Articles by "Fleet"
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on Monday, January 04, 2021 0

 


If you have a fleet, you have a need for tires. With a limited life and a key component to driver safety, procuring tires wisely can make a big difference in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your fleet. Tire pricing is typically based on volume and negotiating discounts is difficult at best. So how do you control costs if you do not have a massive fleet? There are a few simple avenues that can help your company save time and money procuring tires.

As a fleet manager, or a procurement professional purchasing tires for your organization, there are a few upfront decisions to make. First, you must decide what tier of tires you are searching for. This is a loosely defined rating on quality, engineering, price point, and markup. Although slightly arbitrary, typically, a tier 1 tire has the backing of a large organization. They have built up a lot of trust to get to that level, so their product can be trusted. Tier 2 tires will typically be lower in quality, price, or markup, and so on for Tiers 3 and 4. Finally, will you want to buy direct or through a distributor? Both have their pros and cons. Distributors will mark up the price but may have better service options. OEM tires often are cheaper, but the manufacturer may not have locations to install the tires you purchase. Be sure to consider what is most important to you.

Now, on to how to procure them!

1.      GPO’s (Group Purchasing Organizations)

Perhaps the simplest way to get high quality tires for your fleet at a fair price is through a GPO. A Group Purchasing Organization leverages the buying power of many organizations by combining the spend of multiple fleets to negotiate better pricing. This can especially benefit small and mid-size fleets. With a lower volume, negotiating pricing is very difficult as the scales are tipped against you. With a GPO, many small and mid-size fleets are combined to tip the scale back to your side. The best part is the work is already complete. Simply signing up with the GPO warrants you all the benefits with none of the work. It is the easiest way to receive a quick win and can save your company a surprisingly large amount.

To put this in perspective, Corcentric has over 160 group purchasing programs. With an 800,000-unit fleet under management, the pricing within these GPO’s is much better than a small or mid-size fleet can obtain. Tires are just one of the programs that we offer. Many different maintenance parts and fleet related products, including fuel, can be purchased using this buying power. We also offer multiple tire brands. You can choose form Goodyear, Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, and more! Whomever you choose, GPO’s are the quickest way to get immediate savings on your tire purchasing.

2.      Back-End Rebates

Another simple and effective way to save on tires is to negotiate back end rebates. A simple explanation is you spend so much with the supplier, you get a specified percentage back. The lower the spend figure and the higher the percentage rebate, the better the savings. Rebates may be difficult if you do not have a large enough fleet. However, if you do not have a large enough fleet, you should be purchasing through a GPO like we spoke about earlier.

3.      Maintenance Mindset

Do not let your tires bald before replacing. It may sound counter-intuitive but replacing on a specified schedule is important. In the long run it will save your business money. The costlier repairs for damage that can occur if your tires tread or blow are not worth the risk. Replace them before they cause the larger issue. Also, the consistency of spend can help with negotiations and spend commitments to supplier partners. Finally, you will change fuel consumption and put your drivers in potential danger. As a side note, maintenance parts of all kinds can also be purchased through a GPO!

4.      Outsource

If the analysis, contracting, negotiation, and many other tasks that come with wise fleet procurement are more than you care to take on, outsource the work. Corcentric, for example, can manage your whole fleet. We not only source the suppliers, but we also take care of the maintenance, lifecycle management, and even remarketing. This may be the simplest way to avoid the vast amount of work that comes from fleet management. The best part is you can afford it! You will actually end up saving money in most cases.

Hopefully, this will help in purchasing tires for your fleet. These suggestions also apply to other maintenance related parts. Fleet management is one of Corcentric’s bread and butter. We have been working in this space from the very beginning of our company. With many subject matter experts, we can give you the advice and service your fleet requires!

 

 

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on Monday, August 31, 2020 0

    As supply chain consultants we help our customers to improve their purchasing processes and find savings opportunities within their supply chain. There are a number of ways to do so, from instituting centralized purchasing tools, guiding purchasing behavior that promotes process efficiencies, and even managing the relationships with the suppliers that our clients choose to use to support their business. One of the quickest routes to savings is the management of indirect spend through Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs.) 

    Indirect spend is any spend not directly included in the Cost of Goods Sold of a product or service. Indirect spend refers to expenses incurred for materials, services and maintenance required to operate the business. For example, if you own or operate a fleet of vehicles, any money spent on maintaining that fleet would be an indirect spend. Other examples of indirect spend would uniform rentals, industrial supplies or even janitorial services. To help your business Corcentric would holistically analyze all expenditures you’ve made in the past fiscal year. From there we categorize which spend is indirect vs. direct, and then deem which indirect spend categories may be impactable with our help. We look for supplier redundancies, large tail spends, and spend volumes overall. These are all factors that would lead us to look into further details regarding a supplier relationship and discover the room for improvement. 

    One tried and true avenue to create savings is the utilization of Group Purchasing Organizations. GPOs are a quick way to savings because we connect our clients with the suppliers Corcentric has already partnered with and identified as among the best providers in their respective industries. GPOs were a new concept to me upon joining the consulting division here at Corcentric. A GPO is an entity created to combine the purchasing power of a collective of businesses to leverage better pricing and service with desired suppliers. 

    When we think about what that means for our clients, the idea is that we pull together all of customers’ expenditures to qualify for discounts and rebates that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to achieve independently. If we continue to use our example before of being a company that owns a fleet, that fleet will need repairs, fuel and maintenance. If you are a smaller business, you may not have the purchasing power to qualify for rebates from large suppliers. If you were to need new tires, you would be stuck buying them at retail value. However, if you were to join Corcentric’s Michelin GPO, your company’s spend would be combined with all other clients of ours participating in that GPO program and thus would qualify you for better discounts and better service due to that now improved purchasing power. 

    By leveraging pre-negotiated contracts with leading suppliers to source the products your organization uses every day, you benefit from the best possible pricing and service levels. It’s the ideal solution to get everything you need to keep business running smoothly while optimizing control of your indirect spend. We have pre-negotiated GPO deals that you can get immediate access to just by signing up to be a Corcentric customer. Our consulting team knows all the questions to ask and has experience with all the elements of a successful implementation across varying product categories. Corcentric will also act as a managed service for the implementation process, managing the implementation between the customer and supplier. Our goal is to assist with your procurement needs every step of the way.
 
