Your potential strategies and "degrees of freedom" in each category will vary significantly. It is a worthwhile exercise to develop that matrix and discuss it internally.

With that as an intro, here are some potential areas that can lead to reduced transportation spend:

Strategic

The trade-off between inventory and transportation cost is a constant exercise. While the push in recent years is to drive down inventories; maybe it is time to shift your position on the curve.

Many networks were not built with $100+ oil in mind. I think it is here to stay - may be time to re-evaluate you network strategy. That's why having a network tool in place for continuous use can be so valuable.

Invest in a TMS, if you haven't already done so, or change/upgrade if it is old. Savings from consolidation and mode/carrier optimization through TMS can be substantial. On-demand offerings mean low upfront investment and you can be live in just a few months, and even faster in some cases.

If you haven't already, centralize transportation planning versus decisions at individual ship sites.

Hedge the price of oil (though this would have been a lot smarter a year ago)

Tactical

Can changes to packaging be made to ship less air? For perhaps 98% of companies, the answer is yes - sometimes dramatically so. One cell phone distributor increased units on a pallet by 50% through a new package design effort. Where are you on the protection versus logistics costs curve?

Ditto for carton sizes and utilization in pick-pack operations. My friend Jack Ampuja has convinced me optimizing this can drive big transport costs for most shippers.

For those that have avoided rail/intermodal for various reasons, now may be the time to rethink that, or at least take another look.

Consider taking over greater if not total control of inbound freight.

Look for collaborative shipping opportunities; more and more companies are making arrangements with complementary shippers. But it takes work to find and develop them.

See if it may make sense to sub-optimize manufacturing to reduce transportation costs, especially in terms of uneven load patterns that exceed carrier commitments and result in expensive spot market moves. One large soft drink distributor is doing exactly that.

While you should be fair to carriers, most large companies now set fuel surcharge payment policies, rather than accepting a carrier's schedule.

Operational/Execution

 

Improve trailer loading through pallet and trailer cube optimization. My friend Thomas Moore has likewise convinced me there is a lot of improvement available there for most companies.

Revisit TMS settings and assumptions. Are you limited to two-stop multi-stop routes, when maybe yvaluate how consistently the transportation plan is executed as planned. Many companies have yet to well tighten up the common planning-to-execution gap in transportation.

If you have a routing guide, take steps to ensure internal shippers and external vendors are highly compliant.

Reduce the number of "bad loads" that you are dispatching (e.g., poor capacity utilization). Many shippers just live with this. See if these loads can be held for a day to improve consolidation.

Evaluate you level of expedited transportation and use root cause analysis to drop that level substantially.

Send better forecasts to core carriers to improve chances they can have capacity to support your needs.

I am sure there are dozens of more ideas/opportunities, but these I think are some of the best. How about adding your thoughts to the mix?

Do you like or use the framework of controllable, manageable, and mitigate-able cost drivers? What other ideas would you add to Gilmore's list of freight cost savings ideas? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button below.