Driving Efficiency in Less-than-Truckload Bids and Analytics

The Situation: A Need for Data to Make Better, More Efficient Decisions

Both Newell Brands and J.B. Hunt needed ways to expedite less-than-truckload (LTL) analysis of rates and bids.

They needed access to valuable information including transit times, rates, and cost of non-compliance, as well as the ability to compare and model thousands of freight bills simultaneously.

Newell Brands analyzes between 150,000 and 200,000 shipments per year across seven business units and dozens of brands.

During their annual bid process, they use demand modeling software to build out scenarios and award lanes to carriers based on different criteria such as incumbency.

But this process alone doesn’t allow them to evaluate different scenarios from a total cost perspective - which is critical for finding opportunities to retain their best carriers, award new carriers where appropriate, and reduce cost.

Additionally, Newell Brands needed a way to track any noncompliance with routing guides published by its retailer partners.

The Result: Knowledge and Confidence to Maintain Efficiency

Using SMC³ BatchMark XL, Newell Brands gets better visibility into their bid process – and that visibility translates directly to value.

Output from BatchMark XL helps them bid smarter, project costs further, shift lanes between incumbent carriers, bring on new carriers, realize efficiencies, make better decisions and maintain their company focus.

It also helps them track the cost of noncompliance with routing guides: “BatchMark XL output lets you know if that shipment hit the minimum charge or if it hit the discount, which we then pull into reporting,” Hayley Drosky, Associate Manager at Newell Brand.

“It lets us know how much additional expense we’re incurring because we’re not compliant with our routing guide” and drives down costs associated with non-compliance.”

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