A firm delivery date isn't enough anymore. Today's customers also want their orders delivered at a specified time. Here are 10 tips for meeting their demands without breaking the bank.
Martha Spizziri has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. She spent 11 years at Logistics Management and was web editor at Modern Materials Handling magazine for five years, starting with the website's launch in 1996. She has long experience in developing and managing Web-based products.
It's every distribution manager's nightmare: A man escorting an urgent international shipment boards a FedEx plane on Christmas Eve. Somewhere over the Pacific, the plane crashes, and the packages are delivered late. Four years late.
The story that unfolds around Tom Hanks' character in "Cast Away" may be an extreme example of a time-definite delivery gone wrong. And it is only a movie. But deliveries get snarled in real life too. Most of the time, the holdups are not the result of plane crashes or hurricanes (though Ted Scherck, president of the Atlanta-based consulting firm The Colography Group, says you can count on one major supply chain disrup tion a year). Instead, they arise from more mundane— and more preventable—causes, like paperwork errors, miscommunication and simple lack of follow-through.
Those minor errors can have major repercussions. For one, there's the risk of angering customers. The appeal of time-definite service lies in its predictability—the promise of delivery at a specified time or within a specific time window. (Though often confused with express service, time-definite service may also include deferred service.) A customer that has lined up a receiving crew for Thursday is bound to be unhappy if the shipment doesn't show up until Friday. For another, there's the risk of financial penalties. These might be fines or detention charges levied against shippers for unnecessary holdups or delays. They can also include overspending by shippers who make poor service choices (for example, using overnight service for a non-urgent shipment).
The good news is that most of the more common mistakes are also easily avoided—in most cases, it just takes some effort and a little common sense. Here are some tips:
1. Avoid overbuying. Paying for overnight service when you only need second-day seems an obvious waste of money. Yet shippers across the country continue to use premium service as a sort of default option. "A lot of premium freight goes premium less because it needed to be expedited than because someone didn't have the freight decision rules to make the right mode and carrier selection," says Randy Garber, a vice president at the consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
Determining the right mode and carrier starts with some basic information gathering, says Jon Petticrew of ODW Logistics Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. "I always want to know what the service requirement is," says Petticrew, who is the company's vice president of operations. At a minimum, that includes the shipment's size, its weight, its origin and destination, and when it's needed.
On that last point, it's worthwhile asking whether there's some flexibility in the delivery time. If there is, the carrier may be able to save you a lot of money, says Sean O'Neil, director of time-critical services for trucker Averitt Express. "We might say 'We can get it there at noon for $2,000, but if you can make it 5: 00, I can knock it down to $1,200.'"
For similar reasons, it's also worth checking to see if there's some leeway in the choice of equipment. Jeff Curry, vice president of corporate development for expedited trucking company Express-1 Inc. in Buchanan, Mich., says one of the most common errors he sees is shippers requesting a dock-high truck when the freight might easily have been hauled in a smaller, less costly truck.
2. Avoid underbuying. Many companies don't realize it, but underbuying—that is, settling for a lower service level than you actually need—can be just as costly as overbuying. Though shippers are often reluctant to use premium-priced time-critical service, it could actually save them money. Before you rule out time-critical service, says Phil Corwin, director of marketing for UPS Supply Chain Solutions, ask yourself this question: "What are the penalties to the customer—the one who's actually manifesting the shipment and the final one?" When you add up the penalties, he says, you may find they far outweigh the premium service's added cost. Corwin cites the example of an automaker that had received several truckloads of floormat fabric that proved to be substandard. For that automaker, he says, chartering an aircraft to deliver new materials proved cheaper than shutting down the production line.
Shippers are particularly likely to confront these kinds of dilemmas during peak shipping season, adds Chuck DeLutis, vice president of new business development and special services for Roadway Express Inc. That's when they're liable to run into delays caused by port congestion or capacity shortages, he explains, leaving them to weigh the cost of premium transportation against the risks of not having a hot-selling item in stores on time. "It's important that customers understand the tradeoffs," he says, "as well as the impact of those tradeoffs."
3. Keep an open mind when choosing a mode. A few decades ago, decisions involving time-sensitive freight were simple. If it was urgent, you used air. If it wasn't, you went with a truck.
But the old rules don't always apply today. Take expedited shipments, for example. "With the great improvements in LTL and the faster transit times, you don't always need [air freight]," says Petticrew of ODW Logistics. Over the years, carriers have been extending their next-day delivery areas, he explains. "It used to be 300, 400, 500 miles," he says. "Now it's 600 or 700 miles in some cases."
Nor can you safely assume that trucking is the cheaper way to go. There are times when air service beats truck on price, says Tim Hindes, director of ground expedited services for forwarder Eagle Global Logistics (EGL). Hindes explains that with a smaller shipment of, say, 100 pounds, sending the freight on the next flight out could be more economical than shipping ground expedited.
