Last-Mile LogisticsConsiderations and Challenges Mid-Pandemic

By John Cox,

National Accounts, Technical Transportation

Technical Transportation, Inc

The logistics industry – like so many other industries around the world — has spent the past year surviving, adjusting and finding ways to forge ahead in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. And although we’re still working through this challenge, there’s hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel with the recent vaccine announcements.

Until then, the industry is still dealing with various challenges that have presented themselves this year — everything from shipping delays, infrastructure issues, and meeting demand for product. One such challenge has been how both businesses and consumers have adjusted their processes and decision making, which has had impacted the last mile sector.

Especially in places of brick-and-mortar businesses or in healthcare settings — where the safety of the workers and customers onsite is a pivotal concern – last mile and white glove delivery services have been met with some unique challenges this year. Following are some of the ways the industry has had to adjust.

SAFETY FACTORS

Safety has been a top priority and the main area of concern for everyone involved in human interactions during the last mile, including shippers, delivery crews, and consignees. Most customers have higher expectations in light of COVID-19, such as full visibility into your revised pandemic processes and the assurance that all safety checks are in place. If you can’t demonstrate those capabilities, then many manufacturers won’t work with you.

Safety processes include fever screening, symptom surveys, recent social interactions, and travel history statements for all persons involved in the shipment. This ensures everyone in the field and those they come in contact with are as protected as possible. Such processes have simply become a routine part of day-to-day operations, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

These new measures and precautions have introduced additional expenses to last-mile operations, including the need for continuous:

• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Supplies and manpower for sanitization of equipment
• Staggered shifts to ensure appropriate employee distancing
• Additional employee time for documentation and assistance with health checks

Capacity is also an issue, due in part to government protocols and guidelines that are adding more pressure on the pre-existing driver shortage in the industry.

For example, for any driver who is symptomatic or comes into contact with someone exposed, they and their team are required to quarantine for 10-14 days. With such a small pool of drivers and equally skilled field workers currently available, the potential for reduced capacity is very real, should COVID strike at your workplace.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

These safety observations and issues, combined with some unique economic issues, will make the fourth quarter of this year pretty interesting, and busy, for last-mile operators.

Traditionally, Q4 always rivals or takes the crown for the busiest final-mile operations of both B2C and B2B companies – primarily due to the hockey-stick demand with holiday spending and end-of-year purchasing patterns. There are a couple of wrinkles this year; however, that are expected to make Q4 potentially memorable.

The first wrinkle is the increase in online shopping due to the pandemic. According to a survey conducted by Salesforce.com, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shift in how people interact with companies, moving from a majority favoring offline interactions in 2019 to more people favoring online interactions in 2020.

The study specifically showed that in 2019, 58 percent of interactions were offline versus 42 percent online. That trend flipped, however, this year with 60 percent favoring online vs 40 percent offline.

More than 58% of those surveyed in 2020 said they plan to increase their online shopping post-pandemic versus pre-pandemic. Of all B2B purchasers surveyed, 80 percent expect to purchase more online, post-pandemic.

A second wrinkle is the timing of Amazon Prime Day this year. Typically held each July, this year it was held in October to the tune of nearly a 50 percent increase in sales activity from Prime Day a year ago.

What that means is the holiday rush began even earlier this year, and with many people turning to online shopping, the transportation industry has faced — and will likely continue to face — the threat of shipping delays and backlogs that could persist for much of the quarter.

A PERFECT STORM?

When you combine today’s more restrictive operating environment for safety reasons with an increasingly higher demand for delivery services, it can create a perfect storm for bottlenecks and delays.

While some logistics companies may not be directly involved in the consumer eCommerce supply chain, they will still be impacted by what’s happening in the industry.

Some B2B providers are actually taking advantage of this online purchasing trend by dipping their toes in the B2C eCommerce arena to boost sales. By doing so, however, their account management and logistics teams have been pulled away from their typical duties, thus stretching already thin resources and diluting their B2B operations. If not managed properly, this new activity level can cause errors and delays in areas that require more specialized attention and complex service as part of the last mile delivery.

