Ahern and Associates: Transportation, Trucking and Logistics Consultation Specialists
Andy Ahern advises industry business owners that now is the time to look at all procedures and evaluate why those procedures are being carried out.
Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) January 22, 2015
In the latest edition of the well-received newsletter The Ahern Advisory, Andy Ahern, founder and CEO of transportation consulting firm Ahern & Associates, offers pertinent advice and effective solutions for industry business owners who are looking to have a successful 2015. The Ahern Advisory reaches transportation industry readers each week and is a nationally-recognized newsletter.
In the latest issue, Mr. Ahern advises that although the last several years have been challenging for the transportation industry, those challenges have had a direct, positive impact for those companies that took advantage of the lack of capacity; the industry suffers from a lack of drivers as well as a lack of capacity to cover demand.
Mr. Ahern points out that diesel fuel is at an all-time low, but freight rates are consistently increasing. For company owners who want to thrive in today’s challenging market and change their financial destiny, recognizing that quality employees can maximize the company’s business is critical. As Andy Ahern clearly states in the Ahern Advisory, “This is a 21st Century mandate.”
Through the years, Ahern has always stated that planning is an essential part of success, and that change is an inevitable part of progress. He cites the unpublished book of a friend that contains insight and information that Mr. Ahern uses in his business each and every day. One piece of advice he always carries with him is that “if it ain’t broke, break it” – the idea being that if owners want to move into the future profitably, it’s most likely true that the things being done today in his or her business may need to change.
Andy Ahern advises industry business owners that now is the time to look at all procedures and evaluate why those procedures are being carried out. Another piece of advice from the book discusses “sacred cows”, which defines “the way we’ve always done it”. An example of a sacred cow might be the way an owner selects employees; Ahern points out that a vast majority of applicants have professionally written resumes and are trained how to conduct themselves, but that doesn’t mean they are trained to learn how to think.
His point: “When you plan on increasing revenue, sales, and bottom-line profits, you need to focus on intellectual capital. Success in the marketplace is increasingly linked to an organization’s ability to manage and leverage its intellectual capital – the intangible and often invisible assets, such as knowledge and confidence of their people, intellectual property, and information systems, that don’t show up directly on the bottom line, but are more valuable than financial assets.”
Andy Ahern moves on to discuss a substantial amount of consolidation in the transportation industry that has been noted by his firm during the last several years being due to a number of factors: companies looking to expand their operating footprint have utilized acquisitions as one way to achieve their desired results, capacity has presented challenges to carriers who are looking to grow and expand, and strategic companies are looking to increase their intellectual capital that they cannot locate in the open market.
“Businesses have only two kinds of problems: systems problems and people problems,” he states. “You need to focus on what drives the most value to your business, at any given time. If there is anything I can impart to you for 2015, focus on your people problems.”
Andy Ahern has three “Ahern’s Rules”: Every employee must be a profit center, each truck must be a profit center, and if an employee is not adding value, you need to decide why they are there. He concludes by listing five questions for industry business owners to answer when planning for 2015. “If you don’t have appropriate responses, expect a ‘rocky road’,” he states.
To read the five important planning questions and to read the full issue of the latest Ahern Advisory, interested parties can visit Ahern & Associates’ official website and can subscribe to The Ahern Advisory newsletter free of charge.
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About Ahern & Associates, Ltd.
Ahern and Associates is North America’s leading trucking and transportation management consulting firm. The skilled consultants at Ahern and Associates specialize in mergers and acquisitions of trucking and logistics companies as well as the restructuring and evaluation of existing carriers that seek to increase operating efficiency and improve profitability. Since 1987, Ahern and Associates has aided hundreds of buyers in the acquisition of trucking and logistics companies throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as assisting many transportation and logistics companies in reducing their overall operating costs and increasing their profitability.
For more information, please call 602-242-1030 or visit http://www.ahern-ltd.com.