White Papers
What Your Freight Metrics Are Telling You
For many mid-market manufacturers, the gap between operational efficiency and financial performance is hidden in the freight line of the P&L. Our Margin Recovery Index (MRI) was developed to diagnose and correct these profit leaks without a disruptive overhaul. Through quick, tactical actions, the MRI enables CFOs and supply chain leaders to unlock cash, boost earnings, and create a foundation for long-term stability.
The MRI focuses on what’s immediately actionable to deliver measurable results within weeks, not months, and generates positive P&L movement quickly after corrective actions are implemented. It evaluates eight critical policy and process dimensions, each contributing to freight cost recovery and working-capital efficiency. By benchmarking each category against best-in-class standards, it identifies where tactical changes will yield the fastest financial impact. Each diagnostic scan provides a Margin Recovery Score that quantifies current freight policy health, a Prioritized Action Plan that ranks opportunities by EBITDA impact, and a Visibility Roadmap detailing where data capture and governance should improve.
Quick wins can only become sustainable gains through visibility and governance. That’s why MRI recommendations are paired with real-time data collection, actionable KPIs, and lightweight governance frameworks to ensure ongoing performance gains and prevent backsliding into legacy behaviors. These tools aid in mining true landed cost and customer profitability, expose hidden inefficiencies, and allow continuous progress measurement.
When finance, sales, and logistics work from the same data and policy playbook, friction gives way to flow. The MRI creates this shared consciousness across functions, turning fragmented insights into coordinated action. By breaking silos and aligning business units, cash is unlocked from trapped working capital, EBITDA improves through targeted, measurable savings, and organizational resilience strengthens ahead of market disruption.
The KDL Margin Recovery Index isn’t a software product but a practical framework that blends technology, policy alignment, and financial discipline. It’s where applied intelligence meets preventative care: a diagnostic approach that identifies freight pain before it becomes profit loss.
The KDL MRI wasn’t built just to improve freight operations, it is also a P&L-first methodology that exposes how much margin a shipper is silently losing across eight critical pressure points, including freight strategies, network alignment, and data integration.
These real client testimonials illustrate the “aha moment” companies reach when they move to a P&L-focused 3PL partner:
Challenge: Bon Tool used KDL’s TMS only for manual rate retrieval; lacked automation and real visibility.
MRI Outcome: Full integration unlocked workflow efficiency, carrier optimization, and ERP-level data accuracy.
By seamlessly integrating KDL’s fully functional TMS and enhancing our logistics process, we have been able to efficiently manage shipping, enhance data accuracy, optimize carrier selection, and integrate KDL’s data with Great Plains. With newfound visibility and automation, we’re poised to replicate this success across our shipping locations, creating a standardized, efficient process that ensures best practices are applied consistently across our organization. KDL has been a great partner for years, and instrumental in helping us succeed on this project.
Sean Helman
VP Operations, Bon Tool
Challenge: Weiland-Concast was assessing why revenues were up but margins were not.
MRI Outcome: KDL identified the root cause, realigned free freight strategy, and went on to integrate their ERP.
Challenge: he largest of Ammega’s eight shipping locations was constrained by minimal dock space.
MRI Outcome: KDL identified issues and realigned fulfillment strategy, reducing cost and improving service performance.
