The American Trucking Associations (ATA) is joining a chorus of
voices recognizing the long hours and difficult conditions U.S. truck
drivers are facing as they work to keep businesses stocked with criti-
cal supplies during the Covid- 19 pandemic.
ATA recently called attention to the #thankatrucker campaign on
Twitter in a blog highlighting the need for truckers to keep working
while so many other industries are shut down. “We published a blog
post to champion and thank truckers for the enormous and vital role
they’re playing as America responds to the Covid- 19 [pandemic],”
ATA spokesperson Sean McNally said in an email. “Since then, we’ve
seen an outpouring of public support, including from President
Trump, as part of a growing, organic nationwide campaign of
Americans paying tribute to these unsung heroes on the front lines.”
McNally said ATA doesn’t yet have data on how the situation
is affecting drivers’ workload or how demand for supplies may be
exacerbating the current truck driver shortage. But he said anecdot-
al evidence indicates that trucks are moving and supply chains are
“generally running well.”
At least one industry group has released early data showing that
America’s trucks are moving faster than usual in the push to deliver
critical supplies. The American Transportation Research Institute
(ATRI), which is the nonprofit research arm of the ATA, said in late
March that GPS data from more than a million heavy-duty trucks as
of mid-March showed “an unprecedented level of truck movement,”
according to Rebecca Brewster, president and COO of the Atlanta-
based institute. ATRI normally uses the real-time truck GPS data
to identify bottlenecks and problems on the nation’s highways. But
as commuter traffic thinned and trucks ran continuously to keep
shelves stocked, the data showed an increase in truck speeds nation-
wide during that period. n
Industry groups urge Americans to
“thank a trucker”
Global consulting firm The Hackett Groupis taking steps to help companies deal withthe sudden and dramatic business disruptioncaused by the coronavirus pandemic, mostrecently with a report outlining five “essentialactions” companies can take to counter disruption and make the most of their assets—inboth the short and long term.
In a paper titled Disruption 2020: Five
Essential Actions to Take Now, the authors
say the steps can “yield a significant, posi-
tive impact in the near term. These actions
can also be catalysts for meaningful perfor-
mance improvement in the longer term as
crucial first steps to close the performance
gap [between top-performing companies and
their less-efficient counterparts].”
The report lays out a list of the things com-
panies need to do now and, more important-
ly, how they can do it. They include:
b Protect your employees and keep them
informed and engaged. Actions include prior-
itizing employee health and safety, develop-
ing effective communication strategies, and
providing the tools and support employees
need to do their jobs.
b Defend your financials. Actions include
accelerating forecasting frequency and using
scenario planning to develop better deci-
sion-making skills for high-risk situations.
b Safeguard your supply chain. Actions
include countering demand shock by iden-
tifying and analyzing scenarios and plan-
ning your response; identifying imbalances
between supply and demand by product and
geography; and prioritizing channels and cus-
tomers in order to execute solutions.
b Preserve your cash. Actions include inject-
ing liquidity into the end-to-end supply chain
via customer and supplier terms management
and/or by building strategic inventory.
b Fortify your infrastructure. Actions include
considering the demands on your IT (informa-
tion technology) function in order to sustain
virtual work and collaboration over a period
of time—possibly indefinitely. n
Hackett Group report:Five actions to take in adisruptive economy
Transportation Insight, an enterprise logistics solutions andservices provider, has acquired Meridian Logistics LLC ofAustin, Texas, which has been doing business as FreightPros.FreightPros is a freight brokerage company focusing on theless-than-truckload brokerage market. … Dachser USA, a subsidiary of the international logistics services provider Dachser,has renewed its ISO 9001:2015 quality management systemcertification from Dekra Certification Inc. for its regionaloffice in Atlanta and contract logistics locations in Atlantaand Chicago. … Packaging company TricorBraun has acquiredMinneapolis-based Packaging Solutions Inc., a rigid-packagingdistributor that serves the pharmaceutical, pet food, and per-sonal-care markets.
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