    See the chart below for more on what your company stands to gain by working with Corcentric GPO programs, either as a buyer or supplier. If you feel like your company could benefit from tidying up indirect spend and leveraging GPOs to reduce costs, or becoming a supplier in our network, feel free to reach out to us today to see how we can help your business grow. 

https://www.corcentric.com/group-purchasing-organizations/indirect-gpo/




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on Monday, August 31, 2020 0

When it comes to purchasing vehicles for your fleet, there are many more considerations than the sticker price of the asset. Asset acquisition, when done wrong, can have a crippling cost on your organization. However, when all factors are taken into consideration, like using Sweet Spot Analysis to find the right vehicles and managing financing and operational costs, it can save your organization millions! Using only manufacturer specifications on gas mileage and recommended maintenance schedules will not provide the best solution as manufacturers do not know the specific needs of your business. They do not know what the function of your fleet is. Your organization may make many local deliveries or strictly deliver large loads across the country. The need of your business will decide what vehicles are best to purchase, as well as HOW they should be purchased. Simply negotiating the cost of the asset upfront will leave potential savings on the table. Deeper analysis on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) must be done to take fuel, maintenance, and the correct specification fit for your fleet into account as these on average are eighty percent of fleet costs.

The cost of your fleet is likely to be one of the largest Capital Equipment expenditures your organization will make. Keep reading to see our recommendations on how to collect data, prioritize and analyze, purchase, and manage the cost of your fleet effectively!

1. Data Collection

 Having the right data is extremely important in making a buying decision. Knowing the ins and outs of what your business requires is important. Look at a full picture of your routes, or your company’s vehicle usage. See where most of your routes or lanes are geographically. If the climates are hot, different vehicles may suite you. If the area is mountainous, other vehicles will most likely suite you best.  Be sure to gather data on fuel use, maintenance costs, odometer readings, and your current vehicle specs to get a full picture of your fleet. This information must be gathered prior to making any decision.

One way to gather this data is to use software systems that aggregate this data with the help of Corcentric team members along the way. Many, including Corcentric’s offering, have a web-based portal that reports can be downloaded from on the fly. This could be vendor spend reporting, out-of-service reporting, and much more. However you get the data, make sure it is accurate and accessible.

2. Prioritize and Analyze

The next step is to perform some analysis on the data to prioritize what is most important to your company. The data you have already gathered can be analyzed to find the best vehicles for your specific fleet. Most importantly, you should attempt to find the vehicles that mitigate high operational costs. Remember that operational costs will be eighty percent of the Total Cost of Ownership.

The simplest way to do this is through Corcentric’s Sweet Spot Analysis. Simply providing Corcentric with the data you already gathered in step one, will allow for extensive analytics on how to best purchase and manage your vehicles. The data is run through a massive database of 800,00 fleet vehicles under management to compare pricing on many fleet related costs. The assessment will also offer you information on life-cycle     management, fuel economy and consumption, maintenance and more. From this, you will be able to find the sweet spot on what type of engines, trailer configurations, re-marketing policies, financing structures, preventative maintenance, fuel programs, and much more, work best for your fleet. The best part is that it is provided for free. It allows Corcentric to show how effective we are at providing savings within your fleet.

No matter how the data is analyzed, or what tool is used, the decision of what vehicles suite your organization the best can now be made.

3. Purchase

The last consideration is whether your organization should purchase or lease the vehicles. Many companies need flexibility where leasing will be more effective. Your company may not be able to spend the hundreds of thousands upfront on fleet vehicles to outright purchase them. Additionally, knowing that the most important aspect to look at is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), the cheapest price is not always the way to go. Paying a higher amount monthly for a lease allows for newer vehicles. This means that your operational costs, the eighty percent of TCO, are lower. Sweet Spot Analysis will provide you with the best vehicles to keep excessive operational costs down. This will save your organization much more in the long run. Luckily, this is another area where Corcentric can greatly help!

Based on affordability and obsolescence, leasing can provide the dexterity that many businesses require. Your working capital will not be tied up in buying enough expensive vehicles to fulfill your fleet. Also, with the speed of technological advances, your fleet will stay up to date with a lease. The time frame to replace an out-of-date asset is much shorter and may have little to no penalty. Corcentric offers very flexible financing for fleet vehicles. There is no initial cash outlay and terms are very flexible. This will keep your finances and attention on growing your business rather than concern over fleet costs.

4. Continue Analysis 

Finally, just because you purchased vehicles does not mean the effort is complete. Creating an optimal acquisition strategy and maintenance policy are the keys to ongoing success. Fleets are expensive and their management is an ongoing effort. As long-time fleet specialists, Corcentric has an offering in Fleet Management, as well. The many years of working with large fleets has provided us a lot of expertise in this area. Whether it is policy development, better pricing on maintenance parts, ongoing negotiations, or risk-free enrollment, our program can benefit any fleet. We truly are a one-stop shop for any Fleet related need. 

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on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 0

Corona virus showed us how important our supply chains are. The uptick in online shopping during the pandemic provided many companies continued revenue and the need to move product throughout the entire country. PPE had to make it to hospitals and essential businesses on time. Tractors delivered items across the United States putting many miles on the vehicles. Fleet management became an extremely important topic as financial efficiency  was made a top priority for organizations around the world.



Fleet Management is the management of expenditures related to fleet assets (trucks, trailers, sedans, other company vehicles, etc.). This can be from purchasing, to the disposal or resale of the vehicles, to preventative maintenance or driver training. Many fleet managers focus on purchasing vehicles at a low price, with the thought that this constitutes “good” fleet management. However, would you be surprised to learn that on average, eighty percent of the vehicle’s total cost of ownership is not related to its price tag? Most of the costs associated with your fleet is for maintenance, fuel, running costs, and parts.

Many fleet managers will spend a large amount of their time and energy negotiating the unit cost of the vehicles down. This is beneficial and should not be overlooked. However, once purchased the analysis should be increased rather than forgot. The ability to keep costs down is even greater now that the asset is yours. How and where will you buy parts? What are the maintenance management programs you will create policies for? Are you buying fuel at an effective price with rebates baked in? These are the questions I want to address so you can manage that other eighty percent of addressable spend.

Preventative Maintenance Considerations and Policies

Anyone who owns a vehicle understands the benefits of preventative maintenance. We grow up being told to get the oil changed at a specific interval, or that if we take care of our car it will take care of us in return. When you expand that to tens, hundreds, or thousands of vehicles the costs become drastic. But when we remember the costs of repairs when we neglected preventative maintenance the benefits are clear. Spend a little per vehicle now rather than a lot down the line.

