Discovering ways that you can reduce the environmental impacts of your transport and logistics enterprise are important for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, we all have a responsibility to improve our practices where possible for the benefit of the planet, but there’s also approaches that will boost the productivity of your business operation and bottom line. Win win.
From improving the fuel efficiency of your fleet, to going paperless with processes, there are tangible, actionable approaches that you can integrate into your business as usual to create an environmentally sustainable supply chain setup.
Taking an honest assessment of your operations to see where improvements can be made is the first step. Next, it’s time to explore approaches to improve your supply chain sustainability:
- Optimise Routes with a Transport Management System
- Provide full Visibility of Your Supply Chain
- Automate Processes with Quality Logistics Software
- Improve Vehicle Performance with Fleet Maintenance Software
Optimise Routes with a Transport Management System
Whether your transport fleet is across truck, rail, sea or car, or a combination of these, integrating a tailor-made transport management system for your operation will enable you to track the routes in real time and based on the data, optimise those that are most efficient.
On the environmental front, this will result in more efficient use of fuel, reduction of time in transit or sitting idle in traffic congestion and therefore reduced air and water pollution. Want further efficiency? By integrating warehouse management software, you’ll also be able to maximise productivity by more accurately coordinating deliveries. This can result in orders with multiple items being delivered in one hit, instead of splitting across a number of deliveries and cutting back on packaging waste.
Other benefits of tailored transport management systems include:
- Real-time accuracy of fleet location
- Easy integration with your existing ERP
- Straight forward consignment processing management
- Subcontractor management.
Provide Full Visibility of Your Supply Chain
When you have an integrated approach to your logistics and transport management system you will have the ability to empower your organisation and customers with end-to-end visibility. For the business this means your customised logistics software and warehouse management system will enable an at-a-glance overview of where everything is at in real-time. This is important because you’ll be able to identify potential issues, often before the fact, and put plans in place to mitigate them, saving on resources and possible errors, which could be costly and cause reputational damage.
For the customer, transparency can give them peace of mind, knowing which stage their order is at and when to expect delivery, even down to choosing the delivery timing.
Ultimately for the environment, the more transparent your operation is and the more coordinated, the less waste. Errors in delivery and warehouse management will more times than not result in excess packaging and additional deliveries (read: fuel and carbon emissions).
Automate Processes with Quality Logistics Software
Paper waste. It’s still a thing in the transport and logistics world. Thankfully, by making the transition to digital workflows this can easily be a thing of the past. When you invest in quality logistics software you can both digitise previously paper based documents and remove manual and time-consuming tasks, in favour of automating them. The biggest bonuses here are the reduction in waste, increased efficiency in the supply chain process and a huge downturn in errors, which can slow everything down and cause more wasted resources (we’re looking at you incorrectly hand written delivery addresses!!).
By automating processes where possible, you will be giving your operation a competitive edge and increasing your environmental sustainability.
Improve Vehicle Performance with Fleet Maintenance Software
Fleet maintenance software provides up to the minute reporting and guidance on the mechanical health of your vehicles, whether they’re in port or the warehouse or on the road and sea. Having this level of data enables issues to be promptly addressed, including required maintenance, but also having back up to ensure that deliveries are still made as close to original scheduling as possible. Fleet maintenance software is largely about preventative measures, with vehicle mileage clocked and routine inspections being alerted ahead of time. All of these features contribute to better environmental protection, fleet safety and first-class transport management.
Promote Sustainability with Quality Logistics Software
Integrating quality logistics software, including a tailored transport management system and fleet maintenance software can clearly have beneficial impacts on your overall supply chain processes and the environmental sustainability of your business.
At Infocomm we transform businesses with our leading purpose-built logistics software for the Australian and NZ transport and warehousing industry. Dramatic cost savings are just the beginning. Contact us today for an obligation free consultation.