The trucking industry can learn a lot from outside sectors. While this might be a bit of a stretch, I recently had the opportunity to see a demonstration by a company named Packmat Equipment. Its website states that its mission “is to revolutionize waste management practices globally.”

The company provides compaction solutions for construction debris. The goal is to reduce the number of trips a truck or tractor with a roll-off refuse body needs to make to haul waste from construction sites to transfer stations or landfills.

By compacting waste directly in the roll-off dumpster, they drastically reduce the number of heavy-duty trips required to haul debris to transfer stations. This is similar to the old trash compactors people used to have in their homes, which reduced the amount of kitchen trash so that it took up less room in the garbage cans their city collected.

While we can't literally compact dry van freight, the underlying principle applies directly to trucking: we are leaving too much empty space on the table. The industry must adopt more aggressive load consolidation strategies. That is the connection I see with what Packmat Equipment is doing. The trucking industry can improve its efficiency by working on reducing the number of trailers that go out less than fully loaded.

I know that many loads cube out before they weigh out, so it is not possible to put any more cargo on them, but I imagine there are many instances where rerouting would allow loads to be consolidated, resulting in fewer trucks on the road. That would increase overall freight efficiency, reduce fuel use, and decrease congestion on the roadways.

If it’s been a while since your fleet analyzed routing, I suggest spending some time to see whether you can consolidate loads onto a single trailer. I’m betting you’ll find room for some optimization in your routing and loads.