Article
On time, or not, that is the question
In many ways, logistics is like a theatre show, particularly when we think about operational and transport planning. Paddy MacBrant explains why.
Your transport logistics operations are often the last link in the chain. The effectiveness of your transport operations can determine your customer experience and, with controllable costs such as fuel, tax, congestion and traffic, also have a significant effect on your profit (or loss).
We focus on the connection between your transport operations and your customer proposition. How can you best service your customers as efficiently as possible? We can help you to reduce distribution costs and optimise your transport network.
We’ll review and implement improvements to outsourcing, control towers, use of carriers, fleet mix, routing and scheduling; all of these can help you hit your objectives.
How are you using transport contracts to deliver to your customers? We’ll conduct focussed data analysis to see what you’re sending, where and how often. We use our analytical tools that mean we look at line item data, not aggregated volume. We’ll then identify territories, parcel sizes and weights and select the right carriers, negotiate the best rates and then implement this in your operation, using appropriate software.
You’ve outsourced your transport but you’re not getting the outcomes you expected. We can help you with contract set-up, how it works in practice and independently assess performance. We can then work with you and the 3PL to develop a clear action plan to resolve challenges and support you to manage change.
Supply chains are constantly changing, you’ll be evolving your operation on an ongoing basis, but changing your network is a big step. We can help you develop a roadmap to assess where you are now, potential opportunities. and what options are open to you. We’ll then model and assess the right way for you to go.
- Freight Transport Association (FTA) - LOGISTICS REPORT 2019
We’ll help you position your warehouses or distribution points in the right geographic locations to both service your outbound network and optimise your inbound flows. Combined with your warehouse network, we’ll help you strike the right balance to exceed SLAs and minimise network costs.
We’ll work with you to create the tender specification, and to create RFI, RFP and RFQ documentation. Acting completely independently, we can advise on who to invite to tender according to your requirements. We have our methodology that manages the tender process and responses, including co-ordinating contract development alongside bid refinements. We can then recommend the right supplier for you and support the transition.
The world doesn’t stand still, and neither should the assumptions in your transport planning. We’ll help you create an agile transport plan to optimise your fleet and utilise each vehicle to realise every bit of value, maximising vehicle fill and backhaul opportunities and reducing empty running.
We’ll help you tactically manage your fleet mix and deploy it to get best value, from large articulated vehicles to smaller rigids and vans, to tactical use of third parties and carrier networks. We’ll help you identify and implement ongoing, marginal incremental gains. We’ll measure improvements and report regularly so that you’re able to share outcomes with stakeholders from across the business, including your finance department.
When drivers aren’t just drivers, it can bring an additional layer of complexity into your route modelling and network planning. From special loads to fitters, difficult locations and hazardous goods, we can plan your logistics and resourcing to exceed customer expectations.
Whether you’re faced with increasing per-pallet costs, or want to increase your customer service offering, we’ll help to develop different options to optimise your network. We can help you to position your warehouses or distribution points in the right geographic locations to both service your outbound network but also optimise your inbound flows.
Through a combination of centre of gravity modelling and routing software we’ll model different variations of transport fleet mix and distribution locations, to identify options that improve service your customers and keep overall operating costs down.
We can undertake a deep dive review and plug these transport options into your warehouse network to get an understanding of your total network logistics cost. We’ll ensure any designs and scenarios are aligned to your overall supply chain strategy and customer proposition, and help you strike the right balance to exceed SLAs and manage costs.
Whether you’re looking to run a tender for a third-party logistics provider (3PL), new equipment or automation, it is important that a robust procurement process is in place. This can help to acquire the right providers and services at the right commercial agreement and help you to build a partnership with your suppliers.
We will work with you to create the tender specification, and to create the RFI, RFP and RFQ documentation. Acting completely independently, we will advise on who to invite to tender according to your requirements.
The tender process will be closely managed, and all responses evaluated and scored fairly using a balanced scorecard approach. This will include modelling the commercial impact of each supplier. Working together with you we will evaluate responses against pre-agreed parameters to identify and recommend the right supplier for you.
We can work with your team to draft and negotiate contractual agreements, and to implement the solution chosen. We’ve developed an innovative approach that narrows down the legal agreements and terms in parallel with the tender process. This means you only negotiate once and when you still have significant influence.
We’ll review your fleet to assess and benchmark your performance and costs against best practice for vehicle fill, backhaul, empty running and driver hours. We’ll identify opportunities for cost savings and revenue generation.
We can bring a different perspective and help you build agility and flexibility into your route planning. We’ll work with you to develop a responsive fleet plan that can adjust for change, whether that’s new customers, routes, seasonal demands, periodic peak demand or even last-minute changes such as new orders or cancellations.
We’ll look at how you tactically deploy your transport fleet, from large articulated vehicles to smaller rigids and vans to tactical use of third parties and carrier networks. We’ll help you identify and implement ongoing, marginal, incremental gains that deliver tangible returns and savings.
Our analysis can crossover into warehousing, looking at things such as pallet fill, to inform tactical changes and achieve a balance across your business and avoid unintended consequences.
We will help to identify opportunities for improvements and roll up our sleeves to help put them in place. We’re experienced project managers who will plan and oversee change management, working across business departments and with external suppliers.
At the beginning we’ll work to understand how well your transport operations are performing and identify a baseline against which we can measure improvements. We’ll provide you with regular reports so that you’re able to share outcomes with stakeholders from across the business, including your finance department.
When drivers aren’t just drivers, but multi-skilled operatives with a broad working remit, it can bring an additional layer of complexity into your route modelling and network planning.
From food and drink to construction, and IT to Telecoms, we’ll help you design solutions that fit outside of the ‘normal’. From delivery of special loads, installing equipment, visiting difficult locations and transporting hazardous goods, we can plan your logistics and resourcing.
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