Volume LTL is a valuable feature of today’s supply chain because it fills the gap between LTL and truckload transportation. It can really be looked at as a mutually beneficial arrangement among shippers and carriers. These shipments can move in a carrier’s backhaul or chronic empty lanes, helping to balance the carrier’s network. The pricing is derived from transactional spot-market rates, which are often lower than contractual rates, saving shippers money.

In 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration put forward a supply chain safety measure meant to regulate the amount of time a truck driver stays on the road. The FMCSA regulation, which was put into force two years later, forced truckload and LTL carriers through some growing pains, but the resultant dip in available capacity turned out to be temporary. Supply chain stakeholders can ensure they always have needed capacity by automating their transportation procurement process.

Bid$ense helps customers automate transportation purchasing within their overall procurement process, a crucial step when looking for a competitive edge in the fast-paced supply chain arena. The automated procurement solution, which provides immediate access to more than 500 carriers, leads to quicker RFP turnarounds, standardizing carrier responses to shipper inquiries and streamlining the entire process.

SMC³ carrier member Daylight Transport’s average haul length (2,000 miles) and transit time (three days) “allows for businesses to compete in markets they may not otherwise be able to and allows goods to get to end users faster.” The carrier’s vice president of sales and marketing recently spoke with SMC³ about how Daylight leadership sees the 2019 supply chain and logistics arena and how the company uses logistics transportation technology products to create value for customers.

During his 34 years at SMC³, Danny Slaton was lucky enough to experience seismic shifts in the logistics and supply chain industry – first on the front lines of the computerization of the supply chain and then as an executive making sense of a post-deregulation transportation world. Slaton retired from his career at SMC³ following the Jump Start 2019 logistics conference, and in his three decades at the company, he saw a lot of change.

During the final two days of the SMC³ Jump Start 2019 supply chain conference, attendees heard from a duo of economic experts that presented a survey of the global economy and its impact on the logistics business as well as an array of transportation analysts and supply chain technology specialists.