|
|
in this issue
-Four Things to Consider When Implementing an Innovative
Corporate Culture
-Leadership Summit Being Held Next
Month
-Success Story:
CLI's LTL Software System Saves Al's Cartage Time - And Money
-Tip of the Month:
POD by Manifest
-Anything
Newsworthy Happening?
-Calendar of Events
|
Greetings!
Welcome to
the August 2006 edition of the CLI newsletter, Trucking with CLI. We are
pleased to announce that Purolator Freight, a division of Purolator Courier
Ltd., the largest courier company in Canada, has signed on as a
CLI client. We look forward to working with them. What's noteworthy is that
this is not the first time CLI has partnered with Purolator. Back in the
early 1980s we did some groundbreaking work with the U.S. division of the
company. While the project took place over 20 years ago, we thought it might
be interesting to quickly revisit the project.
CLI's work
in the 1980's for Purolator revolved around installing ROUTRONICS, which
helped them analyze their pickup and delivery operation, improve dispatching,
maximize routing efficiency, and modernize customer service. With ROUTRONICS
in place, daily pickup volume nearly doubled! Of course we've made many
enhancements to the system in the intervening years but one thing hasn't
changed: We still believe that CLI's operations software is simply the best
available. And apparently Purolator Freight agrees. Please look forward to
further details about this exciting new relationship with one of our oldest
clients in the coming weeks.
Also, the
CLI Annual Leadership Summit is quickly approaching and rapidly filling up.
If you haven't yet reviewed this year's agenda and session descriptions,
click the link in the article below. One of our key speakers at the event has
provided an article in this edition on Innovation. Brian Christian, founder
of DASO Consulting and former vice president of Global Product Development at
Whirlpool Corporation will be the Friday morning opening speaker.
Finally, be
sure to check out the continuing series entitled "Success Story,"
which features CLI customers. This month we talk to the folks at Al's Cartage
about how their use of CLI's FACTS® system has been a boon to their
operations. And last but not least check out our always-helpful "Tip of
the Month."
Enjoy the
issue and the end of the summer.
Four
Things to Consider When Implementing an Innovative Corporate Culture 
By Brian
Christian
Many business leaders today are recognizing the need to build a stronger and
more sustainable innovation capability in their companies. While cost
management is still important today, it is no longer seen as the primary
means to drive shareholder value. Leading companies have already moved
operations from higher-cost developed markets to lower-cost emerging markets.
Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma efforts have driven efficiency into factory
operations and reduced the cost of poor quality. Business process
reengineering and information technology have contributed to reduced SG&A
and back-office costs. Truly, the age of innovation is upon us.
However,
knowing that you need to become innovative is only the first step on the path
toward a sustainable innovation capability. The complete journey requires a
significant effort to transform an organization's culture involving every
function within the enterprise. The good news is that, for the most part, the
ability lies within your organization and needs only to be awakened.
I believe
there are four critical things to consider when embarking on the innovation
journey. These are:
1. Build
the Case for Innovation - Gaining initial support and sustaining the
effort over time requires a clear and compelling strategic vision as well as
a sound business case with clearly defined financial objectives.
2. Broaden
the Participation - Moving outside the traditional mindset and building a
smoothly running innovation engine requires broad participation from within
and outside the company.
3. Narrow
the Focus - Achieving quick innovation wins, minimizing risk and
efficiently using scarce resources requires a sharp focus on high probability
opportunities that have the greatest chance of surviving multiple internal
hurdles as well as the ultimate test with the customer.
4. Transform
the Organization - Embedding a sustainable capability before the
organization tires of the effort requires a deliberate plan to drive change.
Nothing as
complex as transforming a large organization is as simple as a four-part
plan, but these four things are at the top of the list of important
considerations.
Brian
Christian is founder of DASO Consulting, a firm specializing in transforming
organizations through innovation. Prior to founding DASO, Brian was vice
president of Global Product Development at Whirlpool Corporation. He will be
a featured speaker at the upcoming CLI Annual Leadership Summit, being held
September 27 - 29 in Tarrytown, NY.
Click Here for Brian's Website
|
|
Leadership Summit Being Held Next
Month
|
|
|
|
 The CLI Annual
Leadership Summit will be held next month September 27-29 at the Tarrytown
House and Estate in Tarrytown, NY. The conference,
which brings together executives from LTL companies, features speakers from
a variety of backgrounds. The by-invitation-only event is free for
attendees. The theme for this year's program is "Innovation Drives
Change," and the program is packed with highly qualified innovation
experts covering a wide range of topics including: innovation through
shared services; how the latest telephony advances can save your business
money; programs to help lower safety costs; an RFID update and much more. Please
click the link below for an agenda and session descriptions.
