The Triple Challenge of Modern Logistics

“How can we improve service, cut costs, and still uphold safety and compliance?”
That’s the question Carlos Martínez poses at the start of his session — and the one he believes every logistics leader must answer to stay competitive.

Rising costs, volatile demand, and uncompromising customer expectations have created a near-impossible equation. Yet, as Martínez argues, it’s not optional:

“Improving service, cutting cost, and bolstering safety — this isn’t negotiable. It’s the reality of logistics.”

The Root of the Problem: Extraordinary Costs

Martínez shares a personal story from 2020, when he discovered a 10% “extraordinary cost” line in his company’s financials — driven by accidents, maintenance, and staff turnover.
Rather than accept it as inevitable, he challenged his team to reduce it to just 2–3%. The insight was simple but transformative: monitoring was missing.

By measuring on-time delivery, incident rates, cost per delivery, and compliance gaps, they identified the levers that truly impacted profitability and customer satisfaction.

“You cannot improve something you do not measure,” Martínez reminds his audience.

A Framework for Performance: Four Levels of Excellence

To make monitoring actionable, Happymile developed a model built on four operational levels:

• Network & Node Design – Be honest about where you can serve efficiently. Avoid overpromising coverage that raises costs or risks service quality.

• Planning & Orchestration – Optimize routes, returns, and seasonal asset use through data-driven forecasting.

• Execution & Feedback – Track team-level and lane-level performance, not just the big picture.

• Safety & Compliance – Treat safety as a performance metric, not a constraint. Celebrate prevented incidents as success stories.

This structure, he explains, creates a continuous improvement loop across service, cost, and compliance.

People, Technology, and Feedback

Despite the rise of automation, Martínez insists that logistics remains fundamentally human:

“People come first — before technology, before systems. They are our most valuable resource.”

Happymile’s operational philosophy places people at the center, supported by technology and reinforced by feedback. The aim isn’t to replace workers with dashboards, but to empower them with data and visibility.

He encourages both customers and suppliers to maintain “mirror access” — shared operational data that enables transparent collaboration, trust, and faster problem-solving.

Celebrating Prevention and Shared Responsibility

In an industry obsessed with metrics, Martínez shifts focus toward proactive success.

“We don’t just celebrate deliveries. We celebrate prevented incidents.”

By rewarding compliance and prevention, Happymile reduced costs tied to accidents, delays, and inefficiencies. Martínez argues that prevention is the most profitable form of performance improvement.

He also calls for shared responsibility between shippers and suppliers, emphasizing collaboration over blame:

“No customer or supplier can improve alone. We are a system — we must work together.”

The ROI of Monitoring

For companies seeking measurable gains, Martínez identifies two focal areas with the highest ROI:

• Trailer Utilization: Optimize asset usage based on seasonality and demand forecasting.

• Dock Dwell Reduction: Minimize idle time to improve service speed and reduce driver hours.

Improving just these two metrics, he says, can dramatically lower operational costs while lifting customer satisfaction.

A New Culture of Safety and Feedback

Ultimately, Martínez argues that monitoring isn’t just a tool — it’s a culture.
One rooted in measurement, prevention, and transparency across all levels of the organization.

“Safety and security are not negotiable. They’re part of our culture, and they’re the reason we can improve performance while cutting costs.”