4. Resist the temptation to estimate. "Quite often a shipper won't take the time to get the exact dimensions [of the freight]," observes Curry of Express-1. "They'll round them or guess, and that can end up costing them money." There are a couple of reasons for that, he says. "They could get the wrong size truck—they'd be charged more for a larger truck. Or maybe [the carrier will] send in a truck that's too small and they'll be unable to [take] the shipment."
5. Pay attention to packaging. When you go to determine a load's dimensions, don't forget to take packaging into account—particularly if the shipment is going by air. Many airlines have size restrictions, warns Frank Perri, executive vice president at Pilot Airfreight. If you load a shipment on a 4- by 4- by 4-foot standard skid, for example, it probably won't fit in a narrow-body passenger plane, leaving all-cargo service as your only option. Cargo-only airlines use wide-body aircraft, so size won't be a problem, but you can expect a much higher bill. "[A shipment will go for] about a third the cost if it can move on a commercial airline vs. cargo-only," Perri explains. These restrictions apply primarily to flights in the continental United States, he notes. Most overseas flights are on widebody planes—although that's starting to change.
6. Coordinate with the people on the receiving end. It's not enough to get a time-definite shipment out the door on schedule; you also have to confirm the delivery arrangements with the people on the other end. Yet many times, shippers fail to follow through with this simple task. Curry of Express-1 says he sees it all the time: "[The shipper] hasn't really checked on the other end of the shipment— their address, when they're open, when they're closed, when they're really ready for the freight." That's a risky practice, he says. Sooner or later, something goes wrong, the trucker gets delayed and the shipper is hit with detention charges.
Even something as simple as obtaining the exact dock and gate number in advance can go a long way toward cutting down on delays, Curry adds. "Sometimes with larger plants there are multiple gates and even multiple buildings within the same town," he explains. "It's real important to get that truck exactly where it's going or you may get additional stop-off charges of $50 to $100 per stop."
Shippers should also be aware that customers occasionally drop the ball when it comes to notifying their own warehouses of an incoming shipment. "There continues to be a disconnect between the buyer, who might have a certain delivery requirement, and the warehouse—when it has slots available," says Sean Monahan, a vice president at A.T. Kearney. The customer might want the shipment there on Tuesday afternoon, but then when the shipper calls the warehouse, the warehouse will say "The first appointment is Wednesday morning." So the carrier will arrive on time for the appointment, but it's still late as far as the customer is concerned. "A lot of companies are wrestling with how they can close that gap," he says.
7. Get all the facts when you negotiate rates. After you've agreed on a per-mile rate, ask the carrier how it calculates mileage. If you don't, you could be in for a nasty surprise when you receive the final bill. "We get a lot of shippers that get excited about receiving what they think is a low rate, but … the carrier's mileage platform [software] may calculate a higher number of miles," explains Express1's Curry. Mileage platforms are updated constantly as roads are added, closed and renovated, so if the software's not up to date, it could be generating unnecessarily long routes.
8. Avoid squeezing carriers on price. Soaring fuel, insurance and equipment costs have taken a toll on truckers in recent years. At the same time, rampant industry consolidation has left trucks in short supply. In a climate where the truckers have the upper hand, shippers' attempts to drive a hard bargain could backfire. If you're only willing to pay $1.25 a mile and someone else is paying $2 a mile, warns Monahan, "your driver might not show up for your load."
9. Check your shipping documents; then check them again. Errors on shipping documents almost guarantee delays. To avoid costly holdups, prepare the shipment's paperwork in advance and make sure it's complete and accurate (particularly for international shipments and shipments for which you can't risk even an hour's delay). If there are several different documents, make sure the data are consistent. "We see a lot of problems with incorrect paperwork or [documents] that contradict each other— say, with different product codes," says Corwin of UPS Supply Chain Solutions.
10. Be open with your carriers. When it comes to communicating with carriers, there's no such thing as too much information. The more details about a shipper's business a carrier can get, the better it can serve that customer, says Pilot Airfreight's Perri. "It's always helpful for us to see how they package their materials [and find out] where they'll be picked up, what time things will be ready for pickup, and what time they'll call in [to notify us] that they're ready for pickup." Any reports or spreadsheets with historical data the shipper can provide will be helpful as well, he adds.
Perri notes that communications among the various players in the airfreight industry have improved in recent years. He credits the new security regulations, which have made collaboration between shippers and forwarders a necessity. "One of the nicest things that has come about is that shippers are working with us much more closely than they have in the past on things like packaging," notes Perri. "[Shippers have] a better understanding … of some of the challenges we face … [and] how to reduce costs in the supply chain and improve service at the same time." And that's the kind of understanding that can bring about a moviestyle happy ending for any shipment.
Editor's Note: Other sources who contributed to the development of this story, but were not mentioned in the text, include Chris Monica, Eagle Global Logistics; Virginia Albanese, FedEx Custom Critical; Steve Fisher, Kendall Jackson Wine Estates; Chris Caplice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Peter Butler, Sky West; Richard Murphy, Murphy Warehousing; Rob Lively, Mach 1 Air Services; and Bill Villalon, APL Logistics.
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.