This opens many other considerations for fleet managers to address. Who will complete the repairs? What mileage should services be completed at? Will the maintenance be completed in house or outsourced? These all are additional opportunities for smarter purchasing. If your organization does not want to spend a lot of money for maintenance, remember again that eighty percent of the costs were not in purchasing the asset. Remind them they cannot afford to NOT spend the money. Avoiding maintenance can cause breakdowns, legal issues, the need to buy replacement vehicles and can harm the resell value at the end of the asset’s life.

Define exactly what maintenance needs to take place in an official company policy. This will keep organization and compliance throughout the company. Fleet managers will know exactly what to repair, when, and where to get it completed. Define the need for drivers to continually visually assess the vehicle to shine light on issues that may not be covered in the policy. The main key is to catch things early so they do not turn into huge expenditures down the road.

Managing Fuel Costs     

The cost of fuel is always fluctuating and is one of the biggest considerations when managing a fleet. This fluctuation means that assessing exactly what you will pay per vehicle is difficult. However, one thing that we can usually rely on is that it will increase over time. So how do we manage it and keep costs as low as possible?

One way to lower fuel costs is focusing on the driver’s habits. Poor habits can cause excessive costs that do not need to be present. If a driver is idling too often or driving too aggressively, removing these habits can provide savings. GPS systems and ELD (electronic logging device) usage can provide some information on driver’s habits as they track the fleet vehicle in real time. Improving driver habits also provides the benefit of less tickets and traffic violations.

Most likely the best way to mitigate excessive fuel costs is to utilize a fuel management card with rebates. With many of the top cards, the larger your fleet the more you will save. Even for small and medium size fleets, savings can be found. It is important to confirm solid coverage when selecting the card. If you do not have routes near the stations accepting the card, you will not take advantage of the maximum benefit. Some fuel cards offer a rebate of up to six cents per gallon! That amount can really add up to impressive, easy savings.

Effectively Purchasing Parts for Repair and Maintenance

Another great way to lower your fleet cost is to be wise about how and where you purchase your vehicle parts. The goal is to purchase the cheapest parts that maintain the quality you require. Every single discount adds up when extended across the hundreds, or even thousands, of vehicles in your fleet. Signing contracts with individual suppliers can be very effective, but there is an even better way.

Fleet GPO’s (group purchasing organizations) are a great way to get the parts you need at a great price. This will not only leverage the size of your fleet, but it also leverages the fleet size of every member in the GPO. Corcentric offers GPO programs for tires, repair parts, lift gates, drive train parts, windshields, route planners, and many other categories fleet and not fleet related. For each category, we also offer multiple choices of suppliers. If you prefer Goodyear tires, we can lock in a better discount. If Yokohama is your preferred tire supplier, we can aid you in receiving a better rate than you are currently paying. This applies to batteries, heavy duty and light duty parts, and so much more.

A GPO also allows a smaller fleet to take advantage of better pricing. All the members of the group purchasing organization will pool their spend figures. The agreement with the supplier considers a larger amount of spend because the GPO contains multiple members. The supplier receives drastically more business via Corcentric’s pooling of demand, so they are willing to offer a better per unit price for each part and better back end incentives. It is possibly the simplest way to gain immediate and vast savings for your fleet.

Always remember to think of the other eighty percent of fleet spend. The price tag of each vehicle is absolutely an important consideration. However, it is not the only consideration. It may not even be the most important area to focus on when attempting to control fleet management costs. Understand your spend, be wise about purchasing parts, and never wait until minor maintenance issues turn into huge expenditures. This will take your fleet management to the next level.

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on Monday, April 06, 2020 0

This two-part Blog Series will explore strategies that procurement and fleet professionals can leverage to decrease operating costs and increase short to mid-term cash flow. These two outcomes are critical to financial health and longevity during times of economic downturn, especially with the scope and size of the impending downturn stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic. Strategies that will be covered in this series create cost savings that will enable your organization to allocate critical dollars to the areas where it is most needed (e.g. keeping employees on the payroll while new sales come to a halt). There are 5 primary strategies that will be explored:

Part 1
•            Restructuring your lease strategy for new vehicle acquisition
•            Leveraging sale and leaseback programs

Part 2
•            Fleet policy restructuring
•            Fuel economy optimization
•            Maintenance optimization

Optimizing your asset acquisition strategy is a great way to lock in short term cost savings. Right away, from a cash flow prospective, leasing fleet vehicles versus purchasing outright will result in immediate short-term savings for any planned new purchases. In times where cash is tight, leasing is the way to go. When looking at lease options, the most common vehicle leases are structured as a capital lease or operational lease. A capital lease has a higher monthly payment, but at the end of the lease term ownership transfers to the lessee. Conversely, an operational lease has a lower monthly payment, and at the end of the lease term the ownership of the asset transfers to the lessor.

There upsides and downsides to each lease structure. For example, a capital lease allows you to recognize expenses sooner and the Lessee can claim both interest and depreciation each year on the assets, thereby reducing taxable income. You also own the assets after the initial capital lease term, so you don’t have recurring monthly payments on each asset once the lease term expires. However, the recurring monthly payments on your new vehicles are higher on a capital lease. A company-wide capital lease strategy also yields higher year over year maintenance costs since you will tend to cycle assets for a longer term, on average, since all/most of your assets are owned and you incurred a higher up front cost. Whereas vehicles under an operational lease umbrella will generally be newer which results in less breakdowns and required maintenance over the long term since  vehicles will be cycled in tandem with the operational lease term (typically 3-5 years).

When you think of this dynamic between both lease structures during a time of a recession or company hardship where short-term cash flow is paramount, it is advantageous to shift your buying strategy of new vehicles towards operational leases. This lease strategy will give the organization some short-term relief in the form of lower monthly lease payments (if buying new assets is still a must), and, over time, will reduce year over year maintenance costs as the average age of your fleet trends lower. If this strategy is conducted in tandem with selling off old assets carrying high year over year maintenance costs, the Net benefit can be game changing – more to come in Part 2 of this Blog Series on maintenance cost savings.

Executing a Sale/Leaseback program is another way to quickly inject cash in your organization. A sale and leaseback program entails selling your assets for cash and subsequently leasing back those same vehicles under an adjusted lease structure. Selling your vehicles at fair market value will help to inject some cash in pocket immediately and can also help to streamline or consolidate leases if multiple exist; a commonality if your organization has been involved in any M&A activity and inherited a detached fleet.

