Opinion: Return on Investment at NPTC
img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>By Gary Petty
I>President and Chief Executive Officer
ational Private Truck Council
A productive, cost-effective distribution system that includes a private fleet can represent as much value — or more — than the goods and products a company manufacturers.
The private-fleet advantage also can be measured in terms of enhanced customer service, cost management, capacity control and flexibility, and bottom-line performance. In the broader context of the nation’s economy, private fleets contribute to America’s reign as undisputed world leader in productivity.
According to the McKinsey Global Institute, one-half of America’s productivity growth in the last decade has come from wholesale and retail trade. The centerpiece of this productivity is world-class optimization in getting goods from the hands of manufacturers to the hands of customers by doing it faster, safer, cheaper, more securely and more efficiently than anyone else in the world.
For many manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, a private fleet helps its parent company participate competitively in the surge of productivity that is remaking the American economy. These companies are engaged in a fierce marketplace, and they live or die depending on whether they can generate ever-higher product value, lower costs, innovation, shareholder value and profits.
Successful private fleets represent a proven component in corporate supply chain solutions, but one that must be measured continuously against return on investment standards that seem to rise higher every year.
Private-fleet managers perform cost-benefit analyses on everything from tires to onboard technology to lease vs. buy options. These analyses extend to membership in organizations like the National Private Truck Council. If a company has made a strategic, long-term investment in its private fleet — and weighs both tangible and intangible benefits against the risk — the case for joining NPTC based on return on investment is quickly apparent.
By risk, I’m talking not only hard-dollar investment, but also the risk of doing nothing. Assuming that what worked yesterday will fly today and tomorrow can be high-risk thinking that could eventually be damaging and even fatal to a private fleet’s future.
Being part of NPTC culture not only helps to prevent a business from going down the road of others’ mistakes, but also provides a map on how to take the right route in the first place. The return-on-investment philosophy of successful private fleet operations pretty much governs every program and service at NPTC.
The council has evolved in recent years as the premier marketplace for information sharing, networking and skills building in its industry. In doing so, we focus on tried-and-true, real-world strategies and solutions. To achieve optimal return from NPTC, managers must engage directly and continuously with other members. I often tell companies considering membership, “You must be present to win.” To find the greatest benefit, you must be willing to share your time and expertise with fellow practitioners. This means joining one of the council’s standing committees, attending conferences and seminars, enrolling in our online services and becoming a certified transportation professional, or CTP.
Because we are a specialized, almost boutique culture of transportation, the best learning comes from members teaching one another. At the opening session of our Fleet Management Institute in January, we asked 40 fleet managers to tell us the worst mistakes they had made in the past 12 months. Their candid answers were astounding — ranging from incorrectly spec’d trucks to bad hires to buying more technology than needed to failing to communicate critical information. Many in the room were shaking their heads and thinking, “That could be me.” By the end of the first day, most were saying out loud, “I realize now how much I really don’t know.”
Even the most successful, seasoned private-fleet managers find that NPTC helps them come to grips with what they don’t know — and how to translate new knowledge into solutions without paying a far higher price through the “school of hard knocks.”
We define NPTC membership value and related return-on-investment with a number of core programs and services, including:
li> Private Fleet Management Institute
li> Fleet Learning Center and Private Fleet Management Resource Guide
li> Annual Education Management Conference & Exhibition
li> Best Practices Safety Guide
li> National Safety Conference
li> Legislative & Regulatory Compliance Committee meetings
li> Safety Committee meetings
li> Certified Transportation Professional program
Individually or in combination, these NPTC services are practical, cost-effective information resources that bring enormous value to private-fleet managers — value that simply cannot be obtained anywhere else. The return on investment in each case is demonstrably strong in giving managers a considerable leg up on fleets that are not actively engaged in NPTC culture.
To remain viable in today’s market, private fleets literally cannot afford not to be NPTC members.
NPTC is a national trade association based in Alexandria, Va., that represents the interests of private truck fleets.
This article appears in the May 3 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
