The must-arrive-by-date (MABD) was introduced to the logistics world back in early 2016 when Walmart set a new bar for suppliers. The program, discussed in-depth here, mandated that any late, early or improperly packaged shipment would incur a charge of 3 percent of the value of the cargo for the supplier to pay. Following Walmart’s new policy, other big-box retailers, like Target and Home Depot, released similar rules, pushing any inconvenience or associated costs with unplanned inventory management problems back down the supply chain. While 3 percent seems like a small enough marginal penalty to justify pushing delivery-time issues to the back burner, it is not a cost that any supplier should be resigned to paying, if it can avoid it. Consistent charges can rack up quickly, into the thousands — all money that should be enhancing your company’s bottom line.
Common Causes in Delay
Due to the complex nature of the supply chain, there are many bumps along the road that cause unnecessary delays to getting your cargo where in needs to go on schedule, and often, these problems do not have easy solution
Unfortunately, getting cargo on the shelves of a retail store is not as simple as allocating extra time into your freight transportation schedule because often, delays do not happen simply due to a misjudgment of time needed. Due to the complex nature of the supply chain, there are many bumps along the road that cause unnecessary delays to getting your cargo where in needs to go on schedule, and often, these problems do not have easy solutions.
Below are some common causes for delays in ground operations:
- Disorganized inventory: At the fulfillment level, a disorganization of inventory, or a large, difficult-to-navigate warehouse can often add unnecessary time to getting orders ready. Simple changes, like putting thought and intention into logically mapping the layout of your warehouse can make a huge overall difference in reducing the time it takes to get cargo out the door and en route to retailers.
- Low morale: This problem could be affecting your business at any and every point. Employees that are not motivated to keep operations running quickly and smoothly can be the make-or-break for getting your cargo to retailers’ shelves on time. Consider whether or not your employees are being properly incentivized to put in the extra effort to maximize their on-the-clock time, and ask them if there are any inefficiencies at the ground-level of your company’s operations that could be improved.
- Old fashioned systems (manual data entry): Digital systems are a necessity in the modern world of commerce. Warehouse management systems can improve the speed of warehouse activities for people to perform and reduce generated efficiencies to improve the fruits of employee labor. For example, digital systems eliminate time spent completing tedious paper forms or manually transferring data from documents into spreadsheets or data-management applications.
- Dock waiting times: Wait times at shipper docks area long-time problem for trucking companies. In research conducted last year by industry data firm DAT Solutions, 63 percent of 257 carriers and owner-operators said they or their drivers spend over three hours at a shipper’s dock waiting to load or unload. This is the time that could be spent driving to get the cargo to its final destination that is essentially wasted due to congestion. The two most common reasons for wait times are one, shippers schedule trucks to arrive early but don’t schedule enough staff to unload them, and two, the fact that shippers have a “first come, first serve” system to unload trucks in the order they arrive, which means drivers have to wait in long lines.
BlueGrace’s Solution to the Complex Equation
With the insight that BlueGrace provided, the client was able to reduce its chargeback rates by 90 percent within the first 60 days.
In BlueGrace’s case study, “Carrier Cost Reduction for Consumer Packaged Goods,” we explore a scenario in which a client, a cosmetics supplier, faces the challenge of keeping up with rapid growth in demand, struggling to get their product to retailers Walmart and Target on time to avoid early/late fees. BlueGrace helped the client by implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, BlueShip TMS, which is an electronic data management system. ERPs promote easier access and better transparency of a company’s data so that it can be properly utilized to identify where inefficiencies lie. With the insight that BlueGrace provided, the client was able to reduce its chargeback rates by 90 percent within the first 60 days.
Supply chain management is a tricky, complex equation. In order to optimize efficiency, you need to take a well-informed approach to target your supply chain’s areas of weakness, rather than just allocating extra days in hopes that the equation will balance out. The only way to do that is by understanding your company’s data. That way, you can continue to work with clients like Walmart and Target and bring them orders on time, promoting a professional company image and avoiding extra, unnecessary fees. To learn how you can optimize your supply chain, minimize costs, and maximize your company’s bottom line, contact us at 800.MYSHIPPING or fill out the form below to speak to one of our freight experts today!