Overall, your long term acquisition strategy needs to be carefully examined based on the unique characteristics of your fleet. The type of fleet (heavy/semi-trucks vs. passenger vehicle), use of fleet (long haul vs. short haul), geographic location (desert vs. mountains), idle times and so many other factors need to be taken into consideration when choosing the right acquisition and maintenance strategy. However, in the times we are in today there are a handful of best practices that can be taken in the short-term to reduce operational costs and increase cash flow. Part 2 of this series will dive into more detail on how fleet policy restructuring, fuel optimization and maintenance optimization can achieve similar short-term results to the outcomes described herein.

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on Wednesday, December 04, 2019 0

Procurement, Transportation, Logistics, Fuel, Fuel Card, Supply Chain, Consulting

Here on the Source-to-Pay team at Corcentric, a part of the way we identify opportunities for our clients is by analyzing how much they spend annually in a certain discipline or category. Depending on the category, the theory is that there is a certain amount of that annual spend we should be able to influence and by working with our client and their suppliers, create savings for our client’s bottom line. This can be done in a number of ways:
  1. Engage new prospective suppliers in the market to benchmark current pricing standards across the industry     
  2. Conduct an RFx event allowing both incumbent suppliers and new prospective suppliers a chance to put together a proposal or bring the most current pricing.
  3. Negotiate contracts with the current suppliers that your client uses.
  4. Consolidate from many suppliers to a few.
A common mistake in the spend analysis process is to overestimate the cost savings impact within a particular category. Upon a cursory review of spend, certain categories may be targeted strictly because of the volume. However, once you take a deeper dive into the category you can see how simply negotiating a percentage decrease isn’t possible. Fuel is a prime example. Pricing in the fuel industry is volatile, which means a typical RFP process isn’t necessarily going to be effective. Procurement professionals need to get creative.

In a recent engagement with a client, fuel was an area of spend that was targeted. To really achieve savings, we needed a comprehensive approach to cost management. As a third party consultant, we have no ability to impact the actual pricing of fuel, which in this case is direct spend. What we could control was what our customer was getting on the back end of their business, in discounts, rebates, services and incentives from their fuel card management suppliers. The amount that our customer was getting back from these incentives was roughly 3% of their total net spend in the fuel industry.

By engaging the market at large via an RFP, it was clear that the standards in the fuel card management suppliers were long standing and ubiquitous across the market. It became apparent that we were only going to be able to carve out another 1% in savings annually for their bottom line in the form of negotiating discounts, rebates and incentives. Thus we had to get creative in order to create supply chain efficiencies that could drive value other than just true cost savings.

Since we had our customer’s purchase data for an entire fiscal year, we were able to put together an analysis of the sites where their drivers in their network were most frequently fueling up at, and the total spend that our client spent there. From there we worked with the suppliers that we were choosing to move forward with to negotiate further specific discounts at the fuel provider chains that our client’s fleet fueled up at most often. This way, we can create greater supply chain efficiencies and savings by supporting the already existing behavior and tendencies of their operators.
Another focus of our sourcing effort was to increase the intangible services that our client was receiving from their supplier. In this case, we upgraded the service package our supplier was receiving, at no cost to them.

Our solution is projected to increase our client’s annual ROI from 3% to 5% for every dollar spent in the next two years within this product category. The client was happy we were able to revamp their fuel card operations, align them with the best possible suppliers for their supply chain and create a solution that not only catered to how they currently do business but provided room for growth in the future as well.  

This example serves as a reminder of why it is important to analyze your supply chain for process efficiencies and cost savings opportunities regularly. There is always room for continuous improvement.

For more on what supply chain consultants at Corcentric can do for you and your company, check out Corcentric.com.

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on Friday, August 16, 2019 0


Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump made deregulation a common theme, a promise to prospective voters. Though he's had mixed results, he's consistently acted on his deregulatory ambitions as President. More rollbacks are incoming. This week the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a Transportation Department agency, proposed amendments to the trucking industry's "hours of service" (HOS) rules.

FMCSA Administrator Raymond Martinez believes the proposal will allow for "a commonsense approach to crafting hours-of-service regulations that are more flexible for truck drivers and promote safety for all who share the road." Others suggest the changes would do nothing to promote safety. Harry Adler, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, charges the government with "offering flexibility without regard for the fact that these weakened rules could be exploited by the worst actors in the industry."

HOS rules aren't new regulations. The trucking industry first introduced them in the late 1930s. Recent updates, however, have made them particularly unpopular among truckers and trade groups. In December of 2017, a long-dreaded mandate went into effect and brought HOS regulations back into the headlines. Requiring that all drivers track their road hours with Electronic Logging Devices (ELD), the so-called ELD mandate brought a slew of inflexible requirements. It has proven no more popular in practice than it was in theory

Truckers were particularly outspoken during the "public listening sessions" hosted by the FMCSA throughout the last year. "I feel," one New York fleet owner remarked, "as though some of these rules and regulations have been put in place by people that have never seen the inside of a truck."

The FMCSA is now suggesting five key changes to the current HOS rules:

1. Split Sleeper Berth

 Current Rule: A driver can use the sleeper berth to get 10 consecutive hours off duty. But the driver must spend at least eight hours (no more than 10 hours) in the berth, which does not count toward the 14-hour window. A second period has to be at least two consecutive hours (but less than 10 hours) and would count toward the 14-hour window.

 Proposed Rule: The 10-hour break requirement could be split in two: One break of at least seven hours in the sleeper berth and another break of no less than two hours spent either off duty or in the sleeper berth. Neither counts toward the 14-hour driving window.

2. Split Duty Provision

 Current Rule: Once a driver is on duty, a 14-hour clock starts to run continuously. When it runs out, the driver may not drive again until they have taken ten or more consecutive hours off duty. Nothing will stop the 14-hour clock except a period in the sleeper berth of at least 8 hours.

Proposed Rule: A driver can stop the 14-hour clock by taking a break of at least 30 minutes (no longer than three hours). This, the FMCSA hopes, will reduce the effects of fatigue and enable drivers to wait out traffic without losing valuable drive time.

3. 30-Minute Break

 Current Rule: A driver must take a 30-minute, off-duty break if more than eight hours have passed since their last off-duty break of at least 30 minutes.

Proposed Rule: The break requirement only applies if a driver has driven for a period of 8 hours without at least a 30-minute interruption. Additionally, drivers can satisfy the break requirement with thirty minutes of on-duty, non-driving time.

4. Adverse Driving Conditions 

 Current Rule: A driver may operate their vehicle for two additional hours beyond the maximum time allowed. They cannot, however, extend the 14-hour window.

