August 17, 2011 (Dallas, TX) – Transplace, a leading provider of transportation management services and logistics technology solutions, works closely with shippers to benchmark their freight rates against the current market and determine if there are opportunities for savings through a bid. Benchmarking has become increasingly important in an environment of tightening capacity and volatile freight rates. For TOTO USA Inc. <http://www.totousa.com/> , the opportunity to leverage Transplace Consulting’s Benchmarking Services in analyzing the company’s transportation activity enabled the world’s largest plumbing manufacturer to determine how its costs compared to its peers and where to pursue savings.
“Utilizing Transplace’s capabilities for our freight benchmarking has been a great success for TOTO,” said Sean Pope, senior manager of transportation, TOTO. “The proven processes and the technology employed confirmed that Transplace was the right partner for us. From beginning to end, the Consulting team incorporated technology and industry insight to align and enhance our understanding of our freight spend in the marketplace.”
Core to Transplace’s Benchmarking Services is its market-based, statistical approach, which includes:
- Current Data: Shippers avoid the latency associated with other subscription-based benchmarking services by tapping the tens of billions of dollars of on-going freight activity running through the Transplace TMS, Transplace managed procurement events and other alliance data sources.
- Similar Carrier Selection Styles: Recognizing that shippers take different courses on what type of carriers they select, core carrier strategies they deploy and how highly they value incumbency, Transplace allows its customers to compare their rates to multiple benchmarks (aggressive, competitive and market). Each lane benchmarked includes a spectrum of rates from low to high based on these shipper profiles.
- Accessorial Benchmarking: Accessorials, including fuel surcharges, are a significant cost by themselves, but a shipper’s accessorials can also have a major impact on line-haul rates. Transplace benchmarks a shipper’s current accessorials against industry standards, emerging best practices and provides recommendations on changes that will improve results of any sourcing effort (increased savings and increased access to carrier capacity).
- Relevant Industry Sectors: Comparing customers’ networks to those of other companies in their same industry, enabling them to see their truckload (TL), less-than-truckload (LTL) or intermodal (IM) costs compared to their relevant peer group, while maintaining confidentiality.
“Knowledgeable, forward-thinking shippers are using benchmarking as part of a broader procurement strategy to balance risk, cost savings potential and carrier management in their organizations,” said Ben Cubitt, senior vice president of consulting and engineering for Transplace. “Providing timely market benchmarks enables Transplace to work with our customers to develop effective strategies to better align their networks with market competitive carriers and identify areas where current strategies are producing above market rates.”
The benchmarking project allowed Transplace to show TOTO how it compared to similar purchasers of freight and identify opportunities for bidding and introducing new carriers to its network. Sean Pope of Toto summed up the project stating, “The benchmarking process was absolutely a key component in helping us align our carrier procurement strategies with our customers' needs in order to maximize results. Transplace has also helped enable us to pave the way for future initiatives including an improved strategic network bid.”
About TOTO
TOTO is the largest plumbing manufacturer in the world. For nearly 100 years, the TOTO Global Group has been the recognized leader in innovation and precision engineering in elegant, high-design products that enhance the bath space. Serving both the residential and commercial sectors, the company's Americas Division, TOTO USA, Inc., is reinventing the exclusive bath experience with its revolutionary People First approach to product innovation. TOTO continues to raise both industry standards and consumer expectations as to what is possible in the bath interior design, as its name is synonymous with beauty, performance, craftsmanship, quality, and value. For more information, consumers may visit www.totousa.com or call 1.888.295.8134, Option 5.
About Transplace
Transplace is a non-asset based third party logistics (3PL) provider offering manufacturers, retailers and consumer packaged goods companies the optimal blend of logistics technology and transportation management services. From complete logistics management outsourcing to intelligent transportation management systems (TMS) and supply chain network planning and design to high-quality brokerage services, Transplace has proven the ability to deliver both rapid return on investment and consistent value to customers. The company is recognized among the elite global 3PLs by a customer base that includes many of the largest shippers in the world.
Follow the company on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Transplace