A lot of people come up with New Year’s resolutions each December, but not too many actually follow through. We have all been guilty of that because resolutions can be hard, even when your intentions are good.
Well, if you manage a shipping operation, how about some resolutions you can stick to? Every shipping dock has challenges and things it knows it can do better. And, with a little focus (and the help of some easy-to-use technology), companies can make their own resolutions to fix the problems.
Like trying to drop a few pounds, you need a scale, or in this case, a way to know what you need to be focused on. Use our cost calculator to figure out where you have room for improvement and what dock resolutions you should make for 2025.
One small step is all it takes to get started. Here are the resolutions we think, if you stick to them, will make a big difference on your dock in 2025. Each is a great way to cut costs and reduce stress in the new year.
Of course, the work of logistics feels like it is never done. But without technology like dock scheduling software, you are probably working harder than necessary. Resolve to throw out your clipboards. Loadsmart’s dock scheduling solution, Opendock, enables all your dock appointments to be organized online and keeps all your shipping information accessible to everyone who needs to see it from anywhere online whether they are on the docks or behind a computer.
Speaking of making things easier, how about resolving to send fewer emails and spend less time on phone calls? With Opendock, the shipping department can do both because all dock appointments can be scheduled online by your carrier partners, along with all the relevant information about every load. Changes to pick-up times and other details can even be made quickly and shared instantly.
Do you want to spend less on eating out in 2025? Maybe. But you definitely want to trim dollars off those detention bills since many of those costs are avoidable with technology. No company should be okay with extra costs when delays happen on the dock. With Opendock, truck arrivals align better when loads are ready to ship, so there is less time spent waiting (and detention).
Keeping the right staffing levels on shipping docks is always challenging, especially at peak times and seasons. When the flow of trucks is inconsistent or, worse yet, disorganized, it becomes harder to be sure you avoid under or over-staffing and unnecessary overtime. With Opendock helping to ensure the optimal number of team members are working at any given moment, you can be assured trucks are arriving on time and getting loaded more predictably. This makes it easier to plan resources so you can avoid being short-staffed, wasting money on overtime, and having people standing around with no work to do.
Logistics and shipping are all about efficiency. On the dock, when loads aren’t moving fast enough, it gets difficult for shipping employees, other departments, carriers, and, most importantly, customers. A truck shipped late will likely be a truck delivered late—which does not lead to high customer satisfaction. Having a resolution to improve dock throughput by making the shipping process easier will improve the on-time performance of your shipping operations.
Without technology, shipping data is messy and hard to work with since it is stuck on paper or spreadsheets. However, adding a tool like Opendock and opening up the flow of data to the organization and partners helps everyone. Production and customer service have a clearer view of what’s happening and can be managed accordingly. It is easy for shipping to get caught in the weeds and be stuck in fix-it mode while not letting others know what is going on. A centralized dock management tool keeps all the right people informed.
Companies with multiple shipping locations should also resolve to get them all on the same page. Opendock can bring visibility and the same operating efficiencies to a company with 1 or 100+ facilities. The time savings and reduction in detention costs that Opendock provides only multiply with more docks.
Figuring out ways to use data has been on many logistics managers’ to-do lists for years, and 2025 can be the year you resolve to do it. The hard part of using data to support decision-making is just getting started… as in accessing the data. An Opendock integration with your existing logistics technology (such as ShipperGuide TMS) brings all the information together. It provides tools that help you make better decisions when it comes to the way you are scheduling carriers and other processes on the dock.
Getting too caught up in the day-to-day is a dangerous trap for shipping docks. It’s understandable how it happens, but logistics leaders often need to pull themselves back and think more strategically about what they can do better. Data and technology make it possible to formulate more actionable insights and big-picture solutions to the bottlenecks on your dock and create strategies for managing the seasonable peaks and patterns that exist in your shipping operations right now.
Usually, New Year’s resolutions aren’t taken too seriously if we’re honest… and that’s okay. But the problems on your dock are. Detention costs are higher than ever, and the cost of employees being unproductive adds up quickly.
We listed nine resolutions for 2025, but how about you start with just one? Resolve right now to visit www.opendock.com to schedule a demo of the leading dock scheduling software