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www.dcvelocity.com SEPTEMBER 2015 DC VELOCITY 53
cating shipments between dedicated/
contract and common carrier resources.
However, only 28 percent had a fully
automated process in place to assign
shipments, while 52 percent were still
doing it through manual processes and
the remaining 20 percent used a combination. Though most respondents said
they were satisfied with the status quo,
the data points indicated that the group
thought there was significant room for
improvement, according to the survey.
The researchers wrote that the “
manner in which the hybrid strategy is created and implemented represents a distinct opportunity” for companies that
can come to market with an automated
process to effectively balance internal
and outside equipment use. The benefits
of addressing the information gap are
“only heightened in a trucking industry
strained by increasing costs and customer service requirements in an environment with capacity constraints,” they
added.
Diez said TranSync is used as part
of Ryder’s transportation management
program, and the company does not
position it as a software solution. A
user would need to have at least $10
million in common carrier spend to
generate value from the tool, he added.
TranSync’s deployment is too new to
quantify its effectiveness, Diez said. The
tool will not be available on a standalone basis and will be incorporated into
Ryder’s existing fleet management relationships. “There has to be some type of
affiliation (with Ryder),” he said.
It’s a near-certainty that private fleets
will save money with an intelligently
designed and properly applied vehicle
routing program. What is less appar-
ent, though perhaps just as relevant in
today’s tight supply environment, is a
technology’s ability to help fleets to
leverage their capacity more efficiently,
even if the transportation costs are iden-
tical. “I’d rather pay $500 and perform
with five trucks and five drivers than
pay $500 to perform the same tasks with
six trucks and six drivers,” said John E.
Bell, associate professor of supply chain
management at the Haslam College of
Business and one of the study’s three
co-authors. While cost savings are
a priority of any fleet management
strategy, Bell said, fleet efficiency is
a critical secondary objective that
“many people miss in the vehicle
routing process.”
What may also be overlooked is
how a relatively modest change can
potentially yield outsized results.
“The implications are clear; there is
ample room for improving the deci-
sion-making process on how to allo-
cate shipments and utilize available
trucking assets using a combination
of internal and external fleets,” the
study’s authors wrote.