Steven
Shapiro, founder of 24-7 Innovation, will be the featured keynote speaker
on Thursday morning, following a welcome reception on Wednesday evening. Steven
will discuss "Process Innovation and Excellence." There will also
be presentations by FedEx Custom Critical CEO, Jack Pickard, and former
Whirlpool executive, Brian Christian. There will be interactive workshops
and lively roundtable discussions on critical industry topics. Also, Jeff
Fidacaro, vice president and Airfreight & Surface Transportation
analyst, Merrill Lynch will be the dinner speaker on Thursday night. It
will be three days of learning, idea exchanging, and networking.
Space is
limited and we fully expect this program to be oversubscribed. If you would
like to receive an invitation to this event, email Craig Lis at clis@carrierlogistics.com
LATE
BREAKING NEWS: Tom Wright, Director of Supply Chain Management for the Kohler
Company has agreed to speak at the event. This is a unique
chance to hear the customer's point of view. Tom has over two decades of
Supply Chain Management experience. He joined the Kohler Co. in January of
2004 and is responsible for business to business (B2B) and consumer to
business (C2B) customer service, materials, forecasting, purchasing, and
B2B e-commerce, as well as warehousing and shipping functions.
Click Here for Session Descriptions and the Latest
Agenda
|
|
|
Success Story:
CLI's LTL Software System Saves Al's Cartage Time - And Money
|
|
|
|
 Background
It's been just over a year now that Al's Cartage, a well-known provider of
transportation solutions, chose CLI and their FACTS system. Al's Cartage
wanted an easy-to-maintain, yet fully integrated financial and operational
system with Web functionality, customer service, and business analysis
tools.
The FACTS
system was implemented at Al's headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario in the spring of
2005. "The installation was seamless," says Ian Evans, executive
consultant at Al's. "We had a very easy transition moving from our legacy
system to FACTS. The whole company was quite impressed."
Challenge
Al's management was not prepared to sit back and let the business run
itself. Much work had to be done to take full advantage of what FACTS had
to offer. Their partnership with CLI really made a difference in the way
Al's has managed their application over the last 12 months. "Having a
management system in place that requires very little IT intervention gave
me more time to focus on running my business better," says Randy
Frohlich, vice president of operations. "There will always be work to
do, but being more than software providers, the people at CLI continue to
assist us with both application development and process management."
Solution
This openness to change is key to Al's success. "I started looking at
the various processes and operational practices in place and have made some
real positive changes in the way we run our business. This would not have
been possible without FACTS to assist me," says Frohlich. "We
began our search with the goal of finding leading-edge technology that
would require a minimum of customization at an affordable cost," says
Evans. "We found this and a lot more in the FACTS system. We knew that
it would help us to change the business processes."
Recently,
Al's secured a key logistics and warehousing contract for a major
automotive corporation in southwestern Ontario. "This new
business is a major boost for Al's. Our ability to handle this sudden
growth is directly related to the scalability and versatility of the CLI
system," Evans goes on to say. 
Results
Growth or no growth, the results are already there. By implementing the
robust and dependable FACTS suite of software, Al's Cartage was able to
improve their P&D efficiency. "On the operations side alone we
have been getting load manifests to the dock 2-3 hours faster, the drivers
are on the road and back at the terminal earlier and home 1/2 to 1 hour
sooner than they were last year," says Frohlich.
"It's
a win-win."
Pictured
Above: Don Adams (left), president
of CLI, celebrates the successful partnership with Al's Cartage management.
Link to Al's
Cartage Website »
|
|
|
Tip of the
Month: POD by Manifest
|
|
|
|
 Overview
Many times there is a delay in getting an entire manifest delivered. This
delay can be caused by different circumstances such as weather or
accidents. There are also times when a status update is needed for an
entire manifest, such as giving the freight to an interline partner. There
is a program that can be used to update every pro on the manifest with a
particular result code.
How it
works
This option is located on the bs.manifest menu #19 or cust.special #24.
This program first prompts for a manifest number, trailer, or a load
number.
Next the
pros on the manifest are displayed. If all of the pros should be updated,
hit F1 and the POD screen appears where you can enter the type of result
code that applies to the circumstance. If any of the individual shipments
show delivered, there is a prompt for you to change that delivered status.
If you
would like to respond to the Tip of the Week or you require additional
information, please send an e-mail to Training@carrierlogistics.com.
|
|
|
Anything
Newsworthy Happening?
|
|
|
|
 Attention customers and partners: Is there any news
about your company you'd like to share? CLI would like to add a section to
our newsletter announcing newsworthy events at your organization. Have you
received an award? Recently passed a milestone? Had an employee accomplish
a remarkable achievement?
E-mail
your news to Craig Lis at clis@carrierlogistics.com to be
considered for a future edition of the newsletter.
|
|
|
Calendar of
Events
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quick Links
|
|
|
|
