06 Sep 2019
Niki Bolton announced as a Women in Trucking’s 2019 Most Influential Woman in Trucking Award Finalist
Niki Boltonis the Senior Truck Auditor and Executive Projects Officer for American Truck & Rail Audits, Inc. (AMTR). She has been with the company for 11 years. She began as a data entry clerk, quickly moved to truck audits team manager, received her Certified Transportation Cost Auditor certificate from AMTR, and then transitioned into her current role in early 2019. Prior to working at AMTR, Bolton attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has also completed Transportation Logistics & The Law and Motor Carrier Operations courses through the Institute of Logistical Management. In her very niche business she has brought up many new auditors and a new female manager to lead the truck audits team. She is involved in many industry organizations including National Industrial Transportation League, Blockchain in Transport Alliance and Transportation Intermediaries Association. Outside of the office she volunteers as a leader for a non-profit organization for foster and adoption care.
Read more about the award and finalists on Women in Trucking
Monica Poyner is a Senior Rail Auditor and Rail Audit Team Manager. She has been with American Truck & Rail Audits for 22 years. She possesses an incredible knowledge of the railroads and how they operate. Similarly, she understands the complexities of rail freight billing as well as anyone in the industry. Although AMTR has evolved significantly in the past two decades, Monica has been a constant. Her enthusiasm for what she does is infectious, and her advocacy for the shippers and the railroads is unrelenting. AMTR would not be the company it is today without her. Despite all the effort she contributes on the job, she also manages to be actively involved in her church as a teacher and mentor to young girls. AMTR would like to recognize Monica’s faithful service to our company and the transportation industry, as well as, congratulate her on reaching such an incredible anniversary milestone!
– Summer Bartczak, AMTR CEO
Great News for Clients!
Despite the volatility of the transportation industry in 2018, AMTR experienced its best year on record! This is good news for our clients, as our after-payment audits enabled us to file a record number of freight overcharge claims, resulting in more savings than ever. This success was driven by our continued strategic focus on auditor education and training, technology innovations, and process improvement driven by analytics and data-based decision-making. A look back at our 2018 claims remind us that complexities still drive freight cost problems—even for companies that have best-in-class transportation/supply chain operations. The charts below give insight as to the types of errors and percentage of occurrence for each (by $ amount) that we saw across all after-payment audit claims paid in 2018.
These kinds of errors result in freight overcharges that take time and expertise to identify, address and resolve, all of which are what we do best at AMTR. With transportation budgets getting increasingly tighter, partnering with AMTR for after-payment freight audits could make 2019 a year of unexpected savings!
New Scholarships and New Degrees
AMTR Truck Audits Manager, Kelly Kirkpatrick-Lee, was selected for a Women in Trucking (WIT) Leadership scholarship. This marked the third scholarship she received in 2018. Congrats Kelly!
Kelly also joined our interns-turned-employees, CJ Summerville and Peter Israsena, in graduating with their Bachelors degrees in December. Kelly graduated with a major in Business Management and minor in History, CJ a degree in Supply Chain Management, and Peter a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Math. We are so proud of all of them!
AMTR recently awarded two scholarships to students at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). Alyssa Traylor was awarded the Supply Chain scholarship, and Blake DeLuca the Management Information System (MIS) scholarship. AMTR is proud to partner with UCA in recognizing these outstanding scholars. We wish them continued success in their educational endeavors!
AMTR rail freight audits are different. We take the time to get to know our clients and their shipping routines. We dig deep into the details of the products shipped, the origin, destination, consignee, carrier…even the specific railcars used to move the freight. We approach every move with curiosity, asking questions such as: “What did this car actually do?”, “Is the rate correct?”, “Is the rate being charged reasonable?” We also ask questions about what is missing from the freight data. Even the best freight payables departments miss what AMTR audit experts can quickly identify, such as high volume lanes missing from contracts rates, contract rates that appear to be unused, and even whole classes of freight bills such as empty car movements, accessorials, and manual payments that are absent from the audit process. Let AMTR’s freight audit expertise add depth to your transportation knowledge and return overcharge monies to your bottom line.
Detention charges are an increasing factor in truck freight costs. The ELD implementation of last year allows carriers to be even more precise at recording and billing for detention time. As such, it is important to understand detention charges and their application. Detention charges can be identified in customer-specific tariff or contract pricing, a carrier’s public rules tariff or within a negotiated quote. It is common for truckload carriers to charge a flat rate per hour after the first two hours of detention. For LTL carriers, the practice varies. The start time of detention may depend on the size of the shipment, and charges will often be applied in 15 minute increments afterward. Shippers should be curious about the impacts of detention. Reducing detention time requires working with carriers, loading dock personnel, and receiving customers. Reducing detention costs requires an understanding of how those charges are applied and billed. AMTR truck freight auditors are experts in detention charges—let us help ensure your charges are correct!
Curiosity is a well-researched human attribute that is getting a lot of attention in business circles lately. The Oxford Dictionary defines curiosity as “a strong desire to know or learn something.” The most recent issue of Harvard Business Review featured a sequence of articles on the topic. One of those articles focused on the benefits of hiring curious employees, which is especially relevant for our company and our business of auditing. We look for this trait in future employees and have found, similar to what is discussed in research, that our most successful auditors are curious by nature. At AMTR, curiosity fuels our audits. This human trait, combined with audit skill and knowledge makes SMART Auditing® possible. Our inquisitive auditors are always on the lookout for freight cost errors and are eager to investigate the complex scenarios that generate them. Not only does this allow for overcharges to be returned to our clients, but also lessons about what issues caused the errors in the first place. Don’t be satisfied with automated audit solutions that can only address the simplest of situations—be curious about what AMTR auditors can do for you!
AMTR is excited to announce that one of our own, Kelly Kirkpatrick-Lee, has been awarded a Southwest Association of Rail Shippers 2018 George J. Elking, Jr. Scholarship. This is her second time to be awarded this scholarship. She has worked at AMTR for eleven years and currently serves as the Assistant Manager of the Truck Audits Team. Never one to give up, Kelly has pursued a Bachelors in Business Management, often carrying a full academic load while working full-time. She will graduate December 2018 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her academic pursuits embody our company core value of “seek knowledge always”; we are so proud of her. Congratulations to Kelly!
In order to infuse new knowledge, talents and perspectives into our growing business, AMTR has worked over the past year to create a thriving internship program. Bringing onboard interns with varied educational backgrounds and professional experiences has allowed us to slingshot forward on a number of internal projects and accomplish strategic goals much more quickly and creatively than ever expected. As for the benefits for interns, we are working to ensure a fun, part-time job, and a great learning experience. AMTR is proud to announce this year’s interns who have helped us to accomplish so much!
Pictured from left to right:
CJ Summerville—Univ. of Central Arkansas—Supply Chain Major
Alyssa Traylor—Univ. of Central Arkansas—Supply Chain Major
Peter Israsena—Univ. of Arkansas Little Rock—Comp. Sci. Major
Brisa Bartczak—Univ. of Arkansas Fayetteville—Engineering Major
