Freight Services

Supply Chain Freight Management Services - Key Capabilities Freight Optimisation

Freight optimisation

Businesses are inclined to assess their freight spend only from a commercial rate perspective. Based on our experience across multiple industries, we have discovered equal or greater value in also understanding optimisation opportunities that exist in freight planning and operations activities.

Our team conducts capability assessments, opportunity identification, and business case development and collaborates with business teams to design and deploy solutions. We drive freight optimisation based on businesses’ unique objectives and these solutions range from simple visual management aids to implementation of optimisation software. Our optimisation expertise covers:

• Logistics network optimisation
• Load building
• Mode selection
• Closed loop services
• Backhaul optimisation
• Trailer and vehicle optimisation
• Routing and scheduling
• Digital analytics to support decision making

Routing and scheduling

The increase in multi-drop captive fleet freight driven by home delivery and online shopping has occurred in parallel to the development of specialist cloud-based tools. As a result, optimisation of routing and scheduling is becoming more common as freight managers look to unlock value in several areas including:

• Driver productivity
• Load build optimisation for multi-drop runs
• Fleet mix optimisation
• Drop sequencing (order of delivery)
• Pathing (designated time and roads for delivery)

Depending on the maturity of current processes and tools, we have witnessed businesses deriving benefits in freight costs ranging from 15% to 50%. Aside from the financial benefits, we’ve witnessed improved safety, compliance, internal visibility, reporting, and customer experience through enhanced communications and notifications. Whatever be the stage of the deployment lifecycle, we can assist businesses with case development, software assessment, and selection as well as implementation of processes, tools, and training.

Benchmarking

In the past 5 years, we have addressed more than $5 billion in freight spend on behalf of our clients. This has allowed us to develop an extensive database of benchmarks, which cover multiple types of freight mode and geographies to provide businesses with valuable insights.

A benchmarking assessment of freight will uncover the areas of opportunity that exist within a business from both a commercial and performance perspective.

Should be cost modelling

Modelling the “should be” costs of the freight task can provide a level of insight and understanding far greater than simply “comparing the rate”. An integral element of managing large portfolios of freight, this assessment is particularly relevant in scenarios such as developing open book arrangements, negotiating with long-term incumbents, or setting rates when the supply market is too commercially immature to engage in tender-type processes.

Our proprietary cost modelling tools draw on a range of industry standards, indexes, and data sources and are then tailored to the work profile of the specific freight task.

Sourcing

When businesses partner with us, they will have access to deep freight expertise from more than 100 sourcing projects to support the freight sourcing activities and optimising the end process. Our comprehensive set of diagnostic tools, frameworks, and methodologies analyse all the value levers that relate to the freight task. This ensures that businesses gain a more strategic and long-term outcome relating to optimisation, technologies, and strategic relationships, as well as changes to the whole transport operating model.

Chain of responsibility

Because of the level of public awareness and legal obligations such as the 2018 Primary Duty laws, there is a growing need for businesses to actively manage chain of responsibility risks.

Our chain of responsibility services assist businesses in diagnosing, testing, remediating, and embedding the capabilities required to effectively manage these ongoing risks. Our services include:

• Risk assessments
• Detailed audits of specific geographies, sites, or business units
• Remediation and action plans
• Hands-on implementation and remediation support
• Development of policies and procedure
• Training

Managed services

Infosys BPM has a team of over 50,000 people deployed globally to manage business processes for many of the world’s leading brand names.

To improve customer service and reduce operational costs, we leverage a combination of our onshore local team and offshore resourcing from our technology hubs and operations centres.  Effective management of the freight tasks include:

• Managed service freight procurement:
  • Sourcing
  • Category management
• Supplier relationship management
  • Operational procurement
• Control tower
  • Order management
  • Freight booking
  • Daily optimisation (e.g., load building)
  • Reporting and visibility
• Freight analytics and reporting