FoodLogistics.com |

Case delivery is getting harder to do…profitably. What used to be a generous delivery footprint (“Park it anywhere, just get it in here”) is now a tiny navigational nightmare compounded with speeding motorists, city ordinances and delivery windows that limit time in and out of the stop. An available driver pool full of ex-farm boys waiting eagerly to make great pay behind the wheel is now limited to small pockets of Generation-Xers with very limited “heavy work experience.”

Top this off with the moving target of hours of service (HOS) regulations, tightening truck engine and reefer diesel emission standards and painful workmen’s compensation issues and it’s easy to see that net revenue growth cannot pace gross revenue growth without big changes.

The average broadline food distributor reports 10 to 12 stops per day. Multiply this factor by expanding city populations, higher fuel costs, more delivery motions required per stop and an aging core workforce (which could be more prone to fatigue and injuries), and it’s easy to realize that profitability may “flat line” or actually diminish as sales increase without realizing scale improvements from existing assets.

So how do foodservice companies grow revenue and increase scale profitability when more drivers, more tractors and more trailers are needed in such a harsh delivery environment?

The last frontier—trailer access: Although emerging technology in tractors and trailers is seen annually, given the attention those larger ticket items demand, one area that receives very little attention by comparison is trailer access. Trailer access, the ability to get products into and out of the trailer without damage, quickly and safely, may be the last unexploited frontier in achieving scale savings from existing truck and trailer assets.