Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/555101
72 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | AUGUST 2015 TECHNOLOGY: PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS balance the loads and trucks in its network every day. When and if it has extra capacity, the company can fi nd strategic backhaul opportunities to reduce shipping costs for customers and increase its bottom line. Technology companies that develop software systems that carriers use for operations and accounting functions have been following the trends in ded- icated and other opportunistic sectors of the industry. Some of the latest tools from ven- dors are designed to provide front-line users with information to be more selective of freight to increase profi t- ability during a time when shipping volumes are strong and capacity is limited. Mining dedicated As a large dedicated contract carrier, Cowan has invested a lot of time and resources in its accounting systems. The company prepares monthly profi t- and-loss statements for every division, customer and lane. This reporting structure makes it possible to price new business accurately and catch excep- tions when its assumptions do not match the realities on the ground. "Because we are on top of it every month, we know which ones work and which ones don't, so we can work to fi x them," Morgan says. Cowan's billing process also is com- plex. The company may share trucks between accounts, and one group of trucks may have backhaul capacity in the dedicated lanes of another account. Meanwhile, its extra capacity also can be taken to the spot market. In these instances, Cowan can set up revenue sharing agreements with dedi- cated customers and reward them with the majority of its additional earnings. However, working these agreements into its invoicing process "can become very complicated," Morgan says. The company also bills each cus- tomer differently. Some are billed with a fl at rate, plus fuel and accessorial charges. Others are billed from a mod- el that separates fi xed and variable costs, among other arrangements. Cowan uses TMW Suite, an enter- prise dispatch and operations software from TMW Systems, to track all of the activities used in cost analysis and With dedicated routes, Cowan Systems enjoys reliable lanes, schedules and revenues that lead to consistent pay and home time for drivers. TMW Systems' Visual Solutions has several pre-built dashboards, such as this one for utilization. Celadon's Order Entry 2 software provides Freight Analysts access to an instant stack-ranked priority list of orders that arrive electronically from customers.