For manufacturers who may be working with such partners, they may find their service levels affected due to a shift in priority from their logistics team. For manufacturers with complex 3PL needs, it is critical now, more than ever, to look for a provider that has remained dedicated to your space and has focused their full effort on your needs.

Slowly but surely, we will move beyond this pandemic, but for now we must focus on the issues and challenges that are immediately affecting the supply chain. At TechTrans, we continue to focus all our efforts on meeting the needs of our clients with complex shipments or specialized equipment to mitigate the challenging trends facing our industry, and to stay on track while we work our way through these unprecedented times.

How to Protect Your Supply Chain from Unexpected Disruptions

By John Cox,

National Accounts

Technical Transportation, Inc

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the need for companies to better protect their supply chains from unexpected disruptions, whether caused by a pandemic or other natural or man-made disaster.

In this blog, we look at how manufacturers can better prepare their supply chain and logistics operations to help mitigate the impact of future adverse events.

Communicate Proactively, Clearly and Daily

First and foremost – and what should be your top priority – is establishing clear and open communications between all of your supply chain and logistics partners. To that end, here are some questions you should be considering:

• Do you have an existing cadence of updates from your partners regarding the current status of the products or services they are impacting?
• Have you been given access to reports by your partner showing real-time updates of service completion for the work they are handling?
• Have you clearly defined your expectations for services and outlined the metrics for the scope of work?

The best partners will reach out to you proactively and often communicate the status and capacity of their operations, how they can keep your products moving, and any potential impacts to your customers or the metrics of the scope of work.

You also need partners with the infrastructure to meet your needs. Your process needs to account for changes driven by the customer (such as requirements changes, scheduling changes) as well as changes driven by the environment within they operate (labor capacity, availability of equipment, accidents, human errors, natural disasters, and current events in the local market or nationwide that can cause disruptions to service). Questions to ask include:

• Do they have operational capacity that allows some flexibility during disruptive markets?
• Can they adjust their deliverables mid-stream, if need be?
• What is the expected communications strategy if something changes during the course of the project?

Communication is critical in these situations, and making sure your expectations are known and understood by your downstream partners will help you stay in a proactive state rather than reactive.

Put Contingencies in Place

You also need to understand your logistics partners’ contingency plans. Take logistics in the current market for example. What happens if a local driver gets sick with COVID-19? What does that mean for the other employees within that office? How will your products get delivered if the exposure triggers a shutdown of the facility?

Contingencies will be critical for ensuring your logistics needs can be met during times of disruption. Things to look for in a partner include:

• What processes are they proactively implementing to mitigate the risk of service interruption in light of current challenges (e.g., COVID-19 exposure)?
• What reserves do they have in any given marketplace, and how many resources do they have at their disposal should anything happen in a local market?
• In the event that the primary process for completing the service should be compromised, do they have secondary and tertiary support arrangements?
• Do they have a reliable network of partners and providers to lean on to keep your supply chain running smoothly, allowing them to commit to servicing your products and honor their commitment?

You also need to understand where the assumption of risk falls if unexpected issues arise. What exceptions are covered by your partner as part of your service agreement, and what issues are you responsible for as the shipper?

Understand the True Capacity of Your Partners

Another consideration is your 3PL’s personnel resources that are committed to their payroll (i.e. their own employees) because it’s important to know what true capacity they have to serve you.

What can they handle if they are placed with more responsibility, or if someone gets sick? What will be the impact if part of their team has to be furloughed? Can they perform any capabilities virtually, such as moving to online training for your products? Can they automate any of their processes to make it easier to manage virtually with fewer amounts of resources?

These are all considerations a logistics partner should be able to address with you, ensuring you have the right team who can handle your needs.

Make Sure Your Partners Have Good Technology

The logistics industry has not always been at the forefront of technology adoption; however, there are better technologies in place today that make the supply chain more streamlined and efficient. To help offset any issues that may arise from a major market disruption, you should have the confidence that your 3PL has invested in the technologies needed to minimize any disruptions to the supply chain.

In this current pandemic era, this has required 3PLs to have the ability to replicate a large part of their job function in a digital or virtual experience. Make sure your partner has documentation- capture capabilities for all of the critical points in the supply chain process, including:

• Access to the real-time status of your shipment throughout the transportation cycle
• Shipment updates provided at each major hand-off during transit
• Virtual access to proof-of-delivery capture and review through digital photos and signatures

The latest technology can perform these functions, so if your partner doesn’t have those capabilities, it can slow down all the functions in your supply chain.

