WHAT DOES A TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR DO?
Updated: Mai 28, 2025 - The Transportation Director develops a world-class transportation network focused on water and wine supply chains, ensuring efficient delivery with on-time, in-full performance. This position oversees logistics operations, including customs coordination, carrier compliance, cost evaluation, and TMS configuration to optimize delivery processes and minimize delays. The director also leads the transportation team while fostering collaboration with stakeholders to support business growth and enhance customer satisfaction.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Transportation Director
1. Transportation Director Accountabilities
- Team Management: Supervises staff, including prioritizing and assigning work, conducting performance evaluations, and ensuring staff is trained. Makes hiring, termination, and disciplinary decisions.
- Operations Management: Directs, plans, organizes, evaluates, and controls the development and implementation of direct transit operations.
- Operational Efficiency: Maintains on-time, safe, and efficient transit operations and services.
- Policy Adherence: Ensures department policies and practices are handled in a manner consistent with other departments on organization-wide issues, matters of policy, personnel actions, and management practices.
- Employee Relations: Maintains positive employee relations.
- Process Integration: Ensures organizational programs and process improvement projects are integrated into the department and effectively managed.
- Transportation Advisory: Provides advice and recommendations on transportation to staff at all levels.
- Industry Knowledge: Maintains knowledge of the transportation industry and related technology.
- Strategic Planning: Recommends strategies and/or projects to improve organizational effectiveness.
- Service Delivery Evaluation: Directs the development and evaluation of service delivery.
- Performance Improvement: Recommends modifications based on performance data and directs staff in implementing adopted recommendations.
- Operational Analysis: Analytically reviews service to ensure efficient and effective operations.
- Service Inspections: Personally performs inspections of transportation services and rides buses to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
- Budget Development: Directs the development of the department budget to achieve agency objectives.
2. Transportation Director Functions
- Budget Management: Collaborate with the Division Leadership team to establish and maintain a program budget.
- Policy Development: Participate in the development, implementation, and updating of policies, procedures, and systems.
- Efficiency Reporting: Establish a reporting mechanism that assesses and shares efficiencies and areas of improvement.
- Meeting Participation: Attend and actively participate in all meetings.
- Vendor Relations: Establish and maintain a positive working relationship with vendors, trade organizations, and clients.
- Communication: Ensure regular, consistent, meaningful, and culturally responsive communication within all levels of the unit.
- Compliance: Complete all training and certifications by Pennsylvania state law.
- Staff Engagement: Engage and maintain ongoing communication with Program Leadership staff.
- Compliance Oversight: Regular review and audit of operations to ensure compliance with the mission of the program, RHD Values, and all local regulations.
- Administrative Support: Work closely with the Assistant Director by attending meetings, trainings, completing administrative tasks, and scheduling.
- Communication: Ensure that memos, bulletins, and operational changes are communicated throughout the unit’s management and staff.
- Operational Procedures: Ensure that operational procedures are maintained, and issues/concerns are reported immediately to Division Leadership.
- Asset Management: Monitor the usage of company vehicles and property.
- Budget Oversight: Ensure all services are delivered within the budget allotted.
- Labor Relations: Advise on and may participate in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements.
- Labor Policy Guidance: Administers and implements collective bargaining agreements within the department and advises and counsels direct reports on labor relations policy.
3. Transportation Director Job Description
- Strategic Planning: Work with multiple divisions balancing short-term objectives and long-term strategy.
- Change Management: Act as a change agent to lead change and innovation within distribution and transportation environments.
- Performance Management: Achieve Safety, Cost, Productivity, Quality, and Service targets.
- Metrics Development: Develop consistent and meaningful metrics across the entire Newell Distribution network.
- Cost Analysis: Create standards for cost to serve by business and by customer.
- Process Improvement: Initiate and manage DC process improvements and best practices driving improved OTIF and key customer and productivity metrics.
- Automation Design: Identify, design, and justify automated processes with proper ROI to improve distribution throughput and cost to serve.
- Project Leadership: Project manages large complex initiatives, giving direction to team members and leadership in a matrix environment.
- Multi-Tasking: Manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
- Team Leadership: Manage and motivate a large team of highly diverse union & non-union individuals.
- Budget Management: Manage and be accountable for all transportation assets and the department's operating budget.
- Expenditure Oversight: Monitors and approves expenditures.
- Data Management: Ensures adequacy of data for performance evaluation and reporting.
- Compliance: Ensure that the product is delivered in a professional and high-quality manner that is in full compliance with all regulations.
4. Transportation Director Details and Accountabilities
- Logistics Management: Ensures best practices for inbound/outbound movement of goods.
- Process Improvement: Develop processes and changes required to achieve cost reductions, productivity, and service improvements.
- Business Development: Researches and develops new viable business segments to grow truckload capacity.
- System Optimization: Optimizes delivery of logistics systems and services.
- Carrier Negotiation: Negotiates and makes final decisions on carrier selection and load tendering for every shipment.
- Carrier Relationship Management: Acts as point of contact for carriers & proactively builds carrier relationships.
- Cost Analysis: Analyzes freight expenses to determine new processes or carriers to reduce transportation costs.
- Compliance and Performance Monitoring: Manages all carrier claims and implements continuous improvement processes.
- Performance Management: Conducts weekly carrier performance and compliance/customer service reviews.
- Customer Communication: Analyzes and communicates with customers to explain capacity issues, market conditions, and current market rates.
- Compliance Oversight: Oversees carrier compliance with service standards.
5. Transportation Director Essential Functions
- Transportation Network Development: Build out a world-class transportation network in a retailer-centric environment for water and wine supply chains.
- Customer Satisfaction: Exceed customer expectations by delivering products on time, in full, and with no damage.
- Relationship Management: Manage relationships with counterparts at retailers and negotiate win/win synergies.
- Customs & Port Coordination: Oversee customs broker, ensure timely release of containers, and address port-related issues impacting container inbounding.
- Carrier Compliance: Establish and monitor carrier compliance with performance targets.
- Load Tendering: Manage team to tender loads based on carrier management strategy.
- Inbound/Outbound Coordination: Work closely with the Director of Distribution to organize inbound drayage into the 3PL warehouses and outbound trucking from the 3PLs to customer warehouses.
- Cost Evaluation: Evaluate total cost to deliver, including lumper fees, customer appointment/delivery requirements, vs. pick-up opportunities with customers' logistics teams.
- Strategy Development: Develop strategy for LTL vs. TL usage.
- Delivery Monitoring: Monitor the status of deliveries and quickly develop contingency plans to minimize delays.
- TMS Configuration: Configure Oracle TMS to provide automated delivery status and self-invoicing potential for both LTL and TL loads.
- Team Leadership: Lead the transportation team to achieve business goals in support of expected double-digit growth.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Foster positive relationships and close collaborations with internal and external stakeholders.