One of the largest temperature-controlled LTL operations in the U.S., Frozen Food Express (FFE), fields roughly 200 linehaul trucks to transport food between its 14 service centers, and about 700 trucks make more than 6,500 pickup and delivery stops each week.
Operational efficiency is key to achieving efficient food distribution, maximum utilization of assets, and reliable customer service, but until recently in the FFE operation, transportation planning was carried out manually at each service center. With limited visibility, the results were missed delivery times, which led to penalty fees, reduced shelf life of products, and the need to subcontract to carriers when trucks were not positioned correctly, costing the company up to $400,000 per month.
FFE needed to replace its manual planning process so it could more effectively manage load and route planning requirements and maximize vehicle utilization. To meet those needs, the company adopted Paragon’s Integrated Fleets and Street Level Mapping solutions. The software, which was implemented initially in the FFE linehaul operation, enables a centralized approach that incorporates all driver, truck and trailer assets as a single, integrated fleet.
“The flexibility of the routing and scheduling software combined with its ability to handle compartmentalized trucks, something critical to the success of the project, has allowed us to transform our transport planning without changing our business processes,” explained Nick Cook, vice president of operations at FFE Transportation Services.
“Implementing ... [this software] has given us visibility into all linehaul truck and trailer movements between service centers,” Cook added. “Knowing where trucks are and who is available to deliver loads has greatly added to the efficiency of our entire transport operation.”
Automating the planning process at FFE includes automatically loading all orders into the Paragon software. Centralized planning allows a dedicated team of three planners to manage the entire operation, freeing up regional staff to focus on service center operations, explained Walter Martz, senior analyst at FFE Transportation Services.
“The planning team now knows when vehicles are going to depart and return to each service center, so we can maximize utilization of pickup and delivery trucks and provide more accurate information to customers,” Martz said. “When we create a load, we select the time for pickup and delivery so every truck will make its service objectives. As a result, on-time deliveries have increased.”
In the first six months after implementing the new software, Cook reported that FFE realized a 12% improvement in on-time deliveries and reduced the number of loads it brokered weekly by 90%. “In addition to the operational and bottom line savings,” he added, “the increased visibility and centralized planning has resulted in an increase of 9% in year-over-year sales.”
While FFE has only utilized planning software in its linehaul operation so far, improved efficiency has allowed it to maximize the utilization of pickup and delivery trucks and to reduce the size of its P&D fleet by 10%. Following that success, FFE is now planning to roll out the application across its pickup and delivery operation as well.
