Bad weather can be a nemesis to your productivity, keeping your vehicles and equipment parked in the lot. This winter is no different, and that should be on your mind as you start preparing your fleet for winter come the holiday shopping rush. While not all conditions can be overcome, there are ways to keep your fleet on schedule.
You have two main priorities: meeting deadlines and keeping your drivers safe. Depending on where your main distribution is happening in the country, you could face a serious threat to both.
Here are a few tips to preparing your fleet for winter conditions:
Some of the most important steps your drivers can take toward safe winter driving happen before they even put the vehicle in drive. Preparing vehicles is just as important as what happens once drivers are on the road. Remind your drivers to:
- choosing the correct diesel fuel
- selecting the type of oil is imperative
- check brake pads & shoes
- outfitting your fleet with winter tires
- check battery
- belts & hoses
- spark plugs
- windshield wipers
- headlights
Communicate
Deploy better in-cab communication with your team. No order is worth risking lives, so prepare your drivers by training them to evaluate weather conditions. Black ice, snow, and freezing rain should be road-conditions that your drivers are able to identify. When they can identify these, they’ll know to stop at the next rest stop.
Safe Driving Habits
This may seem like a given but it helps to remind your drivers of safe driving habits at the beginning of each season. Different weather brings different dangers and ways to combat them.
- Do not rely on cruise control when conditions are favorable for slippery roads
- Reduce speed. Speed limits are generally based on ideal road conditions.
- Avoid hard stops and fast turns; turn gently. Accelerate and brake gradually
- Keep extra space between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead of you
- Keep your eyes on the road and scanning – look far ahead of you to detect problems early and be prepared for braking
- Get in the habit of easing up on bridges especially since they freeze first
- Be on the lookout for black ice
- Wear adequate winter clothing, and abstain from wearing flip flops (even some cheap volleyball shoes should do)
Schedule extra distribution Beforehand
Get your distribution done when you can—meaning you should overstock locations that are expecting bad weather. This might be initially taxing on stagnant product on the shelves, but the benefits of having product in the store during peak shopping periods outweigh the initial costs.
CMorgan Fulfillment Services
It is extremely important to choose the right fulfillment who are experts in retail compliance. CM has the distribution knowledge, technology, and expertise in place to give your business a completive and operational advantage over the competition.
CM has Bi-coastal operations that are strategically located throughout North America, which allows us to optimize a retail distribution solution based on your specific priorities, Speed to Market; inventory carrying costs; transportation cost, you name it.
We offer a wide selection of value added distribution services:
- Pick & Pack
- Custom packaging
- Kitting & Light assembly
- UCC 128 labeling
- Pre-pricing and re-labeling
- Quality assurance
- POP display building and marketing support
- Sorting/sequencing
- Export packing
- Lot/date code tracking
- Consolidation
- Cross docking
- Trans loading
- Order Fulfillment /E-Fulfillment
- Reverse logistics
- Salvage disposal reporting
For any further questions, please contact us!
