Transportation Assessment for a Fundraising Food Cooperative
Client
The client is a pioneer in fundraising through food sales and distribution. They generate over $300 million in annual sales and over $25 million in fundraising dollars. They serve 21 states in the Eastern United States.
Executive Summary
The client operates a private fleet and uses several common and dedicated carriers. The private fleet operates out of a central metropolitan hub and serves three distribution centers. The common and dedicated carriers service all distribution facilities, overlapping service areas with the private fleet. In an effort to achieve improved utilization and take advantage of any transportation network efficiencies, the client asked The Revere Group to assess their transportation operations. The Revere Group completed a transportation analysis and issued a confidential, blind Request For Quote to a variety of third-party logistics providers and common carriers.
The assessment focused on:
- Fleet Utilization
- Driver Performance & Recruiting
- Maintenance & Equipment
- Costs per Mile
- External Benchmarks
- Technology
The project produced a specific plan to eliminate the private fleet and shift the carrier mix. Targeted savings for this initiative were $300,000 on a total budget of $1.7 million.
Business Challenge
The client believed that considerable opportunity for savings existed within its transportation network. They based this determination on:
- An inability to get a consistent backhaul for company owned trucks
- A disparity in costs per mile
- The need for comparative benchmarks and best practice information
Solution
The client and The Revere Group led an effort to identify all transportation requirements. The Revere Group dedicated a senior logistics resource to assessing those requirements relative to existing service and cost profiles. These profiles led to the creation of detailed traffic lane matrices suitable for market bid. The Revere Group crafted a Request for Quote to be distributed to select 3rd Party Logistics providers and trucking companies. The recommended solution included:
- Formally bidding out the business to 2-3 core truckload carriers
- Realigning the transportation lanes to reduce net transportation expense
- Retaining a tractor in the private fleet for local shuttle at the primary distribution hub
Results
The Revere Group successfully completed a detailed transportation review and a confidential blind bid to eight service providers. The client received:
- A specific project plan designed to realize the $300,000 opportunity
- Templates and detail to execute the recommended solution
- Complete contact information for potential carriers
- Extensive list of recommendations to further optimize their distribution network