Proposed Rule: Adverse conditions would allow drivers to extend their "driving windows" (14 hours for property-carrying vehicles and 15 hours for passenger-carrying vehicles) by up to two hours. This will encourage drivers to take more caution during inclement weather and potentially reduce crashes.

5. Short Haul

 Current Rule: Short haul drivers may not be on duty for more than 12 hours or drive beyond a 100-mile air radius.

Proposed Rule: Short haul drivers can extend their on-duty window from 12 hours to 14 hours and operate across an 150-mile air radius. '

In addition to promoting more cautious driving and providing flexibility, the FMCSA believes its proposal could mean more than $250 million in cost savings for carriers. The agency is accepting public comments until late September. While Martinez did not indicate how long it would take to review these comments and present a final proposal, he suggested that his organization is "ahead of schedule."
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on Thursday, August 15, 2019 0

Conversations around artificial intelligence and automation tend toward the apocalyptic. In January, the Brookings Institution reported that more than 35 million Americans hold jobs with "high exposure" to automation. These vulnerable professionals - occupying roles in production, food service, and transportation - could already see at least 70% of their day-to-day tasks replicated by a machine. It's clear that these machines will soon graduate from replicating tasks to replicating entire jobs, even mechanizing entire industries. The report anticipates this massive shift and concludes with a call to action. To "mitigate coming stresses," it reads, organizations will need to pursue a number of strategic initiatives. This should include "promoting a constant learning mindset."

A new study from the Technical University of Munich and Rotterdam University echoes this advice. In addition to teaching new skills, the researchers encourage business leaders to consider the psychological impact of replacement and unemployment. This impact, they suggest, is even greater when an employee is replaced by another human. Their study arrives at the intriguing conclusion that employees in automatable positions feel more threatened by other people than by machines. Intelligent machines might dominate the headlines, but they're not necessarily an immediate concern for the professionals who are preparing to confront them.

The study's findings appear almost paradoxical. A summary reads, "In principle, most people view it more favorable when workers are replaced by other people than by robots or intelligent software. This preference reverses, however, when it refers to people's own jobs. When that is the case, the majority of workers find it less upsetting to see their own jobs go to robots than to other employees." These same professionals do, however, consider automation that greatest long-term threat to employment.

People don't compare themselves to machines the way they compare themselves to peers. This, the study's authors suggests, is why robots pose less of a threat to self-worth. They go on to suggest that the social impacts of replacement and unemployment have gone largely un-addressed. Reskilling should help professionals experiencing technological replacement, but more psychological support might prove necessary for other displaced workers.

These workers, for their part, have largely expressed interest in reskilling. According to Randstad US, 67% of U.S. employees believe they'll need new skills to survive in a changing economy. Employers, however, have been slow to embrace the opportunity. While 80% of workers believe their company should provide for reskilling, nearly 40% have seen no progress.

Employees aren't just hungry for new skills. They're also beginning to insist that employers promote their mental well-being. Far from just a Gen-Z talking point, the demand for more empathetic workplaces touches every generation. As automation moves from theory to reality, businesses will need to devise plans for addressing its full economic, social, and psychological impact.
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on Monday, June 03, 2019 0

The relationship between company fleet vehicles and procurement is an interesting one. In some instances there are entire teams dedicated to managing fleet spend, in other cases companies leave fleet completely unmanaged, or use a third party to manage select aspects (or all of) fleet-related activities. Fleet is an area in procurement where significant cost savings opportunities lie, but the knowledge of how to obtain those cost savings and how to evaluate fleet spend is often mysterious. Organizations can typically break overall Fleet spend down into a handful of sub-categories. This will make things easier to digest when starting a Fleet Assessment: acquisition, maintenance, fuel, remarketing and administration/licensing are good places to start. Of course, there are other ancillary sub-categories, but these five typically encompass the most impactful spend categories.

 Acquisition of fleet units and the financial strategy behind acquisition is at the core of fleet management. To buy or to lease is the first question that organizations should answer. Or, even further, a capital lease or an operating lease? What depreciation schedule should you use? In general, it is important to understand how your company’s accounting and finance strategy impacts vehicle financing, and which methodology is most beneficial when accounting for the assets on your books. When developing a financial strategy, it is important to bring together both Finance/Accounting and Operations to collaborate in making the decision.

 The most obvious cost driver in relation to vehicle acquisition is deciding which units you should acquire. This is where Operations takes the lead. What is the purpose of the vehicle? Are they sedans for insurance adjusters? Are they tanker trucks for propane distribution? Are they tree trimming trucks for a utility company? Overall, the use of the vehicle needs to be properly aligned with the specifications. You wouldn’t want to buy a diesel Ford F350 for the insurance adjusters, for example, due to fuel mileage and high acquisition costs. Extreme examples aside, rationalizing your fleet vehicles for the specific vehicle application and ensuring things such as fuel mileage and add-on specs (i.e. hoists for tow trucks, decals, other up-fitting options) line up with what you need versus what drivers or fleet managers prefer. Corcentric’s Capital Equipment group has a plethora of tools and market data to drive decisions in the space.

 Maintenance is another area to evaluate for cost savings. You can have the best acquisition strategy and perfect mix of fleet vehicles for your application, but if they continuously break down it will cancel out any cost savings you earned through acquisition or other areas. Evaluating the fleet maintenance policy, by vehicle type, is the first step. Does the maintenance plan line up with manufacturer recommendations? Are maintenance costs surging in older vehicles? And, possibly the most important question, are drivers complying with your established maintenance policies? A mismanaged maintenance program can destroy fleet budgets and put drivers in danger. Performing an analysis on the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a vehicle versus the cost of maintenance over the life of the vehicle (or lease) is something that can help Fleet managers determine when to replace older vehicles with newer ones, and get overall visibility into maintenance costs. Once visibility is obtained, then decisions can be made.

 Fuel often present overlooked cost savings opportunities. But there are many configurations and programs you can employ. First, you need to evaluate what return you are getting, via rebate, on your fuel card spend. What your in-network gas stations look like and, which ones are considered out of network, and do they line up with the routes your fleet drivers are travelling. Getting a competitive rebate for in-network fueling is an easy way to bolster savings. Additionally, looking at alternate programs such as on-site fueling programs or dedicated fuel (on-site storage) can help increase cost savings. On-site fueling, for example, is a great alternative if driver fraud and mis-reporting of personal fuel versus fuel for business is rampant.

