TRINCON Manual Instructs Trucking Companies on Improving Efficiency Through Activity-Based Costing

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio TRINCON GROUP, a leading national transportation industry
consultation firm, has developed an operations manual that will instruct
trucking companies on incorporating activity-based costing strategies to
measure and increase efficiencies on multiple levels.

TRINCON developed its activity-based costing program in 1983 and began
using it to evaluate the profitability of more than 100 different trucking
companies. The new manual combines those many years of experience into a
structured model for small, mid-sized and large carriers to develop an
activity-
based costing system to fit their unique needs.

The manual, which includes a 30-page publication and accompanying
materials, is geared toward top and middle management professionals who
oversee sales, operations and financial responsibilities for both large and
mid-
sized operations. It demonstrates how to measure the profitability of pricing,
the cost effects of time and distance, the effectiveness of dispatch decisions
and other important functions.

"The benefits of activity-based costing are nearly limitless," said TRINCON
President Duff H. Swain. "It is an ideal strategy for measuring and improving
efficiencies for companies like motor carriers that operate with a significant
number of depreciable assets. It can measure the profitability of a traffic
lane, a customer or a single truck while differentiating between different cost
centers, such as company or contractor trucks. It also allows companies to
measure the profit effect of various scenarios, such as increasing or
decreasing fleet size, improving fixed cost efficiencies or changing the ratio of
company versus contractor trucks."

The publication is the second in a series that TRINCON will introduce in 2006.
Earlier this year the company released an operations manual outlining the
components of a successful driver hiring and retention program. The next
release will focus on advising trucking companies about developing successful
new business development programs.

The manual can be ordered with a complete package that provides a set of
tools for companies to create an activity-based costing program. It includes

a hard copy of the manual in a three-ring binder with dividers, plus a CD that
contains electronic versions of policies, scripts and documents in MS Word
format, MS Excel versions of forms and spreadsheets, and an electronic copy
of an informational white paper written by Swain, which addresses the issues

of efficiency and activity-based costing from an industry-wide perspective.
Buyers may also order an additional on-line consultation and PowerPoint
presentation to accompany the package. Individual copies of the manual can
be ordered separately, in either downloadable electronic form or a printed
version that can be shipped.

To place an order or obtain complete information, visit www.trincon.com.

About TRINCON GROUP
TRINCON GROUP is a business advisory company that, since 1982, provides
strategies, planning and implementation services to ownership and
management teams in the trucking and transportation industry. President Duff

H. Swain has more than 30 years of industry experience and has authored
several white papers and trade articles on the subjects of driver turnover,
cost-based accounting and other topics. A member of the Truckload Carriers
Association, Swain is also a principal in TruCost Systems LLC, a provider of

activity-based cost analysis systems and software for the trucking industry.

For more information, visit www.trincon.com, call 614-442-0590, or e-mail
consultants@trincon.com.