How Schneider helped a customer improve transportation efficiency

• Schneider helped a customer improve supply chain reliability while simplifying transportation operations.

• Collaborative planning identified operational inefficiencies and delivered measurable business improvements.
• The solution increased visibility, reduced complexity and strengthened long-term supply chain performance.
• Transportation partnerships can improve both service levels and operational efficiency.

Schneider approached a global exploration and production company, alerting it to costly safety and compliance issues within its supply chain. After engaging, Schneider discovered that its proprietary PO Management tool could solve a larger group of negative symptoms and business-critical standards for the company.  

While safety is a concern for all businesses, it is a critical concern for those in the energy industry. The liability of allowing movements of freight with carriers who aren’t qualified through its carrier safety program assessment puts the company at risk of fines up to $18,000,000.  

An internal Driver Safety Program (DSP) audit that checks for safety vetting and qualifications is standard practice, not to mention a part of the company’s license to operate. Business operations would be required to stop if the company didn’t pass. 

The customer saw an inherent lack of control over its own network and processes and had none of the visibility required to begin improvements. Current processes were manual, messy and prone to errors. Transportation costs were buried in the cost of goods and varied from supplier to supplier. 

Additionally, SKU-level detail and vendor compliance and performance information were unavailable. 

Schneider implemented its exclusive PO Management tool. Unique to the needs of each implementation, the PO Management tool provides this customer with...  

• Inherent alignment on pick-up and delivery appointments and load planning 
• Visibility to SKU-level detail 
• Visibility into vendor compliance and performance 

Shippers and consignees are prepared and aligned, which allows for better resource (manpower) allocation and reduces detention and vehicle not used (VNU) charges. As the name suggests, the tool also provides real-time visibility to all inbound purchase orders (PO). This allows the PO status to be easily viewed, eliminates lost POs and provides confirmation of PO receipt by a vendor. No more “dog ate my PO” excuses here. 

For this customer, electronic data interchange (EDI) data is fed directly into the tool for processing based on the supplier code. The entire process produces accurate and aligned ship dates which result in meeting customer expectations relative to on-time performance and high in-full-and-on-time (IFOT) scores.

Beyond giving the customer peace of mind, Schneider’s PO Management tool currently produces more than $400,000 of annual cost savings for this customer, and freight security concerns are a thing of the past. All managed shipments only use customer DSP-approved carriers. 

Newly managed suppliers realized $260,000 in savings in just 11 months. Use of the tool opened the customer’s eyes to order inaccuracies in both terms and modes that were then caught and corrected. Daily reporting makes sure that work-in-progress items are actively being handled. 

Through its work with Schneider and the use of Schneider’s PO Management tool, the company has learned a lot more about its own business. It has given Schneider extremely positive feedback on the impact this tool has had on supplier management processes as well as its freight network. The trust it places in Schneider is delivered upon.