 Remarketing is another area to look at when evaluating the cost of Fleet Programs. Remarketing is a great way to offset acquisition costs and get as much value as possible out of vehicles being cycled out of use. Remarketing typically isn’t a huge spend category, but it is important that your remarketing strategy aligns with your goals in selling vehicles. Are you looking to get optimal value back for the assets being sold? Are you looking to sell the assets as soon as possible at potentially less than fair market value? Are you looking to get troubled vehicles off the books? Your goals as a Fleet Manager will determine where the vehicles are sold and how they are sold (auction market versus private listing, for example). You should also investigate remarketing fees. Flat fees per vehicle and commission based on sale value are the most common fees to be looked at for the cost of outsourced remarketing programs. If remarketing is handled in-house, the time to sale and time investment of internal resources need to be measured and weighed. 

 Licensing and Administrative fees include a broad array of fees that can add up over time both in terms of the burden on your internal staff to manage them (if handled in-house) and the cost to fulfill them. This spend category includes anything from managing the Title and Insurance documents to managing the lease and financing documentation. Record retention of driver information and vehicle information provides key visibility and enables compliance with DOT and other financial requirements. You may have internal resources where their sole responsibility is to manage this aspect of the Fleet Program, or you may outsource this function to a fleet management company such as Element or ARI. Either way, there are significant costs associated with managing all the documentation related to a Fleet Program.  

 When looking into the total cost to manage and run a fleet of vehicles there are many cost drivers involved. It is important to take an all-encompassing approach starting with the largest cost drivers (acquisition) before working your way down to remarketing and administrative fees. Done in this order, it will enable a streamlined and comprehensive evaluation. 



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on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 0



While the particular approach varies from organization to organization, Procurement groups have historically looked at Logistics like any other spend category. Composed of various subcategories and straddling the line between direct and indirect, few could argue that it’s not unique. In spite of this fact, savings-minded professionals tend to look at it and see one thing: cost reduction opportunities.

They could benefit from a change of perspective. New opportunities and new sources of value will arise if they start to view Logistics through the eyes of a logistician.

Speaking a Different Language

When a Logistics professional looks at the category they see something far different. Whether they’re focused on small parcel, ocean freight, warehousing, LTL, FTL, or any other area of Logistics spend – they’re seeing a bigger and more strategically important picture.  Where the Procurement professional sees opportunities to save and consolidate the supply base, they see an opportunity to mitigate risks, enhance efficiency, and accept a timely delivery of their freight. All the savings in the world won’t do them any good if their freight never arrives in the first place.

That’s why Procurement’s ‘conventional wisdom’ is often poorly suited to the category.
Ask someone from Logistics what the low-cost option looks like and you’ll likely hear a horror story. It could mean late shipments for materials they need to build their products, lost freight within the carrier network, and utter chaos across the supply chain. In their eyes, carrier relationships are too strategic for a traditional cost reduction exercise. They’re not wrong.

A Strategic Imperative

2018 was among the most complicated years on record for Logistics professionals and their organizations. While a new one is well underway, last year’s disruptive forces aren’t going anywhere. Unexpected legislation, capacity concerns, driver shortages, extreme weather – these have become inescapable part of everyday life. More importantly, they’re a reminder of why it’s so crucial for Procurement and Logistics to pool their combined expertise and start collaborating.

New challenges bring a wealth of new opportunities with them, but only if Procurement and Logistics alike start to think differently and reach a common understanding of what it means to generate value.

For Logistics, this will mean putting aside any preconceived ideas about Procurement and its approach. It might also mean abandoning relationships (both good and bad) with certain carriers. At the tactical level, Logistics decisions are often made with little more than past experience in mind. It’s not uncommon to hear a Logistics professional justify their choice of carrier with a story about a single damaged shipment or one unfriendly driver.

The real hard work, however, belongs to Procurement. In addition to optimizing (or repairing) relationships with carriers, the function will need to quantify so-called ‘soft savings’ like cost avoidance or extended payment terms. Though the term ‘soft savings’ suggest they’re intangible and low-value, they’re actually as tangible and potentially impactful as any metric. Presenting them in a compelling way will move Logistics to action and encourage them to recognize the benefit of collaborating more closely with Procurement.

Logistics is a uniquely mutable and complicated category. Its professionals and price points are always at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Bringing Procurement and Logistics closer together will empower both units to optimize what they can control and devise an effective response for everything else. 

Steer Past Obstacles with Source One

Connecting business units that don’t always speak the same language is a specialty for Source One, a Corcentric company’s consultants.

We’ve consistently excelled at making Procurement an ally in areas where it might’ve previously looked like a roadblock. Logistics is certainly a unique beast of a category, but so are Marketing, IT, and HR. Our team has elevated Procurement’s role in those categories and it can do the same in Logistics for you.

We’re different than other Procurement consultants and different than other Logistics consultants. While our past experiences and repository of best practices are useful, we don’t believe for a moment that they’ve given us a one-size-fits-all solution. Working alongside both your Procurement and Logistics teams, we’ll develop a strategy that satisfies every business unit and provides for an adaptable, dynamic organization.

Reach out today to learn more how Source One, a Corcentric company can transform your organization by getting Procurement and Logistics on the road to a more strategic and collaborative future.


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on Friday, August 03, 2018 0


Beleaguered ride share giant Uber hit another roadblock this week. On Monday, the San Francisco-based organization ceased its efforts to develop self-driving trucks. According to Eric Meyhofer, the leader of Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the move will permit the company to devote their full attention to getting driverless cars on the road. He says, "We recently took the important step of returning to public roads in Pittsburgh . . . we believe having our entire team's energy and expertise focused on this effort is the best path forward."

Over the last several years, Uber has invested nearly a billion dollars into making a fleet of self-driving trucks a reality. In hopes of transforming the face of freight and logistics, they acquired Otto in 2016. The pair enjoyed their first breakthrough within the year. The road ahead looked bright when Uber saw one of its new self-driving trucks make a (potentially illegal) 120-mile journey to deliver a shipment of Budweiser beer.

The excitement was short-lived. Nine months after acquiring Otto, Uber found itself embroiled in a messy legal dispute over intellectual property. Waymo, formerly an affiliate of Google, alleged that Uber's head of self-driving technology research had stolen more than 10,000 confidential documents. Both parties would eventually settle out of court, but the ordeal certainly took some air of Otto and Uber's tires. In the months following the settlement, all of Otto's founders left the company.

