Onboard New Carriers in Seconds Instead of Hours

Freight procurement is a critical process within the supply chain. The key to success is moving goods on time while paying a fair market price, so end customers’ sales orders arrive on schedule. One of the primary puzzle pieces to freight procurement is securing compliant carriers (trucks and drivers) to move the freight. Unfortunately, the carrier onboarding process is cumbersome. According to Dean Corbolotti, VP of Managed Services at Sleek Technologies, “Onboarding new carriers correctly can take hours at best. And with everything else the transportation team has to juggle, it’s no wonder they limit the number of carriers they do business with."  Finding and Vetting Carriers  Finding and vetting carriers is a time-consuming process, which is required before any carrier can be added into a shipper's network. Traditionally, shippers would go to a public board and look for carriers based on specific criteria. They would dig into things like compliance, safety, accountability (CSA) scores, insurance/ liability, and operating authorities. Once a carrier passes the initial screening process, forms and data entry are required to solidify the new partnership which slows down the process even more.  Automating Carrier Onboarding  Updating the manual process of finding, vetting, and onboarding new carriers with automation software makes the process much faster. It goes from hours to seconds. Using a shipper’s specific load attributes, along with the carrier’s attributes, AI/ML algorithms go to work to dynamically match loads to compliant carriers. All of the onboarding leg work is done dynamically, eliminating the need for manual research. Plus with automatic daily compliance checks, shippers gain peace of mind!  Expanding Freight Capacity  Without automation, shippers rely...
freight market supply vs. demand

Today’s Soft Freight Market Will Change. How Shippers Can Prepare.

Currently, shippers are in the driver’s seat as the freight market continues to soften, which means there are more trucks than shipments available to move. Morgan Stanley analysts recently stated a soft market will continue until 2H 2023 as inventory levels normalize– unless major disruption occurs before then. According to Oleg Yanchyk, Sleek Technologies CIO, “Balance could come sooner with typical seasonal spikes, like produce in Spring, and as smaller carriers park trucks due to tax and tag renewals which will create a tight market in a short period of time.” As freight market dynamics shift, shippers will need to evaluate truckload costs and carriers will need to evaluate truckload revenues to make sure it is aligned with current market conditions. A Soft Freight Market Equals Lower Contracted Rates During a soft freight market, locking in contracted rates [capacity] has long been a staple tactic for most large shippers. And it looks like 2023 will be a year where shippers take advantage of lower contracted rates as carriers do their best to hold onto stable volumes. All this said, contracted capacity is reliable now... but what happens when the market recovers? What happens when there are more shipments than trucks available? As the freight market tightens, carriers can demand higher truckload costs. Their attention and priority will pivot to higher-priced business to help recoup losses in revenue from lower contracted rates. The most difficult of lanes, facilities, or late-night/weekend runs will be most vulnerable to tender rejection, which means shippers need to be proactive with strong backup plans to avoid late deliveries. How Freight Procurement Can Overcome Freight Market Fluctuation ...

2023 Freight Procurement Resolution: Making Needed Improvements

Did you know that large companies need continuous improvement to stay ahead of the competition, increase customer satisfaction, improve efficiency, reduce waste, and increase profitability? Whether it is personal or professional, the start of a new year is a perfect time to look back and reflect on successes and failures. Once failures are identified, opportunities to improve will surface. When it comes to business, understanding the latest trends and technologies and embracing the need for change and innovation are key ingredients. Take logistics, for example, many transportation management professionals still believe that decades-old processes work just fine, so why upset the apple cart? This type of mindset is stagnant and toxic, especially knowing that transportation can account for 10-15% of a company's total expenses. Here are some of the core issues we've uncovered throughout 2022, which can help large shippers evolve the critical freight procurement process in 2023.  #1: Don’t Treat Freight Procurement As A Commodity Freight procurement is a critical part of a company's supply chain and has major implications for overall success. Unfortunately, many executives still believe freight procurement is a commodity, like purchasing office supplies. Leaders must realize that freight procurement is more than buying a product or service. It involves strategic planning, sourcing, and analysis that could lead to tens of millions of dollars in wasted costs and lost revenue every year. If a company’s freight procurement mindset, processes, and tools have not been evaluated or have not changed in recent years, there’s a high probability the company is missing out on substantial performance improvement opportunities. #2: Using Static Freight Procurement Processes  Traditional supply chain processes...