Where Environmental Responsibility Meets Cost Savings & Efficiency
Despite numbing cold and record-shattering snow levels across North America, Winter 2014 weighed in, paradoxically, as the eighth warmest on record globally. While parts of the U.S. shivered through near-Arctic conditions, the Western U.S. suffered through record-breaking heat and drought. In fact, February is on record as the 348th month where temperatures rose above the global average. What’s more, 2014 is expected to set new records as one of the warmest to date.
Clearly, environmental impacts are a growing concern. Meanwhile, transportation continues to account for the lion’s share (think 80 to 90 percent) of most business’s budgets and carbon footprints. As a result, environmental sustainability is becoming a key component of many supply chain strategies.
The World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) defines sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Simply put, sustainability is about the future, and business practices that balance the interests of people, the planet and profitability.
Given growing concern about the environment and the high costs of transportation, environmentally conscious companies are initiating efforts to balance what’s good for business with what’s good for the environment. Within the context of transportation, many are getting there by replacing do-it-yourself transportation with dedicated transportation and driving efficiency and saving money in the process.
So, if the success of your business rides on a serious inbound / outbound transportation network, how do you ensure that it’s both efficient and environmentally friendly? Consider these 3 tips for driving the right kind of results …
1. Take a closer look at your fleet and your transportation network The first step to driving a greener fleet and business? Evaluate your transportation network: know overall miles driven and your company’s carbon footprint. Are you making multiple individual shipments that could be consolidated into fewer, more efficient multi-stop routes? Doing so increases product weight shipped per truck, while reducing miles traveled, increasing efficiency and lowering costs and C02. Getting an accurate read on your transportation network means obtaining comprehensive, accurate and timely data on your freight flows and expenditures. With this data, you’re better able to understand your network and apply network engineering and modeling to streamline your supply chain. Look for opportunities to rethink TL (truckload) and LTL (less-than-truckload) strategies and audit and analyze lanes and payments.
2. Go Lean to eliminate waste and drive efficiency One of the interesting things that happens when you implement Lean methodologies and practices? By improving efficiency and eliminating waste, companies often are able to reduce their carbon impacts. Characteristics of lean processes include short cycle times, quick changeovers, continuous flow work cells, reductions in variation and a focus on continuous improvement. The goal of lean is to reduce the time and resources it takes to convert customer orders into high-quality, low-cost deliverables – a philosophy that feeds elegantly into environmental sustainability initiatives.
3. Make the move from DIY to dedicated transportation For companies like Stonyfield, the key to reducing the company’s carbon footprint is migrating to a dedicated transportation solution. In addition to reconfiguring its for-hire trucking processes, Stonyfield outsourced much of its private fleet to a dedicated fleet. Today, vehicles with green engine technologies and drivers trained for fuel-efficient operation haul raw materials into the company’s plans and service customers within a 250-mile radius. What’s more, in addition to using tractors that comply with the EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership program, more and more dedicated providers are offering natural gas vehicles that take fuel economy and environmental responsibility even further.
By optimizing your fleet and migrating trucks from common carriers to a lean, green dedicated fleet, you can take your carbon reduction efforts to the next level, reduce C02 metric tons per product shipped, and meet customer requirements with more agility.
Could going dedicated help you run a leaner, greener transportation network? Would you like to find out more? Learn more about how Stonyfield balanced their environmental responsibility with efficiency and cost savings with a dedicated fleet, download their case study now.
