J&J Uses Sustainability to Strengthen Carrier Relationships

J&J Uses Sustainability to Strengthen Carrier Relationships

Shipper of choice and sustainability are trending terms among supply chain managers but they’re nothing new to the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in North America. The company’s logistics operation has a long track record of attracting carriers that share a commitment to customer service, efficiency, and sustainable transportation.

With for-hire trucking capacity in short supply, companies in the consumer packaged goods business are looking for any edge to earn “preferred shipper” status. For Johnson & Johnson, that edge includes the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership, a public-private initiative between EPA and the freight transportation industry aimed at improving efficiency and sustainability. Johnson & Johnson has been a SmartWay partner since 2005 and works exclusively with freight carriers that participate in the program.


Johnson & Johnson outlines several initiatives to back up that commitment:

Logistics incentive order program: Johnson & Johnson incentivizes customers to place orders in quantities that legally optimize space utilization on trailers, which reduces the number of deliveries and makes it more efficient to schedule, load, and unload goods. These financial and service-oriented incentives are available to all customers that meet a certain order and volume threshold. Idle-reduction programs: Johnson & Johnson promotes idle reduction and faster turnaround times at distribution centers by scheduling deliveries, allowing dropped trailers, and, where available, offering shore-power electrical connections for trucks.

Dedicated trucks: Johnson & Johnson operates a regional dedicated fleet for a distribution center in the Northeast. The company precisely matched its truck spec to the characteristics of the load, using day cabs instead of sleepers. This saves about 5,000 pounds of tare weight per truck and allows another four to five pallets of payload per trip compared to the tractor-trailers the company used previously.

Mode shifting: In North America, Johnson & Johnson has shifted approximately 700 shipments on five lanes from truckload to intermodal and improved intermodal utilization from 69 percent to 78 percent in the past 12 months. The company estimates that its mode-shifting initiative has doubled its miles-per-gallon fuel savings (6.3 mpg for truckload vs. 12 mpg for intermodal), removed 420 trucks from the road, and keeps truckload capacity free for other lanes. Exclusive use of SmartWay carriers: Johnson & Johnson uses 50 carriers in its North American logistics operations; all participate in SmartWay. SmartWay carriers measure, benchmark, and share their fuel use and emissions, which gives Johnson & Johnson new ways to evaluate this aspect of carrier performance. It also gives the company opportunities to collaborate with carriers and customers on more efficient and sustainable transportation practices.

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