Four Tips For Keeping Your Transportation Costs in Check

Transportation costs might be temporarily low, but as soon as demands start picking up, you know they’re going to spike again. Fortunately, there’s a way to control transportation costs regardless of demand, or fuel costs, and an article last summer in Industry Week on rethinking transportation costs offered up some suggestions that are worth a quick review.

  • Know Your Carrier
    Know what keeps your carrier up at night and what you’ll need to do to take a more collaborative approach to solving your collective challenges.
  • Trucks, Trains, Ships, and Planes — Which is right for you?
    Consider alternate routes and alternate modes … maybe there are (much) cheaper options if you can be a little flexible on your delivery dates and transit times.
  • Let Your Network Be All It Can Be
    Reconsider your manufacturing locations, distribution strategies, off-shoring strategies, and customers. Do you have the right number, the right locations, the right strategies, and the right customers?
  • Find the Answers
    Consider all of your network data, all of your network possibilities, build some optimization models, run some simulations, and discover your true potential.