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This blog isn’t about identifying challenges. The global transportation industry already knows what the challenges are, because they are experienced and shared by all of us. Shippers and carriers alike need to find ways to overcome labour and driver shortages, to respond with agility and confidence to ever-more volatile market upheavals, to delight every customer every time, without exception. Plus, there are the additional challenges of staying competitive in cost-constrained environments, eliminating waste and playing an active role in the long-term goal of slashing carbon emissions. 

If you like challenges, the transportation industry is a perfect fit!

So far, so familiar. But the great news is that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, every day. In fact, at Transporeon we believe that 2024 will be the year when these challenges are widely accepted as exciting opportunities. It’s easy for us to say that, of course – we are in the industry of selling solutions! What you need is evidence from the organisations at the sharp end, who are already reaping the benefits of those opportunities. 

It’s all about digital automation solutions. But the key thing is how you apply and exploit those solutions to futureproof your business in 2024 and beyond. When used correctly, you can enjoy better planning, lower costs, better-informed negotiations and crystal-clear transparency, across the board.

Let’s go through some of the challenges and learn how your business can thrive further.

Pay competitive prices

Market price unpredictability is managed more easily when you have Transporeon’s digital platform tools at your disposal. While it is encouraging that industry experts are predicting signs of improvement in the global economy in 2024 (see IN SYNC, page 62), inflationary pressures remain very real. Consequently, both the contract and spot markets seem likely to remain unsettled. That’s not a sign of negativity, though. Transporeon’s Market Insights supplies all the information you need to plan your contract/spot mix appropriately to your needs, with full confidence that the prices you are paying (or setting) are 100% competitive, because they are backed up by evidence.

“It is much easier to discuss with a partner when you can show them reliable market data,” explains Sebastian Weikert, Category Manager Logistics Procurement at Knauf. Indeed, construction materials giant Knauf has been able to implement a transformational cost-saving approach to its transport operations since benchmarking its own network’s cost-per-km rates against the wider market (see IN SYNC, page 58).

Meanwhile, leading timber processing company Pfeifer has increased its FTLS and reduced empty miles, thanks to its clever use of our Transport Execution Hub. It also uses Network Insights to benchmark its data against the market, providing a fully detailed overview of its contract/spot mix, viewable by carrier, which can be used during negotiations. As a result, head of Logistics Thomas Staudinger describes Transporeon Market and Network Insights as “treasure” (see IN SYNC page 57). 

AI is also revolutionising transport pricing. Our Freight Sourcing Hub offers Autonomous Procurement, which uses behavioural and data science to make instantly acceptable offers to carriers, instead of asking them for bids. Global drinks conglomerate AB InBev achieved double digit savings during its pilot with the Hub and has continued to maintain that level more than six months later. It was also able to move away from its 4pm bid review cycle, to a model where carriers could match loads on demand (see IN SYNC page 34).

Achieve more capacity despite driver and labour shortages

The collaborative power of the platform helps to streamline key transport processes, such as freight sourcing, transport execution, dock scheduling, freight matching, payment and settlement. Individually or grouped according to need or choice, those digital wins free up precious driver time – and driver time matters, especially when drivers are hard to find and retain. A 2022 study by MIT scientists suggested that increasing the efficiency of US truck drivers by just 18 minutes per day could solve the country’s driver shortage. When a driver is making fewer empty runs, spending less time in avoidable queues at loading docks, or dealing with less cumbersome processes with printed documents, that driver is a more efficient and cost-effective resource for your business. They are almost certainly happier and less frustrated, too! (see IN SYNC, page 16).

Employ our Dock and Yard Management Hub to improve turnaround times by exploiting real-time data to allocate precise ETAs. Such technology is easy to implement and offers Time Slot Management to enable smooth and reliable planning systems, with the added benefit of cutting waiting times for trucks and drivers.One innovation launched this year is Digital Transport Documents (see IN SYNC, page 44), which logs your activities digitally and electronically in the form of an eCMR simplifier. This facilitates better planning and visibility, freeing up manual resources for other tasks and taking pressure and time off the driver.

Improve processes and customer satisfaction

In successful businesses customers are front of mind, at all times. However, customer service on its own is no longer good enough - customer delight is now essential. The digital opportunities offered by the platform will enable your business to make that next crucial step in 2024. For example, it has true multimodal visibility capabilities, which means that a shipment or SKU remains visible to all stakeholders involved in the transportation process, from start to finish, even at points where such communication can often be disrupted, such as at intermodal ports. 

Visibility means more transparency, less follow-up, less office administration fielding worried calls, and lower costs. But most importantly, it means happier customers. 

To illustrate, here’s some evidence from the ground: Saint-Gobain Isover G+H is Europe’s leading manufacturer of mineral wool insulation materials. Over 50,000 trucks leave the company’s four plants every year, heading to over 12,000 different addresses. Until 2019, the company was unable to confirm the precise locations of individual transports. Since implementing Transporeon’s Visibility Hub, the company reports increased customer satisfaction, particularly for construction site transports. Carriers enjoy reduced wait times, fewer check calls and fewer empty runs. Saint-Gobain now tracks 90-95% of all transports to the minute, predicting the precise arrival time in 90% of cases. Internal and external transport queries have fallen by more than 40%. As a result, the company is saving €50,000 per annum in reduced waiting times, while better planning is delighting both customers and internal managers (see IN SYNC, page 51).

Control your expenses

In almost all transportation, billing and document administration is a drag on both financial time and human resources, as queries are checked, phone calls returned and paper invoices aligned with possible discrepancies in order sheets.

Using Transporeon Freight Audit and Payments Hub a leading multinational consumer goods company was able to reduce its overbilling.
Following a comprehensive invoice audit, they discovered overbilling of up to 11.3% per carrier, contributing to a total overbilling of 3.6% of their total spend. With pre-invoice processing and self-billing introduced as part of the Freight Audit, overbilling spend was reduced by more than 1% to 2.5%. Further benefits included record highs in on-time payments (99.2%) and no significant deficiencies in the official external audit process (see IN SYNC, page 55).

Collaboration brings true efficiency

In the future, supply chain efficiency and agility will primarily be powered by collaboration between partners. Supply chains are complex ecosystems, and it’s only by sharing and working together to build trust that the industry will understand customer needs, broaden market reach and truly expand the possibilities.

Collaboration is Transporeon’s core mission. You find out more about our unique portfolio of collaborative tools in IN SYNC, our 68-page magazine that explains how your business can turn the challenges of 2023 into the opportunities of 2024. 

Read IN SYNC magazine