Menlo Worldwide Logistics, the global logistics subsidiary of Con-way Inc., a freight transportation and logistics services company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., has announced the roll out of Menlo Transportation Services. This next-generation transportation management portfolio is designed to deliver optimized solutions that remove waste, create new efficiencies, and introduce Lean continuous improvement processes to transportation network operations.

The introduction of Menlo Transportation Services marks a concerted effort by the company to leverage past experience and expertise into a comprehensive, next-generation service offering for transportation network management, both regionally and globally.

“Transportation networks, and the operating costs they generate, are one of the largest expenditure areas for any supply chain,” Bianco said. “And while we have managed transportation capacity for our customers since Menlo’s inception, the difference today is that customers want more specific capabilities and solutions, with rapid deployment and faster cost-saving results.

“They want proven best practices, coupled with experienced people using the latest systems to plan, optimize, execute, measure, and improve their transportation processes as a whole, across the full gamut from sourcing to settlement, or at the individual node level,” Bianco continued. “And they want it delivered as an outsourced, flexible service that can scale to their needs and flows in the supply chain.”

Two primary service offerings are provided by Menlo Transportation Services, including Solution Engineering and Transportation Management. Both offerings leverage seasoned transportation and logistics professionals applying Lean methodologies and best-in-class standardized practices to deliver innovative, cost-efficient services unique to individual customer needs.

Solution Engineering: utilizes expert personnel employing state-of-the-art technology tools to design more efficient, faster, and more reliable transportation networks, globally or regionally. This service offering encompasses capabilities to:

• Assess, benchmark, and understand the current state of transportation networks.
• Identify areas of waste and inefficiency using Lean tools and methodologies.
• Design, test, and optimize alternative operating models and transportation network designs.
• Develop and implement a road map and timeline to deploy redesigns and/or introduce network improvements.
• Measure and evaluate the new operating model to ensure projected benefits are being captured. Where shortfalls exist, identify root causes of failure, develop, and deploy corrective actions.

Transportation Management: deploys expert personnel utilizing disciplined processes and integrated best-of-breed software applications to execute a full menu of transactional transportation functions, across all modes, within or between geographies. This service offering encompasses capabilities to:

• Evaluate and source transportation resources, manage freight transportation contracts and rates; create value and operating synergies with transportation service providers.
• Tender and manage freight shipments, and confirm acceptance of planned shipments by carriers across all modes, including the status of multiple events in the transport cycle from pickup, to in-transit monitoring through delivery.
• Integrate product and order information (such as sales or purchase orders) with transportation data and documents to provide a single, holistic view of goods in transit, with visibility to product orders as well as transportation transactions.
• Settle and pay freight charges, and audit charges against contract rates.
• Track and manage claims for short, damaged, or missing shipments.
• Generate performance analytics and business intelligence on transportation spend and service metrics to drive additional predictive modeling, qualitative measurement, and gap analysis to identify, validate, and implement continuous improvement opportunities.