How much freight spend is typically recoverable in a PE-owned manufacturer?

Active freight management typically recovers 15 to 25% of total freight spend. For a portfolio company with $4 million in annual freight costs, that's $600,000 to $1 million per year. At a 7x exit multiple, that recovery translates to $4.2 to $7 million in added enterprise value.

Why don't mid-market companies manage freight costs on their own?

At the $50 to $200 million revenue band, freight rarely has a dedicated owner. The function gets distributed across operations coordinators, warehouse managers, and finance staff. The costs accumulate because no single person is accountable for the total number.

What does an unaudited freight invoice cost a portfolio company?

Industry estimates suggest billing errors, duplicate charges, and carrier overcharges appear on 4 to 8% of freight invoices. For a company with $3 to $5 million in annual freight spend, that means up to $400,000 in recoverable charges processes without review each year.

How quickly can freight improvements show up in EBITDA?

Some recoveries, particularly invoice audits and carrier rate renegotiations, can begin producing results within the first 90 days. Building a multi-year track record that is visible and credible to buyers takes longer, which is why addressing freight early in the hold period matters.

How do I know if a portfolio company has an unmanaged freight problem?

Benchmark freight spend as a percentage of revenue against industry comparables. A company running 8 to 10% with no dedicated freight management function, no evidence of carrier contract renegotiation, and no invoice audit process has the pattern.

Surgical Robotics Manufacturer Recovers $7.9M After Replacing a Fragmented Carrier Network

Christopher Nadeau
Mar 19
3 min read

How restructuring FTL, LTL, and final mile delivery eliminated compliance gaps and undetected cost accumulation.

Blue robotic arm with a three-fingered gripper against a plain, dark background. The arm is raised, showcasing its joints and metallic finish.

Most medical device manufacturers shipping capital equipment alongside high-volume consumables have one carrier relationship for full truckload shipments, a third-party broker handling LTL, and no defined process for final mile delivery to surgical centers and hospital systems.

This creates a freight operation with limited pricing competition, markup layered into every LTL move, inconsistent handling of precision instruments, and no consolidated visibility. That is where this surgical robotics manufacturer was when they partnered with Haversack.

The company’s freight profile included full truckload shipments of high-value robotic surgical systems, LTL shipments for precision consumable instruments, and final mile delivery to hospital systems and surgical centers — a mixed, high-care freight environment with zero tolerance for delivery failure.

Yet, in twelve months, they rebuilt their carrier strategy across all three freight categories and recovered $7.9M, including a 30.3% reduction in FTL costs.

Challenge 1: A Lack of Carrier Competition Was Driving Up FTL and LTL Costs

Full truckload volume was sourced to a single carrier, which removed any pricing competition from the equation. LTL shipments flowed through a third-party broker, adding markup at every move. Neither channel had consolidated data, rate benchmarking, or audit controls in place.

The company also lacked a clear picture of what freight was costing them, or how much of that cost was recoverable.

What Changed

Haversack applied a competitive FTL bid board structure, opening each full truckload move to multiple qualified carriers and restoring pricing competition across their highest-cost freight category.

On the LTL side, Haversack built a tailored carrier network offering direct rates, removing the broker markup layer entirely.

The impact was a 30.3% reduction in FTL costs and measurable LTL savings across the consumables network.

Challenge 2: Unstructured Final Mile Delivery for Sensitive Surgical Equipment Was Creating Compliance Risk

Final mile shipments — the last leg from regional distribution to hospital delivery bay or surgical center loading dock — lacked a defined process. Carriers were selected inconsistently, pricing was unstructured, and documentation was incomplete.

For a manufacturer shipping robotic surgical systems and precision instruments, this was both an operational and compliance risk. Surgical centers cannot absorb delayed or mishandled deliveries. And without documented chain-of-custody records at each carrier handoff, audit trails were incomplete.

What Changed

Haversack launched a white glove load board specifically for final mile surgical equipment shipments. The board standardized carrier pricing, streamlined shipment documentation, and established consistent chain-of-custody records across every delivery.

Final mile delivery to hospital systems and surgical centers became reliable and documented, with full carrier handoff records available for audit.

Challenge 3: No Real-Time Visibility Across Shipping Sites Meant Cost Was Accumulating Undetected

Individual shipping sites were operating without standardized best practices or real-time visibility into active shipments. Operational inconsistencies compounded across locations, and there was no business intelligence layer to identify where cost was accumulating or where process breakdowns were occurring.

What Changed

Haversack implemented Haversack TMS and a network management layer across all shipping sites. The transportation management system (TMS) gave the logistics team real-time shipment visibility from distribution center to point of care, with alerts built in before delivery failures occurred. Business intelligence embedded in the platform also identified spending inefficiencies and operational patterns across the entire freight network.

Results

Within one year of partnering with Haversack, the manufacturer achieved:

$7.9M in total freight savings
30.3% reduction in full truckload costs ($3.6M in FTL savings) through competitive bid board structure
30.3% reduction in LTL costs ($3.9M in LTL savings) through direct carrier network, eliminating broker markup
Standardized final mile delivery ($400K in final mile savings, 11.4% reduction) across all surgical equipment and precision instrument shipments
Real-time TMS visibility deployed across all shipping sites, from distribution center to surgical center and hospital system delivery
Chain-of-custody documentation established at every carrier handoff for audit readiness

Now, the manufacturer's freight team runs the operation with Haversack's carrier network, TMS, invoice audit controls, and operational support behind them.

Haversack works with medical device manufacturers, dental product distributors, and pharmaceutical wholesalers shipping to hospitals, surgical centers, and specialty clinics. If your freight profile includes capital equipment alongside high-volume LTL consumables managed through separate carrier relationships, contact us for a historical freight data audit to uncover where you could be saving.