Leveraging Logistics Blog

Managed transportation services continue to be the #1 topic we talk with shippers about as they look to optimize their supply chain performance against the challenging backdrop of rising freight rates, tight truck capacity, along with changing and more challenging customer requirements.

The freight broker market continues to evolve its value-add proposition for shippers.  Technology has put this transformation process into hyperdrive transitioning many freight brokers into logistics service providers (LSP’s).

Managed transportation services is the #1 topic we talk with shippers about as they look to better manage their supply chain performance.  Surprisingly, there is very little information about how much managed transportation costs, who the largest providers of the service are in the market and what are all the options a shipper has with the types of services they can obtain through a managed transportation solution.  

Outsourcing non-core competencies has been a long-standing business strategy, but for many shippers the decision to outsource freight activities brings on a number of anxieties starting with the perception of losing of control of what the C-Suite believes should be a core internal competency and continues from there.  While some shippers may be anxious over the decision to outsource freight activities, the larger market is not and the practice is far more common than others think.  Today's logistics technology and business processes within the managed transportation space makes outsourcing seamless to the shipper and its customer base, while providing significant value in price, capacity, market knowledge and overall supply chain performance. 

Inbound freight is typically the last frontier for many companies search for cost savings in their freight spend, as there is an abundance of complexities that are often outside the Logistics & Supply Chain Department's control. When talking about Inbound Freight Management a term often used is Freight Term Optimization (FTO), which is the process by which shippers strategically establish the most advantageous freight terms, while minimizing the total inbound landed cost.  The optimal freight terms are influenced by a shipper’s ability to consolidate orders across days, shipments across vendors / customers, order level-level service requirements and the shipper’s ability to plan and execute routing options like multi-stop LTL, static or dynamic pooling, zone skipping, backhauls, etc.

This is a follow-up to the “Dream Scenario” blog that goes into more detail as to what InTek Freight & Logistics does for shippers within its Inland Container Services Program .     Ocean Vessel Monitoring InTek works closely with shippers, its steamship lines, its ocean transportation providers, InTek's inland transportation partners and the various Port Authorities, to manage and monitor each and every container to improve the chances for a smooth and trouble free transaction from Port to Door and back to the Port within "Free Time".  

In addition to the Domestic Intermodal door-to-door services that InTek Freight & Logistics offers, InTek also offers a service offering that has been perfected an Inland Transportation and Container Management Program for imported steamship containers.  The service is a solution to a myriad of issues that face an importer, as their containers delivered to a single or multiple inland locations.  Several aspects of inland container movement must take into consideration to develop a customized solution for each importer on the program.

If you are a shipper not employing a transportation management system (TMS), then you will want to read on.  There is overwhelming evidence (TMS) save companies anywhere between 3-35% of their transportation spend, as compared to manually managing freight. 

The concept of Transportation Management continues to evolve and is now at a place where it provides tremendous enterprise value, yet there are so many still holding back because they feel they are giving up control.  Maybe all of us in the industry have confused the matter by the various names put on the service: Supply Chain Management, Transportation Under Management, Transportation Management Center (TMC), Transportation Management, Inbound Freight Management, Freight Management, Managed TM and TMS, which as my kids shared with me has a whole other meaning on twitter.  Whatever the name given to the concept of outsourcing the transportation function, freight management continues to grow to be something well beyond the centralization of the transportation department.  

No one would consider driving a car with a blindfold, but that is exactly what many companies do today with their inbound supply chain.