How Important Is Freight Management in the Supply Chain?

• Mar 10- 2021
• Trucking Company

As online shopping becomes more and more common, customers are expecting more from their shipping and freight trucking companies. They’re looking for faster shipping, easier pickup, more accurate tracking, and other things that make their experience better. As the demand for faster shipping gets higher, the frequency of your shipping has to match it, which can cause efficiency problems. This makes freight management more important than ever for running your supply chains, especially as LTL, or “less than truckload” shipping becomes more attractive. LTL shipping offers the flexibility that international freight shipping companies need these days, and freight management is the key to pulling it off successfully.

As increasing shipping frequency becomes more and more necessary, freight trucking companies must determine more efficient ways of getting their freight out to the customers as quickly as possible. Waiting until you have a full truck takes way too long, but sending out trucks with empty space isn’t an ideal solution either. One of the more common ways to fix this is to partner with other international freight forwarders to pair freight from both companies in a single truck. This improves efficiency, lowers costs, and keeps customers happy with the speed of their shipping. It also offers greater flexibility, since you can just send whatever freight you happen to have instead of having to wait to fill a full truck.

Shipping companies aren’t the only ones having to deal with increased demand from customers. Retailers are also feeling the pressure, with customer demand for services like in-store pickup and next-day delivery rising. This means that they in turn are demanding more from their suppliers than they had previously. The windows for deliveries are getting narrower, fees for non-compliance are getting higher, and freight trucking companies are being challenged like never before. This is where freight management comes in. If you can match your production and loading schedule to the retailer’s delivery window, for example, the risk of missing a delivery is greatly lowered.

Customers aren’t just demanding faster shipping these days, but they’re also demanding more information. Having an accurate and robust tracking system is a must, and you need to be able to let your customers know about pick-ups, delays, stops, and any other relevant information. This is also of great benefit to you as well. Knowing exactly where your freight is at all times is a huge help for figuring out where the inefficiencies in your supply chain are so you can keep things running smoothly.

Running fast, efficient freight trucking companies isn’t easy, but proper management and administration go a long way towards making it less of a pain. It’s important to stay up to date on the smartest and best solutions.