<p>
	Many supply chain professionals are preparing for several pending challenges as we enter into this early New Year.&nbsp; If you are not aware there has been a &quot;perfect storm&quot; brewing in&nbsp;the logistics&nbsp;industry revolving around these major items:</p>
<ul>
	<li>
		Decreased Carrier Capacity</li>
	<li>
		Decreased Carrier Driver Pool</li>
	<li>
		Increased Government Regulatory Action</li>
	<li>
		Economic Recovery</li>
	<li>
		<strong><em>Stable Oil Prices...oops</em></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>
	The last item is what&nbsp;many analysts believe could be the &quot;trigger&quot; point that begins a series of steep increases in freight and related costs that when&nbsp;combined with the other items on this list could produce a phenomenon we are dubbing &quot;Freightflation&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;If many of these issues intersect&nbsp;during the same quarter, shippers could face freight rate corrections the likes of which have not been seen in over 30 years.</p>
<p>
	So what can you do to offset these challenges and protect your company from Freightflation?&nbsp;&nbsp;Here is a list of best practices I recommend that&nbsp;can help to offset and prepare your company to weather the storm&nbsp;and maintain integrity in your&nbsp;overall business plan.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Be Informed!</strong>-&nbsp;&quot;Knowledge is Power&quot;&nbsp;Start tracking the above items through the internet (Google Alerts is great), Industry groups like CSCMP, APICS and interviewing your current transportation and logistics providers about them.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Be Prepared!</strong>- This old&nbsp;Boy Scout adage is simple&nbsp;yet lacking in many businesses today.&nbsp;&nbsp; Use the knowledge acquired to inform your internal customers (Your Co-Workers and Executives) of what is going on and call for a collaborative plan of action that includes meeting with all departments that will be impacted.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Be Honest!</strong>- If things look bad, don&#39;t avoid the truth but&nbsp;embrace it.&nbsp; When you find an area that needs to be&nbsp;worked on, take charge and work with your suppliers and co-workers to measure and come up with the best plan to reduce the impact of any shifts in costs.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Be Proactive!</strong>-&nbsp;While it may seem difficult at first, it&#39;s best to reach out to your best&nbsp;customers and start informing them of the potential shifts in costs before they happen.&nbsp; Use the information you&nbsp;have&nbsp;gathered and&nbsp;reference credible third party industry articles that substantiate the&nbsp;changes.&nbsp; Share your plan and what you&nbsp;have done so far and also ask for feedback&nbsp;as to what they have experienced to&nbsp;confirm&nbsp;and add to your research.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Be Committed!</strong>- Long-Term thinking in a short view culture is prudent behavior and can save you and your customers over the long run.&nbsp; Develop a plan to stabilize costs first then map the plan out with your company, customers and suppliers over a multi-year period.&nbsp; Standardize as many metrics as you can from Fuel Scales to Base Rates and insist on Contractual arrangements with Guarantees when possible.&nbsp; Most importantly Stick to the Plan!&nbsp;</p>
