It is without a doubt that we are in a time of uncertainty, which is impacting freight movement, truck orders, sales, and much more. Even though we may not have been in this exact situation before, fleets have weathered uncertainty in the past, and I am confident we will do so again.
There is not much we can do about things like tariffs and regulations, but we can spend time looking inward for ways we can improve our operating efficiency. Even small improvements can have a big impact on overall operational efficiency.
Assessing efficiency department by department
To improve operating efficiency, it is best to take a department-by-department approach rather than a broad look at your total operation. Task each department manager with assembling a team of people who can review departmental procedures. Look for places where paper-based systems may be bogging down workflow. Determine if technology can be leveraged to bypass bottlenecks or speed up the process. Look at how work flows through the department to ensure there is a logical order to the way work is processed.
Upon the completion of each department's assessment, bring the department heads together to discuss the data that needs to be shared. The goal here is to eliminate data silos that result in the need to re-enter customer information multiple times or that are not readily accessible to everyone who needs it. Siloed data often interferes with smooth process flow, as one department may have to wait for another to get access to data that should be shared.