Uber's efforts to drive trucking's evolution have not, however, totally run out of gas. The organization remains hopeful that the Uber Freight app will soon prove as disruptive to Logistics as its flagship offering has to the taxi industry. Launched last year in four Texas cities, the app enables qualifying truck drivers to pick up loads the same way a traditional Uber driver picks up a fare. Though Uber has had to contend with the same capacity issues as its peers in trucking, the service now pairs drivers with shipments across the entire continental United States.

Though Uber is no longer in contention, the race for self-driving trucks continues. Experts suggest that highways provide the ideal test space for autonomous vehicles of all kinds. In Uber's own words, "the consistent patterns and predictable road conditions of highway driving . . . make it optimal to deploy self-driving technology." The relative success of self-driving trucking efforts suggests Uber's rationale is sound.

Embark, a Silicone Valley start-up, has already sent one of their autonomous vehicles all the way to Florida. That's not to mention the advancements made by juggernauts like Tesla and Google. The journey won't end anytime soon, but it's clear the $700 billion trucking industry is speeding toward an autonomous future. The potential cost reduction figures and efficiency boosts are fueling wild speculation among supply chain managers, but the uncomfortable topic of job displacement still looms on the horizon.

The Alliance of Driver Safety and Security, in particular, has expressed their opposition to fully-autonomous trucking. They not only cite displacement, but the considerable safety concerns inherent to self-piloted vehicles. Human drivers, they suggest, are indispensable when it comes to detours, emergencies, and extreme weather. Unsurprisingly, . Back in February, their own Alden Woodrow said, "We've been disappointed over the last year to see a lot of stories about how self-driving trucks are going to be this huge problem for truck drivers. That's not at all what we think the outcome is going to be." He goes on to make the bold prediction that driver-less trucks will actually create new jobs for truckers.

Whether self-driving trucks create or eliminate jobs remains to be seen. It's not clear if, as Uber predicts, we'll see as many as a million and half driverless cars in the next decade. As of this week, however, we finally have one definitive answer in the autonomous trucking debate. Uber won't cross the finish line.
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on Thursday, April 19, 2018 0


Whether you have undergone a merger or acquisition, are experiencing significant changes in company structure, or are constructing a fleet policy or management structure for the first time, it is important to consider how re-evaluating your fleet could lead to significant savings. At Source One Management Services, we assess every aspect of your Vehicle Fleet to find cost-savings not only in price per unit, but through contract negotiations that provide you with comprehensive services that satisfy the needs of your company. These contracts not only save money in the short-run, but ensure vehicle safety, efficiency, and maintenance, so your fleet investment doesn’t fade due to a shorter vehicle-shelf life than you had expected.

Before negotiating these contracts, however, there are important questions and considerations to think over when assessing your company’s fleet needs. 

The first aspect of fleet to consider is your company’s vehicle make-up. Fleet is a large category, and it is important to consider the types of vehicles you are using for specific purposes. Are these vehicles similar? Are they stratified into distinct categories?

Depending on your company’s needs, it may be valuable to standardize your fleet. By standardizing your fleet, you may be able to find lower maintenance costs from limiting the variety of parts needed to repair or maintain vehicles. Standardizing your fleet also opens a door to more competitive contract pricing if your fleet volume is large enough. 

The next aspect of the fleet process to consider is fleet leasing. Are you leasing from more than one company? Are there incentives to streamline your fleet dealer?

Although every company’s needs are different, it is important to consider how streamlining your fleet sources could create savings. At Source One, we can help consolidate fleet spending to cut costs by developing a supplier scorecard. These appraise your supplier's performance to ensure they are capable of meeting your needs. Contracting with one dealer in larger volumes creates opportunity for more cost-control and allows both you and the supplier to negotiate vehicles and services that match your company’s needs. Some of these negotiations could include establishing a consistent vehicle replacement schedule, receiving a retainer bonus, rebates through fuel card programs, loyalty incentives, or unit discounts. By limiting the number of dealers with whom you are contracting, you are typically able to purchase in larger volumes. This, in turn, leads to fewer contract negotiations and provides additional leverage for those negotiations that are necessary. 

It is tempting to believe that all fuel programs have the same benefits. However, the type of vehicle fleet you are utilizing may determine the types of fuel services that suit your company’s needs. Here, we consider how your fleet’s fuel needs could be best accommodated.

Fuel cards are perhaps the most common fuel service provided by fleet dealers, and can allow drivers the flexibility to fill up when needed. For heavier-duty vehicles, however, looking for an OEM dealer that provides wet hosing services may be a more practical option. They eliminate the risk of fuel-card misuse and keep your company from paying retail price for fuel. Wet hosing services can also produce soft dollar savings by reducing the time it takes to fuel off-site vehicles. 

Every supplier can provide something different. Sometimes it is easy to look at the baselines for all suppliers and assume their services are the same. Though cost per unit is important in terms of OEM fleet, it is often the additional administrative and maintenance services that make the biggest differences in both price and convenience.

Depending on the size of your fleet, perhaps it’s important to consider how services like vehicle inventory and managing replacement schedules may take a load off of your shoulders. If you are a larger firm, you may already be hiring third-party providers to manage these aspects of your supply chain. However, many OEC suppliers like Ford, GM, Nissan and Toyota offer onsite management services and telematics technologies that oversee pricing and administrative functions. This type of vehicle inventory monitoring can ensure that maintenance is taken care of in a timely fashion, and vehicle replacement is occurring when necessary. Cutting back on 3rd party fleet management services can cut internal costs and create a more streamlined approach to vehicle management.

Although this is only a sketch of things to consideration as you re-evaluate your fleet spending, a sourcing specialist at Source One can assist you with the ins and outs of picking the right supplier for your company’s needs.

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on Friday, December 09, 2016 0
Vehicle Fleet is a complex category with many intricacies and moving parts considering fuel pricing, fluctuating features and specifications of new vehicles, and individual driver metrics. Sourcing this category has also been viewed as a daunting and time-consuming process. However, through continuous research of best practices and leveraging an all-encompassing sourcing approach, you can streamline and optimize the sourcing process enabling an informed decision when choosing the most cost competitive and best suited OEM for your organization.

So why would you want to evaluate your fleet profile? There are multiple reasons/conditions for evaluating the fleet category (as it pertains to OEM selection) besides due diligence. Potentially you are aggregating disparate fleets resulting from a merger or acquisition. Maybe you are undergoing a company culture change in which vehicles are needed for different purposes or for a larger volume of employees. Possibly there is no fleet policy or management structure at all and your company has grown out of the reimbursement model per mile for individuals driving their own cars for work-related activities. In all of these hypothetical situations a specific set of steps should be taken in order to evaluate the most cost competitive solution.