In the end, there is no way to fully make your supply chain pandemic-proof. However selecting partners that have the infrastructure, team and technology in place to offset any potential disruptions will go a long way to ensuring your own company’s continued success during the most difficult of times.

Looking at the Remainder of 2020 in the Logistics Industry

By Len Batcha,

President

Technical Transportation, Inc

January seems so long ago, and like a different world. In many ways, it was.

When we wrote our Supply Chain Outlook for 2020 blog earlier this year, we were worrying about driver shortages and electronic logging systems, among other hot topics. The coronavirus, or COVID-19, was still in its infancy and confined to China at the time.

But as we all know, that has changed considerably. With the global spread of the disease and subsequent economic shutdowns and quarantines, our industry has also changed considerably, albeit hopefully temporarily. Most logistics companies today have 20-40 percent of their business on hold, and they’re having to adapt.

The Trump Administration economists were originally anticipating a V-shaped curve recovery for the economy, where things bounce back quickly after a brief downturn. But today, it seems the curve will be more of a U-shape, where the economy remains suppressed a while longer, but when it bounces back, the incline will be immediate and possibly overwhelming. Whether our industry is able to handle that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, not everything is bad in the logistics industry, and following are some of the trends we’re seeing.

The Driver Shortage is Solved for Now

The industry has done a 180-degree turn from when we had a driver shortage to an over- capacity situation at the moment because of COVID-19. Thanks to the U.S. government’s paycheck protection program (PPP), though, many layoffs in the industry have been prevented.

This surplus in drivers is good news in the sense that we’ll be better prepared when the economy bounces back. In fact, if demand takes a more V-shaped curve, then the current driver surplus may not be sufficient enough.

And we do believe demand in many industries will bounce back in a big way. We just don’t know exactly when.

A Focus on Training

Many companies are using this slower time to tackle items that may have been “nice to haves” previously, such as training, process reviews, and compliance initiatives.

At TechTrans, we’re using this time to dig deep and review our logistics processes and update them where it’s needed. We’re also making them available on our learning management system (LMS), so employees and partners can review them online and document compliance. With this approach, we’ll be in a lot better position to step on the gas and go without having to update or modify processes when activities increase.

The only downside is, you can watch a video or do virtual training on anything, but unless you’re handling that product and experiencing it in real life, you won’t develop true expertise on it. It’s similar to buying a piece of ready-to-assemble furniture, which, if you’re following directions, takes a long time the first time you do it. However, if you put together a second one, it would likely only take a fraction of the time. That hands-on repetition makes a big difference.

eCommerce Isn’t for Everyone or Everything

We’ve seen eCommerce make big gains during the pandemic, but largely with consumer goods. Our concern is growing over one vertical market: the big-box retailer. With the shutdown, people have gone away from the big box retailer, outside of a select few that have more robust online operations such as Amazon, Walmart, Target and Home Depot. And while this trend towards more online purchasing has worked well during the pandemic, I don’t think it will remain this high in the long term.

Once the pandemic is over, people will have a need to go outside, go shopping and get back to enjoying life outside the home. And the majority of consumers today still like the ability to see and feel things they are wanting to buy — even if they ultimately purchase it online. We only hope retailers–big and small alike–can survive this ordeal so commerce can normalize again.

But for the logistics industry as a whole, we also have to be prepared for not only a possible huge shift in demand, but the need for a ready-to-go infrastructure that is able to meet that demand. Companies that can position themselves for that growth now will be ahead of the curve, no matter which shape it takes.

Strategies for Reducing Logistics Costs During the COVID-19 Era

By Sean Horner,

VP Operations

Technical Transportation, Inc

The quarantines and stay-at-home mandates precipitating from the COVID-19 pandemic are causing hardships for many companies around the world. And the logistics industry is certainly not immune.

While providers that serve the food and medical sectors, as well as other essential industries, remain relatively active, other sectors have seen their supply chain operations grind to a near standstill.

