In most industries, companies have similar goals – and they often boil down to saving time and money and increasing productivity. This is no different in the full truckload shipping sector. Companies are looking for ways to create operational efficiencies while saving money and making their employees’ jobs easier so they can get more done in a day. One of the best ways to accomplish these goals is to automate as many manual processes as possible.
Unfortunately, not a lot of digitization technology exists for the full truckload sector. However, there are some options. And for FTL, one place shippers/3PLs can start to implement automation is by simplifying its rate-quoting processes.
Traditionally, and still for a majority of companies shipping truckload, they manage their quoting process manually. Companies will email a number of carriers with load information, including freight, weight, location of pickup, location of destination and the date the shipment needs to arrive (if applicable). Then they wait to hear back from each individual carrier with a quote, compile the quotes and award the load to the carrier that provides the option they like best. This takes time – sometimes hours – and often leaves shippers without complete information or even the best rate if the carrier didn’t respond before the shipment was awarded. It is not an efficient process and leaves a lot of time and savings on the table.
However, there is a better way.
With Banyan Technology’s carrier spot quote email tool, companies can load its full truckload shipment and the tool automates the rest of the process. After the shipment is added to the tool, an email will all of the pertinent information is sent to each carrier with a link to enter their quote for that load. The quotes are then compiled, and the shipping company can log in and see, on one page, all of their quotes and award to the carrier of their choice. At this time, an email is automatically sent to the winning carrier. The carrier accepts and the shipment process begins. Additionally, the tool has the ability to track the shipments (as long as the carrier submits the tracking locations) and handle invoicing/billing management. This simple process of taking the manual out of spot rate quoting saves the shipper 14-16% on average in operational/labor costs.
While it is not full digitization of the load tendering, tracking and invoicing process, it is a great start. Not only does it provide significant time savings, but it also helps improve decision making because of the data that a shipper can aggregate. It will allow companies to easily monitor, track and analyze its preferred carriers’ rates, transit times and on-time delivery rates. This will help determine which carriers are providing the best service and your company can reward that relationship. Conversely, you will be able to determine where work needs to be done or what lanes are costly to your company. In addition to the time savings and operational cost savings, there will likely be freight spend savings as well because of the quicker access to more carrier quotes and all of the information that your company will be privy to.
If you have any questions regarding automating carrier spot rate quoting or any other solutions that Banyan Technology offers, please feel free to reach out to the author, John Gray, at (502) 994-8319, jgray@banyantechnology.com or schedule a meeting at https://meetings.hubspot.com/jgray11.
John Gray is the director of LTL and partnership strategy for Banyan Technology. He has more than 35 years of experience in LTL and parcel logistics and solutions with a background in IT and computer science.