e global economy has been very turbulent since the pandemic in late 2019. A lot of industries saw a rise, and many of them saw terrible lows. The transport and logistics sector has seen a lot of new difficulties. It has been hard for the industry to thrive without making necessary adjustments and optimizations. One of the key areas of worry can be the cost of road freight. There is a lot of potential to plug holes and improve costs when road freight is given a hard look.
An in-depth understanding of transportation costs is more valuable than ever. Tweaking the processes to make the best of resources can mean very significant savings and an improved profit margin. Many companies are facing shooting transportation and logistics cost, and there are many possible reasons for it like increased overall costs, failed deliveries, un-optimized shipping routes etc. So let’s take a look at five ways to plug holes in your logistics operation and maximize profits.
Reconsider Packaging
One of the simplest ways to reduce costs is to reconsider and optimize your packaging. Occupation of space is one of the biggest factors that determine the cost. It’s only wise to make use of any remaining dead space in your freight. Doing this will definitely result in lower rates. In many cases, there can be breakage because of new packaging. But these losses are recoverable and still can be an acceptable price to pay for a far more significant reduction in freight costs.
Provide Drivers with Optimized Routes
A lot of the time, planning a route can be an effort in vain because of a bad route. Drivers may end up spending a lot of time being stuck in traffic, facing unbalanced workloads, or running empty vehicles. A good route, however, will skip through most of these hoops and figure out logistics in a way that every time a vehicle runs from point A to point B, it’s being as productive as it can. You must factor in weather conditions, traffic, sunrise/sunset times, avoidance zones, the weight of the load etc.
Monitoring Drivers
Discipline from your staff is something you can’t just expect, especially from drivers who have a lot on their plate already. To make sure that they follow the optimized routes, you must put in place a monitoring system that can ensure they make very little to no personal stops and keep the idle time of the vehicles to a minimum. A simple GPS monitor can give you even more information, such as brake frequency, speed, and even little bursts of speed to make up for a lost time.
Ensuring Proper Maintenance of Vehicles
A single-vehicle breaking down for any reason will set you back in massive ways. Imagine a vehicle breaking down every month or every week? Those are the kinds of setbacks that can cause fatal financial damage, and this is what would come from the irregular maintenance of vehicles. Ensuring that all vehicles can take the heavy miles and have proper fixes when required and as soon as required will save you from such damages. Such maintenance includes replacing air filters, changing oil and oil filters, replacing spark plugs etc.
Reduce Failed Deliveries
Failed deliveries can happen for reasons beyond anybody’s control. Your drivers could reach on time, do everything right, and the customer could be unavailable. This and many more scenarios like this can cause a dent in your profits. This will also delay the other scheduled deliveries and put a brake on the entire process. To avoid such circumstances, you must actively keep the customer involved and focus on first-time delivery success more than anything. Ask customers their preferred delivery window to organize the deliveries accordingly. Allow customers to track their packages so they can plan their day from their end to be available for the package.
In a time where companies are fixated on squeezing out every ounce of profit possible from every corner, freight optimization can’t be ignored. If you’re looking for professional help and expertise for your logistics and transportation needs, contact us at ARK India. We are Supply Chain Management experts with years of experience and plenty of success stories to boast of. Contact us on [email protected].