So as companies are looking for ways to trim logistics costs, at least temporarily, we’d like to share some ideas that might help.

Stock up on fuel while prices are low

The reduced demand for fuel is a byproduct of the stay-at-home mandates, and combined with international oil price disputes, has led to some of the lowest gas and diesel prices in years.

For those logistics providers that keep a fuel supply at their terminals, now may be the time to look for deals to replenish your stocks while prices remain low.

There’s no set timetable for a return to higher prices, but as of this writing, WTI crude is already trending higher off of its lows in April, which means fuel prices may increase more as well.

Use this time to plan for the long term

While activity is lower for many logistics companies, it’s expected that things will bounce back later in the year. The main question is, how quickly it will happen.

What you don’t want is to be caught off guard by sudden, dramatic increases in demand as the economy normalizes, which often results in higher operational expenditures. For this reason, now is the time to begin thinking about what you can do to prepare yourself to meet customer expectations, and perhaps create a competitive advantage.

Take advantage and pre-position products now

Part of that long-term planning could be pre-positioning products in strategic locations that are near your customer base. This will help you respond quickly to new orders as demand begins to ramp up again, and it will help improve customer satisfaction through faster delivery when that time comes.

As you pre-position, consider using cheaper transportation methods to move items. For example, if you traditionally use air freight, consider ground or rail transportation in the interim. The current downtime may give you the lead time needed to use these less expensive transportation methods, thus saving you money in the long run.

And if you don’t have warehouse space in a targeted area, consider temporary, flexible warehousing options offered by some providers. You’ll only need to purchase the amount of space you require, and then scale up or down as needed. This could give you a tactical advantage over the competition as the economy bounces back.

This is a tough time for many, but if you take some prudent steps now, you can come out ahead on the other side.

Providing Essential Services During These Unique Times

By Len Batcha,

President

Technical Transportation, Inc

The coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been one of the biggest disruptors the world has seen in some time. Just weeks ago, the U.S. economy was running full steam ahead, and as of this writing, we’re virtually shut down. It’s an unprecedented situation, albeit a temporary one, but it still hurts.

For the logistics industry, though, this creates an opportunity for companies to shine excel during this dark hour. As an essential business sector, defined by the Department of Homeland Security, we’re charged with keeping the supply chain running for other vital sectors, including the healthcare and food industries.

That means that we keep working. Not just for ourselves and for our employment, but by knowing there is something bigger at stake: the lives of the most vulnerable. Being an essential business means our industry is in a position to serve a higher purpose for our fellow man in this time of need and uncertainty.

Whether it’s sending critical healthcare supplies such as beds, ventilators, testing equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) to the hardest-hit areas, or by making sure each grocery store in each community is well-stocked to serve its local citizens, we are called on as an industry to meet these unique and timely challenges with prudence and with courage.

We are fully operational at TechTrans, and we’re helping companies in other essential business sectors respond to their urgent needs. Our internal COVID-19 Task Team is ensuring that our entire network is following CDC recommendations to reduce the chances of spreading this contagious virus at our carrier locations, our customers’ locations, and your customers’ locations.

We certainly look forward to the day this crisis has passed — and it will pass — so we can get back to more normal business activities and purpose.

But in the meantime, we’re here to help you. And we’ll do it in a way that is safe for you, your customers, our employees and our collective families.

Together, we’ll get through this. As an industry, and as a nation.

Godspeed.

Reducing Costs When Relocating Equipment and Technology

By Phil Burnett,

Vice President, National Account Sales

Technical Transportation, Inc

When organizations and businesses purchase big equipment and technology (think complex equipment such as diagnostic analyzers laboratory refrigerators & freezers, and CT scanners), that equipment often means a significant capital expense, sometimes in the millions of dollars. In other cases, the machine itself may just be on lease from the manufacturer, with the consumable/dispensable products being the focus of revenue for the retailer or end establishment (examples being pharmaceutical drug dispensing machines, or retail-front coin & cash recyclers, POS kiosks, and vending machines).

Given the high price tag of the equipment in either scenario, many companies who bought or own those machines naturally try to extend the use and value of that equipment for as long as possible. This could mean that there may come a time when the equipment must be moved for repurposing, everything will be done to carefully and safely relocate the equipment rather than scrapping it altogether and buying the latest-and-greatest.

