Maintaining an Efficient Haulage Operation

If you work in the haulage industry, you could be one of hundreds of employees in a large multinational conglomerate, and you could also be a 'man with a van' a lorry or small fleet. Whatever the size of the operation, every business must maintain the highest possible standards of efficiency in order to be successful.

Vehicle and Fleet Efficiency

As your haulage operation's most fundamental asset, the performance of your vehicle or fleet should be seen as a baseline from which to measure the overall efficiency of your business. If you can minimise running costs, reduce wastage and maximise the opportunities to transport available loads, it will be far easier to manage the other operational aspects of your business.
One of the most basic routes to vehicle efficiency is through intelligent fuel management. Optimising your fuel consumption by using vehicles with advanced on-board technology is your first step. You can also significantly reduce wastage by proper route planning, driver training and coordinating regular available loads with return loads in order to minimise empty mileage. Ensuring your vehicle is properly maintained is also vital to keeping a handle on fuel consumption, and this includes proper servicing, emissions monitoring and regular tyre checks.

Driver Efficiency

If you're an owner-driver it's easy to keep track of your own efficiency while on the road, but if you're running a fleet of vehicles it becomes more difficult to ensure compliance. GPS tracking and advanced telematics technology now offers an integrated solution to monitoring vehicles in real time, so you can remain connected to your entire fleet via any internet device.

Efficient Financial Practices

Even if your admin and accounts department is just Aunty Mary doing your books on a Tuesday morning, a structured approach to your finances is important from the start.

In order to keep on top of your finances you need to know exactly what your expenses are. Tracking and documenting your expenses includes everything from vehicle maintenance and leasing costs to utilities' costs on any premises. Unless you know your running costs down to the last penny, you won't be able to achieve an accurate picture of your bottom line. Tracking expenses also relates to bidding for available loads, as taking on jobs that are not profitable, or actually cost you money, can pave a rapid road to insolvency.

Maintaining cash flow is the trickiest aspect of running a small business, and in a haulage operation, no matter how many available loads you transport, with payment terms often stretched to 40 and 60 days it can be extremely challenging at times. One way of countering this is to use freight factoring – a system of financing in which you can receive an advance against outstanding invoices, negating potential cash flow problems.

While a steady flow of work is vital to any business, maintaining the efficiency of asset management, operational procedures, and financial practices is key to the success of any small to medium sized haulage operation.