Although there are many industries that can benefit from transportation management, one industry where it is critical is the food and dairy industry. Whether a farm, packager, or seller the process of bringing food and milk to market is a complex endeavor with numerous factors to take into consideration on a daily basis. With so many moving parts, attempting movement and transportation without sound logistics planning in place can be a disaster waiting to happen.
There are few industries that are as time-sensitive as food and dairy production and distribution. You can have thousands of tons of perishable material moving nationwide at any given moment. Some runs can be hundreds or even thousands of miles between producer and consumer. Professional transportation management is the only way to keep the entire enterprise cost effective and therefore profitable.
One solution to the transportation management dilemma is engaging the services of a third party logistics company to provide comprehensive transportation management services. There are four big ways that transportation management services can help your food or dairy business be more efficient:
Load Consolidation
Fuel has never been more expensive, and wasting a run on a half-full load represents lost dollars from your bottom line. Load consolidation services ensure that every transport is optimized with a load plan that utilizes available floor space to its fullest extent. Load consolidation can be a complicated endeavor with concerns ranging from temperature to load breakdown order, but it is a service that is indispensable to your supply chain.
Cold Chain Management
One of the largest expenses that you will absorb in the food or dairy industry is your cold chain. Simply speaking, you can’t do without it. Extending the shelf life of your products with cold transport not only increases your profits but is essential to customer satisfaction with your products. Transportation management of your cold chain is crucial if you are going to maintain an unbroken chain of refrigeration between the farm to the dinner table.
Quality Control
You have enough to worry about without having to take time away from your numerous duties to provide QC for every transport. A third party transportation management service can take this burden off your shoulders. Quality control ranges from the integrity of the product to adherence to proper procedures and transportation regulations.
Seasonal Issues
Transport of products in Autumn is entirely different from managing transportation in the spring, and winter weather issues can bring even the most efficient supply chain to its knees without proper planning. A third party transportation management company will have nothing on its plate other than making sure that seasonal issue will not be a headache that you need to worry about. By handling everything from seasonal demand fluctuation to route management for winter runs they can take this off your desk and let you handle other aspects of your business.
A lot can go wrong in the transportation of food and dairy products. Spoilage or damage of your products can be a huge concern and be more costly than you can afford. While it is true that you cannot plan for every contingency, having a professional transportation company can dramatically decrease the chances of encountering a supply chain issue that you are not prepared for. Having a dedicated service to account for all of these problems and putting contingencies in place to deal with them can be more valuable to your business than you can imagine. Take a closer look at the merits of third party transportation management services versus the modest costs involved and make the decision for yourself.