For example, in a healthcare setting a hospital lab may choose to move its equipment from one building to another as part of an expansion. Or a clinic might be opening a satellite office and must relocate certain machines to the new location, to make room for newer equipment coming in.

Relocation may also make sense in a leasing situation, where the machine is on loan by a retail or other similar establishment; since the manufacturer still owns that machine, in most cases they will want to extend the life of the machine for as long as possible, and will look to relocate the equipment — rather than destroy it — if the retailer wants to make room for a newer model or other equipment.

Unfortunately, moving this big equipment from Point A to Point B is not as simple as moving furniture from one house to another. It requires specialists for each phase of the move, including disassembly, packaging, white glove delivery, set-up and even software installation / calibration.

It’s a situation that can be costly – and unnecessarily so – if not handled properly.

Instead of finding different specialists to handle each part of the project, or using a manufacturer’s internal resources to handle this non-revenue task, it is often optimal to find a logistics partner that could efficiently and cost-effectively take that burden off the manufacturer’s hands.

Finding a single-source provider with a turnkey relocation solution is important if looking to reduce costs, because they likely have the processes and partnerships already in place to get the job done efficiently.

And if at all possible, you need to find a logistics partner that has experience in your industry, and preferably with the type of products you provide. This will help reduce the learning curve and offer another layer of quality assurance to the process.

Have Questions?

At TechTrans, we have the expertise to offer turnkey relocation services for multiple industries. If you have questions about your equipment’s relocation needs, feel free to contact us today.

Supply Chain Outlook for 2020

By Len Batcha,

President

Technical Transportation, Inc

Each year brings new opportunities and new challenges, and 2020 is no different. So as we start this new decade, below are some trends we can likely expect to see this year.

1. The U.S. economy remains in the “Goldilocks” zone.

This year kicks in with a healthy economy, and there are some great economic indicators that show that the gross domestic product is going to be somewhere in the 2 to 3% range, which is — as they say — “just right.” However, economies in other parts of the world face more uncertainty, which can reverberate back to the U.S., and we need to keep watch for that.

Part of that uncertainty revolves around tariffs and how they’ll play out this year. Many large businesses, including some top manufacturers and shipping companies, are holding off on large capital expenditures while waiting to see how this is all going to shake out.

Other events that will play a role in the economic outlook include the U.S. presidential election and the emerging coronavirus outbreak in China, which has temporarily halted a lot of manufacturing in that country as of this writing. Those two wildcards have the potential to make big impacts this year.

2. Technology Takes Stage

For the past few years, electronic logging devices (ELDs) were the buzz of the supply chain industry, and as of December, all carriers were required to have them implemented in all of their trucks.

Sadly, these regulations bankrupted some smaller providers in 2019 because many were unable to increase their rates enough to offset the capital equipment costs, in addition to other factors. That said, we believe competitive pricing will come back into play in the transportation industry this year.

Technology-wise, we also believe that the large transportation companies will look to make a bigger investment in electric vehicles to replace their aging fleets, and to reduce their carbon footprints. While technologies like driverless vehicles are still years away from being in the mainstream (if at all), advances in smart car technologies will be changing the landscape over the next decade.

Manufacturers could take these tasks on themselves, however, it will likely be more efficient and cost-effective to engage with a logistics partner that already has the knowledge base, skill sets and processes in place to handle the entire process seamlessly. An ideal partner should also serve as a single-source logistics provider for all the moving parts and take the management burden off of you.

3. Infrastructure Enables Quick Deliveries

In consumer-based logistics, the infrastructure in most urban areas is already set to easily address and ensure delivery on the same day, next day, or second day. This helps many companies compete against the Amazon Effect. However, when you get out to the farther suburban areas, it’s still an issue that many logistics companies will need to deal with this year.

In B2B logistics, where the size and scope of many products (think large equipment and technology) might not rival the speed seen in the consumer sector, I think the supply chain infrastructure is well-enough established and set up to transport and deliver products faster and safer than ever before. From where I sit, however, I think the demand for B2B logistics likely will remain flat in 2020 compared to the last couple of years.

