Thought Leadership

How air cargo operations can offset the drop in freight volumes

Table of Contents

Coming out of the worst year for air cargo in a decade, the optimism for a rebound in 2020 has taken a blow with the recent drop in freight volumes. But despite the near-term challenges, underlying drivers point to long-term market growth and those organizations who can better navigate the headwinds have an opportunity to gain ground on their competition.

Companies across the delivery-chain have tremendous untapped potential for operational improvement still there for the taking. Business-model-changing technologies are here and transactional complexities of the past are being streamlined industry-wide. Recent success stories have demonstrated that even cargo operations that appear to be performing well on the surface can achieve up to 18% better productivity within just weeks.

From talking with cargo industry leaders at the recent A&D Summit, it’s clear that a majority of air cargo organizations still have a significant opportunity to increase cargo operations revenue and reduce costs by leveraging new advances in digitization, enhancing global management visibility and controls, and by standardizing their target operating model across their worldwide facilities.

Air cargo operations - ProudfootRather than falling into a defensive strategy to absorb declining top line growth, some organizations are using this period to invest in enhancing organizational strengths and lifting operational barriers so they can weather the storm and come out ahead when conditions improve.

In our experience though, to get the full benefits of any improvement initiative it’s crucial to engage your people in a way that not only enables them to embrace change, but helps them feel invested in the outcome so they lead the change themselves. Only this ensures your hard-won results will be sustained.

Just facilitating transparent communication can uncover substantial opportunities for improving systems and processes. It can also give your workforce a clearer view of the constraints facing management and help people let down their guard and take accountability for their role in the team’s performance.

Sometimes even a short workshop led by an objective third party who has navigated similar issues in a similar environment can be a watershed for new ideas and solutions to long-standing issues. Often this exercise alone can serve as a “reset” and team members will walk away with a renewed commitment to giving their best effort as they see others buying in and getting behind a shared goal.

Request a Cargo Operations Impact Analysis

Contact Proudfoot to accelerate the execution of your plans for operational improvement in 2020. Our team can provide your people the additional resources and tools to overcome near-term challenges while gaining momentum toward future growth. Request a Cargo Operations Impact Analysis to learn how your operation compares with industry peers and to quantify your performance improvement and cost savings potential.

Table of Contents

Posted on February 25, 2020

By Proudfoot Team

Share this!

Connect with our leaders