Anyone who manages a fleet of vehicles knows it is costly and time consuming. And for most people, moving materials or products isn’t central to their company’s mission. It’s an administrative distraction from the company’s core business. Little wonder so many fleet managers like the idea of handing off that responsibility to outside transportation experts like KAG.

The time- and cost-savings of outsourcing this function via a private fleet conversion are nearly guaranteed. But what holds many people back from partnering with an outside company is that they fear a loss of “control.” When we talk to owners and executives at jobbers and distributorships, we discover they often lump very different concerns under the heading of “control.” It could mean:

• The ability to monitor and direct the movements of trucks because they prefer having their thumb on the pulse of everything going on

• Monitoring price changes at the rack and adjusting their load order, driver start times, suppliers and so on to take advantage of price changes
  ‍
• Simple dispatching, the ability to plan a specific load at a specific time in a specific order on a specific driver/unit combination
  ‍
• The comfort they get from not having to rely on others to protect them from supply issues or acts of God

As we continue to talk with them, they typically discover the control they crave is actually the source of the administrative headaches they want to eliminate. When they partner with us in a private fleet conversion, customers who want to maintain that control can still plan loads, times and equipment.

They also have the flexibility to change suppliers and push/pull loads based on rack pricing or site inventories. KAG’s track and trace technology gives them complete visibility to the status and ETA of all their loads.

While they no longer own their fleet, they are guaranteed exactly the same capacity. For instance, when we acquire five trucks and eight drivers in a conversion, we contractually guarantee access to five units and eight drivers worth of shifts. We are also obligated to handle loads above and beyond the resources we acquired. If the customer wants us to dedicate more units and shifts to them, we can accommodate those requests. That’s a much more economical solution than dropping $250k on an additional unit and spending time/money/resources to find, hire and train a driver.

Some customers worry they will be a small fish in the KAG pond. To the contrary, our partnership will always give the same quality service and attention for which KAG is known.

Fleet managers can reduce their costs and administrative effort while still maintaining the level of control they desire. Contact me to discuss whether a private fleet conversion might be the right move for you.

Contact Rebecca Lynn White to discuss your fleet.

Vice President, Corporate Development

(330) 409-2137

rebecca.white@thekag.com