There's no question that for some shippers, outsourcing transportation management continues to be a viable practice. Yet for others, bringing such functions in-house, with technology as a linchpin, makes the most sense from a cost and service standpoint. Land O' Lakes Inc., which dispatches about 30,000 trucks a year, falls into the latter category.
Headquartered in Arden Hills, Minn., Land O' Lakes is a national food and agricultural cooperative serving family farmers nationwide. Billed as the No. 1 marketer of butter and cheese in the United States, the cooperative sells its food products — primarily dairy — to supermarkets and foodservice establishments, as well as to various food processing firms. It also provides such production materials as feed, seed, plant food, and crop protection products to approximately 1,300 member cooperatives.
Two years ago, management decided that its high volume and spiraling transport expenditures, coupled with its desire to improve customer service, justified a significant change in the way freight was handled. At the time, 80% to 85% of shipments were executed through a third-party firm; the remaining 15% to 20% were handled by Land O' Lakes facilities in Joliet, Ill., and Burlington, N.J.
For the full story, see the March/April Issue of iTECH, which appeared as a supplement in the March 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