For any of the reasons above, whether it be for consolidating a diverse fleet with multiple OEMs or evaluating the cost/benefit for initiating a company fleet program, the fleet evaluation process needs to focus on factors other than the unit cost of each vehicle. Though the unit cost (or “invoice cost” as it is known in the industry) of a vehicle is the largest cost driver when considering your overall fleet profile, many other factors such as fuel mileage, residual value, and loyalty incentives can oftentimes tip the scale in favor of one OEM over another in terms of overall cost-competitiveness.

For light fleet, some of the competitive manufacturers with mature fleet programs and support include Ford, GM, Nissan and Toyota. With these companies, depending on the size of your fleet, you should be assigned a program manager from the OEM who oversees your account and manages the pricing and administrative functions such as order placement and up-fitting. If you don’t have one, you should get one so you can keep updated on model year changes, volume discounts and other new opportunities and year over year pricing trends.

Once contacts are established with a few competitive OEMs you are ready to start the actual strategic sourcing process. The first step is to create a robust bid package that includes detailed specifications of the desired vehicles (depending on your companies specific use of the vehicles these will vary), anticipated volumes, and desired contract term by model year. To accompany the information, you should also include a detailed questionnaire covering warranty packages, vehicle information (fuel mileage, maintenance costs, residual values), delivery timing, and loyalty and volume based incentive options. This allows you to collect all the information you’ll eventually use to develop your “TCO” analysis (total cost of ownership analysis).

The TCO analysis allows you to weigh and measure future costs such as total anticipated fuel and maintenance expenses over the lifecycle of the vehicle, resale value, warranty coverage, finance rate impact and depreciation schedules. With this information you will be able to forecast the total cost to own the car during the lifecycle of each vehicle by utilizing your own unique fleet metrics such as average miles driven per year, cost per gallon in your primary operating area(s), the desired lease term – assuming your fleet is leased vs. purchased, and the financing rates offered by each OEM.

Equipped with this information you will be able to compare multiple OEMs on an apples to apples basis. Some OEMs might have cheaper cars, but through your TCO analysis you concluded that the maintenance costs of the cheaper vehicle would offset the lower price by year 2 of the lease as compared to a more expensive, better built vehicle. Considering your average miles driven per year, a car with deeper discounts on the Invoice price might actually be more expensive on the net after 1 if the MPG is less than that of a slightly more expensive brand. Overall, there are many variables that can offset perceived cost savings when comparing different OEMs. When you create a comprehensive cost model, this helps to alleviate any of those variables.
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on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 0
The following article comes to the Strategic Sourceror courtesy of Blaine Kelton, an IT professional and freelance writer based out of Beverly Hills, CA. He loves covering anything related to business and technology. Most recently, he’s had a particular interest in the IoT. 
Much has been made of how the ever-expanding Internet of Things is continually changing and improving supply chains in big businesses. In a broad sense, the use of interconnected systems and devices is streamlining everything from production to in-store inventory tracking. This is ultimately leading to a supply chain process that operates quickly, precisely, and with a minimal waste of time and energy. Beneath this blanket description, however, the digitization of the supply chain through the IoT has a lot of specific benefits that are good for all involved. Here, we're going to briefly address the idea that by connecting shipping fleet vehicles to the IoT, companies and organizations are making conditions significantly safer for drivers.

If the idea of the IoT affecting fleet vehicles sounds a little bit strange, or even forced, it has been generally described as the use of GPS and other tracking technologies to gather real time data on locations and operations of vehicles. Basically, a fleet vehicle with advanced GPS and WiFi sensors can be monitored by a system or an employee at a fleet management headquarters. The vehicle's exact whereabouts can be known and more efficient routes can be worked out automatically. Vehicle diagnostics can be also be recorded and kept track of so that repairs are addressed when needed. Even driver performance can be observed, so that any issues can be recorded and appropriately addressed. The broad idea from a company standpoint is to make things as efficient as possible, minimize needless gas expenses on slow routes, keep vehicles in good shape, and make sure that product is shipped as quickly and precisely as necessary.

There's also a benefit for the drivers, which is that they're made safer. The IoT's involvement with fleet vehicles helps to construct ideal driving conditions for drivers, and also holds them accountable for their performance behind the wheel. And this is not just a vague concept that one can infer from understanding the overarching state of fleet tracking. One company helping to lead the way in rolling out fleet tracking programs specifically provides drivers with an app that helps with routing, communication, and driving habits all at once. Through the app, drivers can see updated routes and delivery schedules, view service history and maintenance updates, monitor driving performance (like speeding and abrupt stopping tendencies), communicate with managers, and follow voice-guided navigation. No single aspect of that service is necessarily new, but having it all presented seamlessly in one place gives drivers a huge advantage.

In the end, this provides a strong example of how the IoT's large-scale impact can often overshadow some of its unseen benefits. For most of us, the affect on supply chains matters only insofar as store inventory may become more reliable, and product could conceivably become marginally more affordable as a result of costs saved elsewhere. But within companies using shipping fleets the ability to keep drivers alert, updated, and safe is significant, and alleviates many of the concerns of managing vehicle activity.


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on Friday, August 19, 2016 0

Source One Round Up: August 19, 2016

Here's a look at where Source One's cost reduction
 experts have been featured this week!





 NEW BLOGS:

 Consider Potential when Hiring 

 Without a doubt, recruiting, especially for procurement and supply management positions is difficult. You ultimately want to know if this candidate has the right skills and traits that will lead to success. So, you take a look at their resume and review a long list of experience or, in some cases you review their resume and see a lack of direct experience. Who do you hire? This week, Source One Project Nicole Mahaffey challenges your preconceptions on hiring based strictly on experience, offering additional factors to consider when evaluating if a candidate is the right fit for your organization. 

 Fleet Sourcing: Evaluating Light Fleet Automobile Manufacturers

 Having a well-maintained fleet is crucial - but not always easy to manage when it comes to maintaining costs and eliminating rogue spend. Relationships with OEMS and fleet management providers often become deeply rooted within organizations, making transitioning to other providers more challenging. However, achieving cost savings while maintaining a consistent fleet operation is possible. This week, Source One's Senior Supply Chain Analyst Jonathan Groda explains how to get started a strategic sourcing initiative for fleet components. He also shares insight into which areas to focus on during negotiations. 






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