Taken a look under the bonnet of your international freight & logistics recently?

Good afternoon All

I was driving down the motorway recently and an interesting thought came to mind which connected the world of international freight & logistics to the cars we drive today.

Most people would agree that cars are becoming more and more complex, and even basic servicing is beyond most of us, either for fear of breaking something, invalidating the warranty or if we're brave enough to consider it - for not having the specialist tools or expertise to carry out the job ourselves.

We're therefore pretty resigned to the fact that if we want our car to remain reliable, safe and efficient that we should entrust the work to experts, qualified motor vehicle technicians, who spend every day of their life working on them.

And that's when I had the thought - logistics is a very specialised field too, however many companies never give their logistics model a service, safety inspection or winter safety check!

In truth, the supply chain may work ok service wise but the chances are, that just like your car, its performance and fuel consumption have been getting gradually worse over time. Many customers just accept that the freight or duty costs are "what they are"...and checking freight invoices is not something that many customers are qualfied to do or enjoy doing, quite understandable given the number of different charges and acronyms used!

So often, their challenge is that even though they know their supply chain really does need an overhaul, they wouldn't know where to start in researching better or more cost effective alternatives, and in many small to medium sized companies, they really do not have the resources or expertise to carry out a professional logistics RFQ and selection process.

We generally work with small-medium sized UK importers and exporters who spend £50-£500K per annum on air and ocean freight costs and most of our customers so far had the very same dilemma, quite understandable in small-medium sized companies who have very flat organisational structures and often little in-house expertise.

Their initial concern is that they could not afford to employ consultants on a traditional time based fee model and so we operate on a results based fee model which generates significant freight savings (average 35% across all clients since 2009) and leaves the client with the lion's share of the cost savings and a leaner, more customer focused logistics model.

We carry out the whole process for the customer from an initial assessment onto the RFQ, selection and then implementation, and then managing the new freight model for them to ensure rates are charged as agreed, services are monitored and rates are re-negotiated to ensure their new costs are kept under tight control, and most customers emply us long term to manage their freight model and keep it sharp, competitive and supported by experts.

We offer a free no-obligation meeting to importers/exporters in the North West so we can explore what opportunities there may be and we have some excellent testimonials, many of which are quoted on our website and LinkedIn.

So the next time you think that your car needs a service, consider whether your supply chain would benefit from the same expert attention, you'll be glad you did.

Kind Regards


Andy Cliff

http://www.straightforwardconsultancy.co.uk/