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.