provide the right level of visibility to all parties.
Big data and predictive transportation analytics are transforming the supply chain industry in incredible ways. More and more, transportation companies are considering predictive analytics a crucial component of doing business. As the global transportation and logistics market continues to grow, new complexities such as health-related closures, capacity issues, global regulatory changes, and other factors drive shippers to seek better solutions.
The transportation of chemicals comes with significant financial, environmental, and health-related risks. That’s why the US and other countries have robust laws and regulations in place to ensure proper safety precautions and regulations are strictly followed. Around the world, hazardous materials regulations change frequently, and experienced 4PLs have to be diligent about staying up to date on those changes. Our Infographic: Achieve Chemical Compliance Quickly & Effectively is an excellent resource for chemical manufacturers to learn how to keep up!
It’s critical for chemical manufacturers to partner with a 4PL that specializes in, understands, and complies with the regulations and responsibilities set by the federal government. Today, we’re going back to the basics with a quick look at the various types of HAZMAT Classes defined by the FMCSA.
Small and large trucking companies find themselves in a changing industrial, political and economic climate that’s having adverse effects on overall performance and bottom-line earnings. Let’s explore the particulars of the issue, then learn how to combat the challenges with a single decision.
An aging workforce and a high turnover rate have led to a severe driver shortage. The problem won’t be easily solved as low national unemployment makes replacement hires difficult, while an aging workforce means the problem will only intensify.
Even with fewer workers, carriers still have to do more work: the ELD Mandate and the Food Modernization Safety Act have increased regulations and liabilities, leading to a drop in productivity and distance traveled.
And even though these challenges demand increased spend, the price of doing business is already skyrocketing. A spike in insurance has created anywhere between a five to double-digit cost increase for carriers, and the price of fuel has increased by 50 percent since 2016.1
Despite these challenges, consumers expect superior service, demanding delivery transparency and refusing to pay extra for anything less than two-day shipping, while the increasing cost of technology demands greater spend overall.
This series of challenges can seem like an impossible knot to untie. Trying to solve one issue might only make another issue worse. But it’s possible to meet all these challenges with a single decision—partnering with a 3PL.
A 3PL provides the solution by efficiently and comprehensively tackling these challenges. With a 3PL, trucking companies benefit from
enhanced scalability
next-level technology
greater access to resources
reinforced financial stability
increased safety
To find out how a 3PL clears away the obstacles facing modern carriers, review the infographic, Carrier Roadblocks and Ways to Bypass the Barriers.
The economy, the weather, new industry regulations—it seems as though today’s shippers have had everything going against them, including nature itself, as they tried to navigate 2017 and move on to see success this year. And these issues have only compounded to cause a truck capacity shortage that has caused even more damage to shippers’ bottom lines with effects that continue to impact business.
So where has the capacity crunch come from and how can shippers take steps now to come out on top as we enter 2019? A steadily climbing economy, increasing holiday sales, colder temperatures, an aging driver force and the introduction and enforcement of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate have all led to a shortage of drivers and a loss in trucking capacity, which together make shippers unable to effectively meet the increased demand for their services and effectively bleed into other aspects of the logistics industry. Shippers can start to address these changes by working to strengthen their relationships with carriers, by obtaining private or dedicated fleets for captive, reliable capacity and by converting truck shipments to other modes of transportation, such as intermodal transportation or rail. It’s also a smart idea to start tapping into the resources of 3PL carrier networks to gain access to more carriers and better rates.
The infographic below provides a great overview of the main causes and tangible effects of the capacity crunch hitting shippers in 2018 and helps reframe the situation with more details on the four ways shippers can take action to protect their bottom line in the years to come. If your organization is taking a bit hit from these market forces, take time to consider the four strategies you can employ to fight the capacity crunch and invest in your long-term success.
Are you interested in chatting more about capacity crunch or capacity management services? Contact CLX Logistics today to learn how our vast carrier network can alleviate your capacity issues.
In 2015, trucks were responsible for transporting 64% of the tons and 69% of the value in the United States, according to a federal report. Considering that a majority of our society’s goods are transported this way, it’s safe to say that trucking is an essential part of many businesses’ supply chains.
To ensure the safe, timely and cost-effective delivery of goods – from chemicals to industrial products to automobiles – consider conducting a comprehensive review of your freight management process.
To get started, click to download our infographic which defines the six core values or key performance indicators (KPIs) that can help guide the assessment of your freight management performance:
Safety
Service
Freight costs
Efficiency & productivity
Route guide compliance
Sustainability
Next, once you’ve identified the right KPI from each of the categories, be sure to incorporate them into your daily business routine. Adjust your reporting to reflect more valuable measurements, like an analysis of service defects, carrier compliance and shipping transit times.
Lastly, use these insights to diagnose your areas of improvement. Is your customer satisfaction suffering? Are you spending too much time or money on a certain task or criteria?
The solution may be incorporating Software as a Service (SaaS) into your business model. This approach is not a new one. In fact, “vertical-specific software represented the largest segment of the worldwide software market in 2014 with $114 billion in revenues,” according to a Gartner report.
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Moving forward, 85% of small business executives are willing to spend more on business software solutions in the next five years – will you be one of them?
If you’re interested in learning more about how CLX Logistics can cut costs for you, view the Helly Hansen freight management case study here.
