Inbound Transportation
Inbound Transportation
WHITE PAPER
Identifying Opportunities With Your
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In brief With the right processes and visibility, companies of any size can improve the inbound segment of the supply chain. There are multiple components in an inbound program. In this paper, we’ll focus on how visibility and business processes can drive improved savings and service.
Contents
Common inbound logistics gaps Where you’ll find inbound savings How to start an inbound program Visibility and a proactive approach to managing an inbound program Intellectual capital Discover more opportunities in inbound logistics 3 4 5 5 7 7
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. | Identifying Opportunities With Your Inbound Transportation
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Many companies, regardless of size, have already eliminated inefficiencies and found savings in outbound logistics. Only a few have made the same effort to control inbound freight from vendors, co-packers, and suppliers.
Yet, a well-run inbound transportation program can reduce costs, improve service, minimize delays, reduce confusion, and raise performance. It can drive efficiencies across the entire supply chain. And many of the same process improvements that are applied to outbound transportation to save time and money actually work on inbound, too.
Common inbound logistics gaps
Transportation costs are affected by carrier acceptance rates, market volatility, order patterns, and quantities. To hedge for unknown costs, suppliers often factor in a margin of error in your delivered price for inbound product. That makes it impossible to know how well suppliers are managing your transportation, or for you to obtain a true cost per unit. Lack of optimization is another type of process gap. Sometimes, suppliers ship product to get it off their own dock, not for your benefit. And unless suppliers optimize orders and consolidate loads, they may not maximize the weight on the trucks they send to you. Finally, delivered pricing is sometimes
WHITE PAPER
Identifying Opportunities With Your
?
$
$
In brief With the right processes and visibility, companies of any size can improve the inbound segment of the supply chain. There are multiple components in an inbound program. In this paper, we’ll focus on how visibility and business processes can drive improved savings and service.
Contents
Common inbound logistics gaps Where you’ll find inbound savings How to start an inbound program Visibility and a proactive approach to managing an inbound program Intellectual capital Discover more opportunities in inbound logistics 3 4 5 5 7 7
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. | Identifying Opportunities With Your Inbound Transportation
2
Many companies, regardless of size, have already eliminated inefficiencies and found savings in outbound logistics. Only a few have made the same effort to control inbound freight from vendors, co-packers, and suppliers.
Yet, a well-run inbound transportation program can reduce costs, improve service, minimize delays, reduce confusion, and raise performance. It can drive efficiencies across the entire supply chain. And many of the same process improvements that are applied to outbound transportation to save time and money actually work on inbound, too.
Common inbound logistics gaps
Transportation costs are affected by carrier acceptance rates, market volatility, order patterns, and quantities. To hedge for unknown costs, suppliers often factor in a margin of error in your delivered price for inbound product. That makes it impossible to know how well suppliers are managing your transportation, or for you to obtain a true cost per unit. Lack of optimization is another type of process gap. Sometimes, suppliers ship product to get it off their own dock, not for your benefit. And unless suppliers optimize orders and consolidate loads, they may not maximize the weight on the trucks they send to you. Finally, delivered pricing is sometimes