SOURCE | Fall 2022 11

to their customers comes from the data they have available . By its very nature , SAP collects tremendous amounts of data that the teams have only begun to dive into and use .

“ We have an abundance of historical data that dates back more than a decade giving us a tremendous amount of insight into trends that can help us make educated and accurate procurement decisions . And that information to this point has really been untapped ,” explains Schmidt . “ We want to take that historical data and forecasts to help drive efficiencies and decision making at the member level . To understand where we want to go , we have to understand where we ’ ve been .”

Wells says integrating data into the teams ’ activities and utilizing it to serve FS companies will be key going forward .

“ Accelerating the use of data , whether carrier results , on-time results , or productivity of our team , is going to be critically important moving forward ,” according to Wells . “ We had a great team of dispatch and fleet operations personnel already in place , so it is critical that we as leaders provide them the tools , metrics , and feedback to put them in the best position to win .”

And Hopkins and Schmidt are taking Wells ’ guidance to heart , pulling data into their teams ’ daily operations .

“ We ’ ve already started talking about carrier performance , score carding carriers ,” Schmidt says . “ We want to find what those important measurements are so we can take actions based on what we see .”

Honestly , the focus on the customer and greater utilization of data is driven by a desire for continuous improvement . For Hopkins ’ team , that starts with instilling the mindset to reduce variation .

“ I want employees to ask , ‘ how can we make this better ?’,” says Hopkins . “ I want them to understand that you don ’ t have to be in management to make changes that are impactful on the organization and to the customer .”

From Wells perspective , it starts with a long-term commitment to improvement .

“ There is not a magic wand or magic bullet to achieve high performance — it ’ s doing things incrementally better ,” Wells says . “ We ’ re committed to being the best we can , trying new approaches . All of them may not work , but we won ’ t fail for a lack of trying .”

Dispatch Specialist , Kyle Dunlap , visiting a Manito location to learn more about their operations .

– Rod Wells , Vice President , Supply Chain and Logistics , GROWMARK , Inc .

Nick Frese , North Fleet Operations Manager , discusses recent performance metrics with Bradley Schmidt .