Many changes in the B2B space over the past three to five years have addressed several of the pertinent issues the industry faced. This includes recommendations for the LTLs and changes to the requirements for drivers, upgrades in equipment, and better wages for drivers, which has improved the driver shortage. Because of these initiatives, I think we’re going to see a lower accident rate in 2020.

4. Industry Changes Are Paying Off

In summary, I think the logistics industry today has higher quality equipment and has built in flexibility to address any anomalies to shifts in the supply chain. I also think the logistics arena has been growing for years and there’s a lot more opportunities in it. Companies are embracing analytics to improve operations so we can plan and predict better now.

The whole supply chain has gotten significantly smarter and has become a strategic asset for most industries, and we see that trend continuing strongly in 2020.

Have Questions?

If you have questions about logistics for smart lockers, then contact us today and we can give you more insight.

Smart Lockers Require Smart Logistics

By Sean Horner,

VP Operations, Technical Transportation

Technical Transportation, Inc

Smart lockers, which can be opened by electronic code or mobile phones, are poised to make big waves in North America in the coming years.

Likely located in a wide range of venues, from universities and large corporate campuses to retail establishments, these lockers will give users the ability to either store items or have items delivered to them — similar to Amazon’s locker system but on a larger scale. One application for smart lockers is the delivery of retail orders, which was forecasted to break through the $1 trillion threshold in the 2019 holiday shopping season according to a report from eMarketer.

But for venues and manufacturers, deploying these large, heavy and expensive lockers can be a challenging and costly task if not handled by an expert team. With a rollout or installation of this technology, you need to consider multiple logistics phases for each install, including:

• Site Survey – Each location will have its own unique characteristics and challenges, so you must conduct a site survey beforehand to determine your course of action
• Customized Logistics Plan – You’ll then need to develop a customized logistics plan for each location based on the site survey, including the number of people needed for installation / setup, the best time of day to deliver and install the equipment, and any unique tools and skill sets that might be needed
• Warehousing – To minimize logistics costs it may also be prudent to set up temporary warehousing for the lockers in the targeted rollout regions
• Transparent Transportation – You’ll want a transportation provider that is an expert in dealing with large, expensive technology like the smart lockers. Someone who knows how to safely and expertly pack and ship your product so it arrives safely on schedule. They should also give you the ability to track each shipment electronically and in real-time
• White-Glove Delivery – You’re delivery partner should be highly skilled and knowledgeable in the white-glove delivery of your product. They should have the people and tools on staff to make the delivery effortless
• Hardware Setup – You’ll need someone at every delivery to set up the locker hardware, including fastening and securing it to the walls or the ground, depending on results from your site survey
• Software Installation – You’ll also need an expert on hand to install the locker’s software and ensure that each unit opens, closes and locks properly, and that it’s ultimately ready for the end-user

Manufacturers could take these tasks on themselves, however, it will likely be more efficient and cost-effective to engage with a logistics partner that already has the knowledge base, skill sets and processes in place to handle the entire process seamlessly. An ideal partner should also serve as a single-source logistics provider for all the moving parts and take the management burden off of you.

Have Questions?

If you have questions about logistics for smart lockers, then contact us today and we can give you more insight.

​Maximizing Investment in Your Sales Demo Equipment

By Vicki Swisher

DFW Operations Manager

Technical Transportation, Inc

When trying to close a sale, few things work better than a quality demonstration of your product. It’s an opportunity for you and your product to shine, and you want your demo equipment to be working at its very best.

However, many manufacturers today make the risky move of managing the transport and setup of their demo equipment in-house, often delegating those tasks to their sales teams.

While this may be a good approach for some mainstream, or easy-to-handle products, it is highly discouraged for large and complex technology and equipment, where the risk of damage or defects caused by mishandling during transport can literally result in the loss of a potential sale (and reduce the inventory value of the asset).

Unknown to some manufacturers, there are logistics companies that actually perform the packing, transport and set-up of demo equipment, and in this blog, we’ll outline some benefits of outsourcing this process.

Handle with Care — Many sales reps will use corrugated cardboard boxes to transport their demo equipment, however, those boxes often deteriorate after just one or two uses and they do not protect the material as originally designed for a one-time use.

