A recent piece over on Supply Chain Digest had some ideas for reducing transport costs given rising fuel prices from strategic, tactical, and operational viewpoints that is worth a review by anyone moving product from point A to point B. While most of the suggestions will be top of mind for most transportation managers, I’m sure there will be a few that are overlooked and worth remembering. Some of the more valuable ideas were:
Strategic
- tradeoff inventory for transportation as low cost warehousing at TL (truckload) may be cheaper than JIT (just-in-time) at LTL (less-than-truckload)
- centralize transportation planning
- invest in a network optimization tool
Tactical
- reduce packaging to minimal levels when shipping air
- plug in rail/intermodal options into the TMS
- manage inbound and outbound freight
Operational
- optimize pallets and trailer cubes
- insure shippers are compliant with the routing guide
- avoid expedited shipping unless its a true emergency