Measuring the Things that Matter
Trying to run a successful business reliant on a fleet of vehicles is a difficult thing to do. It requires the ultimate of control, tracking, vigilance and measurement of all performance.
If you do not know how your transport is performing in in a myriad of ways then you cannot possibly judge if they are giving you a good return on investment. To solve this problem, many hauliers, coach companies, carriers and shippers have turned towards a digital answer with automated data reporting.
However it may be still required to have a carrier scorecard. Simple metrics should be included so that you can accurately measure the things that matter. Here are some of the metrics that should be included.
Driver Performance
It is important that you are aware just how efficiently your drivers are performing. Drivers who do not comply with certain legal or mandatory regulations can undermine the very existence of your business or at the least its credibility.
Imagine your passengers or freight being delayed if your driver is detained due to bad driving, it could be a catastrophe.
On-Time Performance
Getting your passengers or freight where they should be on time is a critical part to any transport business. Late deliveries often land penalty clauses and in some cases loss of customers.
Your scorecard must have a value that considers on-time deliveries, this should be equated both numerically and percentage wise, so you can drill down into efficiencies.
Damage Free Shipments
A freight company is responsible for delivering their cargoes on time and undamaged, you need to monitor the amount of times you have fines for damaged goods in transit. By keeping track of this you can see the causes and implement preventative measures.
On your scorecard you need to follow the costs, it might also indicate why the profit from certain consignments is so low.
Billing Accuracy
A busy freight company has so many things that can go wrong in its operation, with the sheer number of consignments and vehicle comings and goings, it is a constant problem to monitor it all.
Your billing is of critical importance, inaccuracies of your billing system for whatever reason can cost your company a fortune. Your scorecard should have a system that tracks billing, both in terms of time and also accuracy.
Customer Service
You must take care of your number one priority which of course is the customer, you must have systems in place to measure how you respond to customer requests and requirements that includes all possibilities.
This not only includes how long it takes you to respond, but also the levels of service in the response. This means how your staff’s behaviour was to the client, how long you took to fix the problem, and how much time was lost in rectifying the problem.
Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance
Every transportation company has to keep up-to-date logs of the regularity of maintenance checks. This is not just to comply with legislation, it is also for the protection of the vehicles and ensure their good working order. It will help to eliminate breakdowns and the time it takes to rectify the situation.
When Should Your Scorecard be Updated
Your scorecard should be constantly be changing and evolving as your business progresses. Everything should be dated and in chronological order so you know when to come back and look at it.
This is all quite critical so you are not making important decisions on old out of date information. This is also important to make sure the maintenance of your equipment score is constantly updated with updates.
Movement of Freight
Each and every time you move goods from one vehicle to another, or in fact any other movements it increases the possibilities of damage and delays. You need to keep track of all these movements and who or what was responsible for any problems.
Overall Score
Everything above on your scorecard will give you a comprehensive window how your business in being conducted, and importantly how it is perceived by your customers.
It is probably better than taking each score individually to make any decisions. Use your scorecard to assign a preference ranking score. This will help you to identify your urgent shipping requirements.
In essence you cannot fix what you do not track and measure, so by drawing up a scorecard and constantly updating it can be critical to your business. Implement these metrics today, and you soon will see the effective data you can glean which will help you streamline your business.
There is help at hand if you need advice on how to implement such a tracking measure to your business, eCoachManager are the experts in providing information via a vehicle management system.
Contact us today to speak to one of our friendly advisers, who will be happy to discuss your current requirements.