A current client of K2 Sourcing reviewed the logistics process.  The company rents large construction equipment to contractors.  Usually they are given one days notice between the need for the equipment to the time it needs to be on the job site.

That gives dispatchers one day to find the best rate to that particular region.  The current approach had a person review each move to each region and call the preferred list of 3-4 carriers.  With 10-20 of the quotes per day the process was very labor intensive.  It also required a very organized person to keep track of the different offers.  Especially when responses could be emailed, faxed, or phoned in.

The organization wanted to streamline and standardize the process.  Establishing preferred carrier contracts was discussed, but the client felt the best opportunities were to capture carriers that had backhauls or open capacity at that moment in time.  To capture savings they felt the need to increase reach.  So the same quotes to more carriers while using less resources. No problem-right?

Enter in K2 Sourcing’s eSourcing system.  The eQuote system with Lean Source, K2 Sourcing’s eSourcing platform was the perfect fit.  Now the dispatcher looks at the moves and creates the projects in the system.  Rather than inviting 3-4 carriers, because invitations occur through the touch of a button, it is common to invite up to 50 carriers.  The process take about an hour.

Carriers receive notification, login, review the moves for the day, and place their bids through the eQuote system.  Carriers are given approximately 5 hours to do so.  Later in the day the dispatcher presses a button to download all the quotes into an easy side by side comparison and awards business in minutes.

What are the results of this change?  What used to take all day takes a couple hours on a busy day.  The additional reach allows the buyer to capture open capacity much easier.  As a result, freight costs have been reduced by over 25%.  The side benefits are also tremendous.  The system helps with tracking insurance certificates, and maintains a complete history.  Carriers also provide positive feedback as it organizes the clients requests for them. 

This is just one of the many stories about what eQuote technology (a subset of eSourcing) can do for you.  Scroll down to read additional studies or register to receive update about new weekly postings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 9:02 am and is filed under Case Study. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.