Here at TechTrans, we created a program that designs reusable crates, customized to the specific needs of each piece of demo equipment. These customized wooden, pelican, anvil and metal crates offer specific packing and stabilization support for delicate or weighted equipment and have foam inserts to minimize vibration impact.

There is an initial investment that is more costly than original (one-time use) packaging. However, these solid crates offer more longevity and protection for a customer’s product and can be turned several times before inexpensive minor repairs are performed to prolong the life of the container. These crates also enable us to transport the equipment on the more cost-effective LTL system, thus saving manufacturers money in transportation costs.

Less Loss — A third-party partner that knows your industry and your products can minimize mistakes and reduce losses. It’s important to work with a partner that has experience-proven processes in place and skilled staff that can expertly move your demo equipment anywhere, at any time your sales team needs it.

Outsourcing also puts the demo move capability back into the hands of management versus putting the entire burden on the sales teams. This can save time and money while minimizing mistakes and losses. It also gives manufacturers better inventory control of their products through proper tracking of each demo product in the field.

More Time with Prospects — Outsourcing this function will give your sales team more time to do what they do best — prepare for presentations, network with prospects and close deals. Outsourcing helps minimize the time your sales team spends on non-revenue-generating activities, and guarantees that your demo equipment will be ready to go and operating at its best when your prospects come calling.

Do you want to learn more about improving the transportation and setup of your demo equipment? Contact us today!

​Predictive Analytics Helps the Industry Bat a Thousand

By Len Batcha

President

Technical Transportation, Inc

The more information you have at your fingertips, the better decisions you can make. That’s why data and analytics are so important in virtually every industry today.

One industry where analytics is on prominent display is Major League Baseball. When Billy Beane introduced his data-based evaluation of players that was detailed in the book – and movie – Moneyball, his team enjoyed immense success and changed the way business worked in the league.

Today, each MLB franchise now ingests a wide range of defensive and offensive statistics for each prospect and performs predictive analytics to forecast each player’s potential peak performance. This helps take the guesswork out of their evaluation process and helps them find the right players for their ball clubs.

A similar approach is also being used today by companies in the logistics industry to improve performance and gain a competitive edge.

Like the MLB, we’re an established industry that’s been around since the time of the stagecoach. Also like MLB, our industry has historically used certain indices to measure success in the business. For example, in baseball a low earned-run average (ERA) was the leading indicator of success for pitchers and a high batting average meant your hitters were successful.

But also like the MLB, the logistics industry has now entered a time where we have to be more aggressive with our analytics to help us drive our businesses, while helping our customers move products more efficiently and cost-effectively.

And that means incorporating new data sets to help us better understand our businesses and achieve our goals. For example, using our baseball analogy, instead of looking just at batting average and runs batted in (RBIs) to evaluate success for hitters, they now combine two less-heralded stats (on-base percentage and slugging percentage) into a new stat called on-base plus slugging (OPS) to more accurately evaluate players.

Similarly, companies in the logistics industry must add to or change the statistics they evaluate so they can more accurately pursue and employ predictive analytics to improve.

The first step is building a statistical baseline that features stats you’ve likely collected for years, including:

• How much volume your carrier(s) have from a capacity standpoint?
• Do you have predictable routes established?
• Do you have a history working with certain kinds of deliveries and pick-ups within the industries you serve?
• Do you have information on the number of shipments delivered, on-time, within budget and damage-free?
• How long does it take to shift a product or a shipment from point A to point B before it’s actually delivered to the transit center?

Then, you can add new data sets that can provide more insight into to your business processes and aide in predictive analytics. Examples include rapid or real-time information such as weather reports, road conditions, road clearances, airport shutdowns, airport openings and more — all of which can now originate from a variety of sources such as social media, weather services, etc.

By having this information at your fingertips in advance, you can better predict how any given shipment will get from Point A to Point B, while expertly navigating around any unpredictable events or changes in your working environment.

In the end, using predictive analytics as a scoreboard for success means a win-win for everyone.

If you’re interested in learning about how TechTrans can ensure an efficient disposal and recycle process for your decommissioned products, contact us today.