It is hard to underestimate the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Conway area’s logistics industry.
Inventory shortages, driver shortages and the impact of remote work on customer demands have contributed to supply chain issues across the nation and created additional headaches for logistics company owners and operators.
“We have to start with the fact that the COVID pandemic continues to change the way our industry operates, both within our business and within our customers’ businesses,” said Brian Cupp, director of operations at Conway-based IntelliTrans.
It’s a challenge affecting the entire nation. Transportation and logistics firms like IntelliTrans (founded in Atlanta), CCS Transportation & Logistics and Insight Logistics Management are adapting, evolving and overcoming.
“Transportation people know how to adapt because there is always another obstacle in this business,” said CCS Transportation & Logistics owner Shane Dickson.
Cupp said the industry’s problems over the past year fell into three categories, all COVID-related: operational changes to meet new needs and demands, labor shortages and the combination of inflation and world events.
Industry sales staff had to change their in-person approach as pandemic safety measures called for remote work wherever feasible, which created new demands by customers for unique solutions.
“This combination of challenges has propelled customers in our industry to rethink the way they are doing business,” Cupp said. “They are looking aggressively at technology adoption, supply chain visibility tools, cost savings initiatives, manual task automation and increasing scalability and flexibility in their workforce strategy to try to solve these challenges.”
“The Great Resignation” of people leaving the workforce, even as the economy recovers, has created labor shortages and exacerbated the driver shortage that existed pre-pandemic.
“Available workforce in the seats of our trucks as well as at the facilities that load the trucks has been a large impact on the supply chain,” Dickson said. “Suppliers, it seems in almost any industry, have struggled to rebound from shutdowns and the loss of help. It’s difficult to meet the demand and get supplies from point A to point B when there is a constant struggle to produce the supplies.”
Rising prices, including the cost of fuel and energy, have been triggered by the shortages and world events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Last year’s budgets and projections were turned upside down with the hyper increase in cost of everything,” Dickson said. “The pennies per mile that we count on for profit and cash flow erodes with every unexpected increase in cost.”
But the transportation and logistics firms are pushing back with creativity and effort.
“Our company is striving to find efficiencies in our operations to help offset the rising cost of operation,” said Dustin Tinkler, director of operations at Insight Logistics Management. “We have stepped up our advertising and marketing to potential drivers to help keep a pipeline of qualified employees through various forms of media. We’ve also started focusing and being very intentional about what customers and markets we service to help ensure we’re positioned to maximize our revenue.”
As the industry has grappled with driver shortages for some time, company owners are beginning to think young, Dickson said.
“There is some talk of ways of training up younger drivers in the future,” Dickson said. “That has always been a tough sell because of liability, but definitely going to have to be discussed, because most companies’ average driver age is 55-60. Next generation drivers will need to be cultivated quickly in order to keep trucks moving in the next 20 years.”
As for the more general labor shortage, companies are adapting to a combination of traditional and non-traditional recruiting methods and also focusing on retention.
“We believe in giving career opportunities to people with non-traditional backgrounds and education looking to develop a long-term career in supply chain logistics, in addition to people with traditional supply chain, technical or finance experience or degrees,” Cupp said. “To achieve this, we recruit through traditional job postings/recruiting methods and collegiate relationships but have also developed relationships with partners and programs that specialize in diversity and inclusion recruiting initiatives.”
Supply Chains Explained
The primary elements of supply chain management are procurement, operations, distribution and integration.
Procurement
Also known as purchasing, procurement involves buying any tools, materials, equipment and other resources a company would need to make its products.
Operations
Operations exist to make things run smoothly and include processing, scheduling and quality monitoring.
Distribution
Distribution is the process of getting products where they need to go, whether that’s a store or a private home. Some companies handle their own distribution and some pay a third party.
Integration
Integration means using communications and company structures and processes so that all supply chain departments are working together.
Sign up for Daily E-news
