Manufacturers find themselves in a rough patch heading into 2024. Demand stalled in mid-2022 as interest rates and inflation fears began rising. Unlike retail, housing and other sectors, manufacturing has yet to recover: Customer inventories remain high, orders are slow and costs are rising — transportation costs in particular, as truckload capacity steadily exits the market post-Covid-19.

Timing a likely shift in the freight cycle is always difficult, but this year the stakes are high for both shippers and truckers. Weathering a two-year lull was bad enough; navigating the largely zero-sum bid process could prove fatal.  

Both sides badly need a win. They need better data and they need to collaborate on mutually beneficial solutions that provide healthy, stable revenues and keep costs down.

To complicate matters further, companies nearshoring production, mainly from Asia into Mexico, is creating truck and equipment imbalances as well as congestion delays in border areas. At the same time, pressure is mounting from customers, investors and regulators on supply chains to begin measuring, reporting and reducing their carbon footprints — with potentially serious economic consequences.  

Technology is part, but not all of the answer. Yes, digital transformation is essential in providing companies with the actionable internal, partner and third-party contextual data needed to build resilience, optimize operations and plan for future growth. But effective technology solutions rely heavily on intelligent management of physical assets —people, equipment, facilities, inventory, freight. Addressing physical imbalances and shortages matter, too.

Uber Freight has some thoughts about holistic supply chain strategies — the atoms as well as the bytes.

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