Don’t let freight complexity stall your momentum: Signs it’s time to act

Efficiently scaling your operations and business while navigating ongoing disruptions and supply chain volatility can be daunting. As your business grows and your network expands, logistics operations also become more complex. And without the right infrastructure, or transportation management solutions and strategies in place, operations can become chaotic, stalling your momentum. 

But knowing the right time to update processes and implement new tools without disrupting operations is often just as challenging. This leads many companies to overlook or avoid making changes to their transportation logistics, even if it benefits the business. 

To effectively scale, companies need logistics operations that can grow alongside the business, not hinder it. By identifying the right time to implement transportation management solutions, businesses can continue to grow without exposing themselves to significant vulnerabilities, disruptions, or operational chaos. 

Are your logistics operations holding you back? 

Supply chain management is often a balancing act, requiring every part—from manufacturing to delivery—to work together seamlessly. But, in many cases, disruptions such as late deliveries, bad weather, or supplier issues can put a strain on supply chains. Combined with inefficient systems or solutions that aren’t designed for scale, operations can suffer. 

This is especially true as your business grows. While these inefficiencies may have been easy to navigate as a smaller organization, transportation management and logistics networks become more complex as your business grows. A handful of trusted carriers or manual systems that may have worked for smaller volumes can quickly become unsustainable as your volume increases. 

In this instance, delaying action becomes risky. Efficiency and capacity gaps become blockers, often impacting your bottom line and limiting scalability. And while you’re reacting to every issue, competitors who have adopted technology and proactive solutions are moving ahead. 

To remain agile and competitive, your company must know when it’s time to invest in a scalable transportation management solution before it’s too late. Here are five signs it’s time to act:

1. Your network is fragmented 

As your business expands, you need a seamless, connected system and network that can scale alongside it. Juggling multiple spreadsheets, several communication channels, static networks, and redundant processes is inefficient, leaving more room for errors and affecting your ability to scale efficiently. When your logistics operations are fragmented and operating as individual parts, it’s time for a unified and centralized transportation management solution. Without it, your operations will only become more chaotic as volume increases. 

An easy way to do this is by implementing a transportation management system (TMS). A TMS can help create a more connected system and network. For example, when Leaf Home adopted Uber Freight’s TMS, it was able to consolidate and replace its manual processes and fragmented systems, improving shipment tracking, optimizing procurement, reducing costs, and enhancing operational efficiency. 

2. You’re constantly facing capacity issues 

Rapid growth means increased demand. If your current operations can’t keep pace, you’ll begin to face significant capacity gaps. This can look like:

• Struggling to find reliable and available carriers consistently 
• Paying high rates for last-minute solutions 
• Facing delays or missed deliveries, resulting in lost sales 
• Sitting on large amounts of inventory or a backlog of products

If your ability to secure consistent, affordable transportation is a constant struggle, your system is likely impacting your ability to move forward and scale. Working with a managed transportation partner that has a diverse multimodal network, such as Uber Freight, can reinvent your operations. 

After partnering with Uber Freight, a global category leader of a multinational agricultural company said, “We’re finally getting wheels under loads where we didn’t have the lanes and couldn’t get great coverage. This year, loads were accepted in our waterfall at an impressive 97% rate or better, with +95% on-time pickup and on-time delivery. The impact of this has been critical to sustaining our business, particularly during peak produce season when great service is essential.”

3. You lack real-time visibility and data 

Operating effectively in today’s market means you must have insight into every aspect of your supply chain. If you lack real-time visibility and comprehensive data on your shipments and operations, you have no way of knowing where you’re falling short. A lack of visibility also makes it impossible to proactively address issues, mitigate risk, and make informed, strategic decisions. 

When you’re constantly reacting to issues, rather than anticipating them with solid contingency plans and risk mitigation, it’s a sign that you need a solution that provides real-time visibility and insights into your entire supply chain. 

By partnering with Uber Freight and implementing its TMS, Blue Bird Corporation was able to gain real-time visibility, a public tracking portal, and advanced data intelligence. This enhanced Blue Bird’s operational visibility and control, enabling them to improve freight efficiency across North America, while saving $3.9M annually.  

4. Your transportation costs are too high 

Growing your operations should include increased profitability, not unpredictable costs. If your transportation costs are climbing and eating up a large portion of your revenue, it’s stalling your momentum and potential. 

Without optimized routes, consolidated loads, and a way to negotiate rates, you’re spending money on inefficiencies, making it time to implement a TMS that can reduce costs and optimize operations. 

With Uber Freight’s TMS, a beverage brand was able to optimize and centralize its LTL, TL, and rail logistics management. By leveraging Uber Freight’s technology and data to save $794K in just four months, the company could continue to scale and improve operational efficiency. 

5. Your customers are dissatisfied 

Customer satisfaction is key when scaling. If you’re consistently missing deadlines or leaving customers in the dark, you’ll begin to lose trust and confidence. And if customers begin to seek out competitors, your growth will stall. 

When your transportation systems are impacting your reputation and customer satisfaction, it’s a signal that something needs to change in your operations. 

When a distilled beverages distributor was struggling with warehouse operations and frequent shipment delays, they opted to partner with Uber Freight’s Consulting team. Through warehouse optimization—including redesigning the facility layout, refining picking strategies, and improving labor and inventory management—the company increased productivity by 47%, streamlined order fulfillment, and increased customer satisfaction, while achieving $10M in annualized savings.  

Transportation management: Your key to strategic growth 

Understanding how freight complexity can slow your progress is key to overcoming it. Transportation management isn’t just an added expense, it’s a tool for strategic growth. 

As your company increases its headcount, number of orders, and revenue, you’re no longer just moving goods. To compete with the biggest industry players, you need transportation management that can scale while maintaining lean and efficient operations. The easiest way to achieve this is by using a TMS to optimize routes, strategically manage carrier relationships, and reduce costs, ultimately turning your logistics operations into a seamless, scalable operation. 

Additional benefits that come with adopting a TMS include:

• Consistent on-time deliveries
• Ability to set and reach sustainability goals
• Improved supply chain performance 
• Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty
• End-to-end visibility and stability 
• Ability to make strategic, data-driven decisions 

And if you combine a TMS with a managed transportation partner that has technology and expertise, you can more easily navigate freight complexities and make strategic decisions, instead of letting it stall your momentum. 

Partnering with Uber Freight for smarter logistics 

Uber Freight brings rapidly growing companies the industry-leading combination of technology, partnership, and capacity to help maximize their savings, visibility, and efficiency.

We know what it takes to move fast, hit hypergrowth, and continuously innovate because we’ve been there. Today, shippers choose Uber Freight to transform their logistics operations and scale their business with dynamic freight capacity from one of the largest carrier networks, a transportation management team with over 25 years of experience across modes and industries, and an AI-powered transportation management system built on the technology and data foundation that helped us grow into one of the world’s leading transportation management companies.

By partnering with Uber Freight, your expanding business can become more proactive to transform your operations and become a well-oiled growth machine. 

Learn more and connect with our team today.