The Cost-Effective Key to Hauling More

To survive in today’s economy and transportation landscape, the key is to “do more with less”. But whether you oversee daily operations or run loads to and from customers' pick up/drop off sites, one thing is certain: unpredictable and predictable factors alike impact your job - regularly.

Organizing the flow of work, people, and assets through volume swings to keep things moving can be tricky on a typical day, much more so in a strained economy. So, how can you be certain that you are making the most of what you have? How can you haul more without hiring more drivers? How can you increase your daily load count effectively and efficiently?

The scarcity of drivers, truck/trailer units, and overall commodity production impacts short-haul trucking companies no matter who you are, what you transport, and how you deliver it to your customers. It’s critical to create stability in good and challenging conditions.

How can I haul more? Work smarter, not harder.

There are many ways to conduct business as a trucking company. You name it, we’ve seen it. From paper ticketing and manual processes to robust transportation management systems, every solution is focused on the challenge: “How do I keep operations flowing?”

The method in which you operate your front and back office is one of the fastest indicators of how your trucking company performs. As a leading TMS provider, our role is to identify quick markers to gauge operational health. Here, we share three themes to help you stabilize and accelerate your logistics business and operations.

Is your trucking company just barely meeting expectations? This scorecard reveals the answer.

Disclaimer: Our scorecard applies to all industries as we specialize in short-haul, bulk commodities (such as MSW, Crude Oil, Refined Fuel, Dry Bulk, and Food Grade to name a few).

Why score your fleet’s operations? By identifying logistics barriers regularly, tools/steps needed to take your team to its unique advantage point reveal themselves before you hit a dead end.

Theme one: spinning your wheels with manual management.

By operating manually, more mistakes and delays occur at the fault of human error alone. Combine that with shifts in the economy/environment along with the never-ending growing pains of business, and you’ll find yourself struggling to retain customers/drivers.

To determine if your front and back office operates manually, pay close attention to the following symptoms of manual management and how many pertain to you.

It’s not uncommon for transportation companies to rely on the more laborious manual practices for a handful of reasons. Do any of these seem like you?

The takeaway issue is that key details are slipping through the cracks with manual processes, whether it’s known to you - or worse – not. You have little to no insight into how time, money, and resources are spent, and this means detrimental missteps.

Theme two: gaining traction with hybrid management.

Operating with one or more digital systems in place may be causing you more harm than good. Although it’s a step forward from manual management, you still have blind spots leaving your company vulnerable.

Among other aspects, the latest revelation with hybrid management is the type of impact a balancing act like this has on a trucking company’s ability to haul. To determine if you are functioning under a hybrid-management style, identify how many of the following fit your company’s description.

Trucking companies often fall into a hybrid work style with honest intentions. It’s a step away from the clunkiness of manual management and depending on how young your company is, this may be what operations started with. Did you do any of the following things?

Hybrid solutions easily spin out of control in a matter of time. With everything saved locally, you are exposing yourself to a higher risk of cyber-security threats and a wide potential for crashed servers and lost data.

Theme three: accelerating with an automated transportation management system.

What does world-class automation look like in the trucking industry? Does it overwhelm you? If so, you are not alone.

If you are new to transportation management systems or even if you already have one, the increased capabilities can be daunting which is why the right TMS provider will keep it simple for you. Hauling more with the support of automated processes is the most reliable way to operate but is often overlooked and misunderstood.

With an automated end-to-end solution:

I found my score, what’s next?

Your business’s health and success are dependent on systems. Manual systems are less efficient than automated trucking systems. When operations are flowing, it’s obvious. When you’ve met a fork in the road or several, it’s time to streamline.

Who is Qv21?

Qv21 is the industry's leading TMS provider, an expert in the short-haul bulk commodity space. We are here to provide a solution built to match your existing workflows and keep you stable no matter what lies on the road ahead. If you are curious about how to reach maximum efficiency, visit our website.