• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Implementing Lean in LTL Operations

Implementing Lean in LTL Operations

July 30, 2014
SupplyChainBrain

Four years into its lean implementation, one of the biggest benefits that Con-way Freight has experienced is the enthusiastic response from the company’s drivers, says Rivera, vice president of national sales and lean implementation leader. “We were a little concerned about how our drivers would do in terms of change management, but they love that we are engaging them to help solve problems and to take waste out of the organization,” he says. “Their biggest question is why we haven’t done this before now.”

Con-way Freight, like many companies, has traditionally had a top-down culture, Rivera says. “Our drivers have always been great workers, but we weren’t taking time to ask them about the problems and the waste they saw on the job, so they became extremely good at working around problems. Now we are educating our employees and our supervisors and managers on what waste looks like and how to attack it, and they are coming back to us with lots of feedback on inefficiencies.” The company addresses those issues in problem solving teams that include drivers. “Using basic problem solving tools, these teams have made a lot of little improvements,” says Rivera. “We call that hitting singles. Each of those singles takes a little waste out and drives up efficiency and together they add up to a significant impact on performance, with the extra bonus of boosting driver morale.”

Another exciting aspect of the ongoing implementation is its cross-functional breadth, says Rivera. “A lot of times in lean transformation projects, the operations team heads down the path and the rest of the organization just watches.” At Con-way Freight, he says, the effort has encompassed IT; safety and maintenance, which now have lean-certified teams; sales and marketing; and even corporate executives. “Our president and his staff are using blue ocean planning, which is a policy deployment of lean principles that aligns strategic goals of the organization. They have created a lean strategy war room where they manage key metrics and projects across the organization, using lean management and visual tools to make sure projects are on track.”

The biggest challenge around the lean leadership has been middle management, Rivera says. “Our managers and supervisors have led in a top-down culture for many years. Making the change to engage teams in problem solving and becoming more of a coach and mentor is a big culture shift and it takes time, so the speed of transformation isn’t as fast as we would like. But we definitely are making progress.”

To view the video in its entirety, click here

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics LTL/Truckload Services Technology Global Trade Management Inventory Planning/ Optimization SC Planning & Optimization Transportation Management Supply Chain Visibility Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management Quality & Metrics HR & Labor Management All Warehouse Services
KEYWORDS All Warehouse Services Business Strategy Alignment Con-way Freight Global Supply Chain Management Global Trade Management HR & Labor Management Inventory Planning/ Optimization IT supply chain IT supply chain management Jeff Rivera lean implementation Logistics logistics & supply chain logistics IT solutions logistics management Logistics Management: LTL/Truckload Services LTL/Truckload Services Quality & Metrics SC Planning & Optimization supply chain supply chain jobs Supply Chain Management supply chain management IT supply chain management SCM Supply Chain Planning supply chain solutions supply chain systems Supply Chain Visibility Technology Transportation Management transportation management systems
  • Related Articles

    Implementing Lean in LTL Operations

    Implementing CPFR in Latin America

    Why Lean Is Losing Momentum in the Executive Suite

  • Related Directories

    Kuebix

SupplyChainBrain

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Issue 2009

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: EU Vaccine Exports Surpass Internal Rollout; U.S. Economists Project ‘Spectacular’ Rise in Retail

    Coronavirus
  • Shipping Costs

    Higher Shipping Costs Are Here to Stay, Sparking Price Increases

    Coronavirus
  • Indoor Farm

    Vertical Farming: A Solution to Waste and Inefficiency in the Food Supply Chain?

    Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Shipping Logjam

    Reducing Supply-Chain Disruptions Through Integrated Logistics

    Coronavirus
  • Robotic automation

    The Impact of Robotics on Supply Chain 2.0

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb feb 2021 lg

2021 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • Remote Implementation: A Dose of the Right Medicine for B2B Pharmacy

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming 6 River Systems ArcBest
Armada aThingz BluJay
Burris Logistics DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association)
DHL Resilience360 Flash Global Genpact
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Honeywell Corporate Honeywell Intelligrated Infor
Inmar Kibo Commerce Kinaxis
Logility Magnitude Software MPO
Old Dominion Oliver Wight OpenSky
Paccurate Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
S&H Systems Snapfulfil TGW Systems
Tradepoint Atlantic Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2021 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing