The demand for consumer goods is steadily increasing. With this increase, manufacturers turn to globalization in order to keep up with demand and keep costs low. Although globalization helps maintain low costs, it increases the number of miles a product needs to travel before reaching the end user. This is where freight transportation comes in.
Going the Distance
Consumer goods need to get from point A to point B quickly, safely, efficiently, and in a cost effective manner. Freight travels in a multitude of ways, all of which are vital to a company’s success. If the manufactured goods cannot make it to their intended destination, then the seller is in big trouble. Strong supply chain management allows for this to happen smoothly.
Supply Chain Sustainability
A supply chain is only as good as its sustainability effort. Moving manufactured goods is expensive and takes a toll on the environment. Between fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, it is an important job to focus on supply chain sustainability. Without a sustainable model, companies will spend excessive amounts of money on fuel and will ultimately have to answer to environmentally conscious consumers.
What can be done?
Luckily, there are many different solutions available. The biggest things involve strategically optimizing routes to reduce greenhouse emissions, closely monitoring freight transportation, and analyzing the process from start to finish. All of the important changes come from strategic and careful data analysis.
Data collection and analysis persuades overall company decisions. The numbers are analyzed to show the weakest points in the supply chain. Changes are then implemented based off the initial analysis and reevaluated with the same data. Everything from fuel consumption, route optimization, and strategic choices are all influenced by data information.
What’s the impact?
With freight transportation being so large, even small changes ripple out to have a large effect. Route optimization, for example, saves the company money, but also cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions. Evaluating supply chains and implementing positive change benefits the environment. It also provides companies with a sustainable model for economic growth.
