

Profit Improvement System
“Company Presidents and Senior Management teams must have information that can be used for decision making without any reservations about the quality of the information” R. Sullivan
Not only does the Profit Improvement System “do the right things”, it “does the right things right”. The PIS model costs every shipment every night to show carrier profitability. At the end of the week after costing each shipment/customer the carrier can see how much would have been spent and their level of profitability had they operated efficiently. After seeing the negative impact their operating efficiencies had on profitability, the carriers moved forward with a new respect for productivity.
The PIS system is a total profit improvement package using a “cost related” methodology rather than a “cost-based” methodology giving the carrier more accurate cost information tied to operations (see the tab labeled “Costing” for more information about “cost related”). Aligning the three key areas of the carrier is critical for sustained profitability and performance. The TPG package accomplishes that through the following modules.
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Operations
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Pricing / Yield
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Sales / Customer Base
Operations Module
PICKUP & DELIVERY PERFORMANCE / PRODUCTIVITY:
This system enables the carrier to measure the productivity / efficiency of pickup and delivery for each driver, terminal, region, company. The Operations module, using engineered time allowances in pickup and delivery measures productivity based on the time allowed to pick up and deliver each shipment the driver handles. The system has time allowances for LTL, Truckload, LTL pick and drop trailers, truckload picked and dropped trailers measuring the time allowed perform work in each category. The system shows the actual P&D trips used and the “should be” trips based on work performed, hours used and miles driven. Time allowances to calculate the time for total stops, shipments, handling units (pieces), weight, miles driven and the hours on the street for each driver more accurately measures performance and cost than macro level measurements such as wages as a percent of revenue, stop per hour, pounds per man hour.
The system drive time allowances are based on each terminals operating area. For example it takes longer to drive 100 miles in Chicago than it does in Johnsonville, South Carolina. The system accurately measures the differences giving fair and accurate cost numbers.
P&D REPORTS: Performance / productivity by driver, P&D area, terminal, region, district, company.
DRIVER PLANNER
The driver planner is where the rubber meets the road in pickup and delivery. This module measures the amount of work the terminal has to perform for the day. Then based on set performance goals, it will show the manager / supervisor the number of drivers to use based on work available. This enables the terminal to control P&D cost on the front end rather than trying to “guess” and adjust during the workday. Each terminal has its own unique allowances based on that terminals operation.
DOCK / PLATFORM PERFORMANCE / EFFICIENCY:
The Dock productivity uses time allowances to accurately measure the time needed to handle a shipment on a terminals dock. Like P&D, each terminal has its own set of time allowances based on such elements as the size of the dock, mix of freight moving through the facility. The system has different allowances for the different dock operations. Six categories are measured; inbound, outbound, break-bulk / transfer, distribution (sort and segregate), appointment and interline / customer vehicle. Each category has unique time allowances for total bills handled, handling units (pieces), and total weight.
DOCK / PLATFORM REPORTS:
Dock productivity based on hours actually used against hours that should have been used for inbound, outbound, break-bulk / transfer, distribution (sort & segregate) appointment, interline / customer vehicle.
TERMINAL EFFICIENCY:
The terminal efficiency module provides a summary look at the overall efficiency of the terminal’s pickup and delivery operation and dock operation. This module displays the hours over / under allowed. Then based on the terminals wage and fringe cost per hour for P&D and dock, it displays the dollar amount saved or lost in each operation. The Terminal Efficiency also displays in summary form the profitability of the terminal’s customer base segmented into three categories. This module is the perfect tool for daily operations conference calls with terminals providing “at a glance” summary information that impacts profitability for corrective action.
LINEHAUL / TRAILER UTILIZATION:
This module measures the utilization of each linehaul trailer moving in the company. It uses weight / cube, miles, and size of each trailer to accurately measure the equivalent empty trailers moving between each terminal and the company. This module also provides the ability to develop accurate lane balance factors the costing.
TRAILER UTILIZATION REPORTS:
Utilization of each trailer inbound and outbound by terminal, lane and company. Summary form reports for easier analysis can also be generated.
Costing Module
Weekly Terminal & Company P&L The system generates a weekly P&L statement for each terminal and the overall company. We set sales, operations goals for each terminal and each week the weekly P&L compares actual performance against goal and generates a Weekly P&L statement. No more waiting 2 to 3 weeks into the following month to know how you operated. Also, we can trend the goals at each terminal and identify obstacles and help them overcome those obstacles.
Costing Simulation:
This module gives the carrier the opportunity to perform “what if” scenarios on potential business. The carrier can also download current customers to quickly view profitability of an account without printing reams of paper. This module also gives the user the ability the segment a customer by lane, P&D area, zip code, region, state and other sorts to more accurately analyze a customer.
Customer Base Analysis:
A must have for any carrier in today’s volatile market. The carrier can breakdown any customer, terminal, region and company into profitability segments for more accurate customer management. The program also allows “Bill To” accounts to be segmented.
Customer Profitability:
This module enables the carrier to view the profitability of the account sorted by terminal, lane and P&D area. The user can pull a detail report to display the profitability of each pro number or a summary report showing bottom line information for the entire account. The user has the opportunity to pull multiple looks at any customer including “bill to”.
Terminal Profitability:
The terminal profitability gives the carrier the ability to see the profitability of each freight bill, customer, and lane inbound and outbound and overall profitability of inbound and outbound combined. This report shows management the “quality” of the customer base for each terminal.
Summary:
The TPG package is the most comprehensive profit improvement package on the market. The TPG package with its profit improvement triad, operations, yield / pricing, sales / customer base, affords a level of control over cost and profitability that no other product provides.