Taking a Comprehensive Approach to Transportation Benchmarking

Analyzing All Cost Variables

Through a holistic approach, Breakthrough examines all the variables that contribute to transportation costs, including:

• Fuel Prices
• Linehaul Rates
• Accessorial Charges

Incorporating Location-Specific Insights

Breakthrough also considers location-specific factors, such as:

• Traffic Congestion
• Transportation Infrastructure Density

By analyzing these nuances, shippers gain lane-specific insights that enable data-driven decisions, uncover transportation wins, and optimize their entire freight network. 

1. Know your data

As you begin modifying your benchmarking method, it’s crucial to determine if the data you have is relevant to your organization. Take a deep dive into your data to determine its origin — i.e., the peer group or industry it comes from — as well as the carrier identification, equipment, and fleet type associated with it.

Know: You may find that the data you’re using for benchmarking is not directly applicable to your network, or that it comes from organizations that aren’t relevant to your size or transportation needs. A thorough data intake and analysis will help clarify whether your current benchmarking data is beneficial to your freight strategy.

2. Identify actionable insights

Data is only helpful if it’s actionable. Once you’ve determined whether your data is applicable to your transportation network, look for information that can directly inform network optimization initiatives.

Identify: In particular, consider elements like transportation mode, geography, and fuel type. Keep in mind that the most useful data is not necessarily the most complex — it’s the data that’s most relevant to your freight network and transportation team.

3. Establish an ongoing practice

Repetition is essential in establishing a cadence for network and cost optimization. Create a rigorous and ongoing process for examining your transportation benchmarking, with particular focus on streamlining the formation of data-driven insights.

Establish: As you standardize your benchmarking processes and look for potential opportunities, remember that even small improvements can have a big impact. Whether within individual lanes or concerning relatively small cost savings, incremental progress can add up to sizable wins. If you see an opportunity for freight optimization, don’t wait for the problem to pick up steam — take immediate action.

4. Celebrate your wins

It’s easy to feel like there are endless opportunities for improvement within your transportation network, but remember to recognize your successes. As you continue to identify opportunities for change, celebrate progress and success stories with your internal teams and carrier partners.

Celebrate: Whether recognizing a lane where you incurred costs above your peers or calling attention to a favorable rate, don’t forget to celebrate your wins. In particular, highlight the value and impact of your team members and strategic partnerships — and demonstrate where previous adjustments have boosted your transportation network efficiency.