In the 2008 presidential race, it doesn't matter who comes in second. You get one vote and we get one winner. However, the best thing about the Quest for Quality is that it allows shippers to vote in the categories of services they actually use; in turn, they can help push the providers that they feel have best delivered on quality service into the hot lights for their acceptance speech.

This offers shippers—and the entire logistics and transportation community—a crystal clear look at not only the overall winner in any given category, but a broad list of companies that finished well above the average. Here's how we do it.

Transportation service providers are rated on LM's five key criteria: On-time Performance, Value, Customer Service, Information Technology, and Equipment & Operations. Due to the nature of supply chain services offered by third-party players, a different set of criteria is used to judge this category. Third parties are rated on the following attributes: Carrier Selection & Negotiation, Order Fulfillment, Transportation & Distribution, Inventory Management, and Logistics Information Systems.

The evaluation itself is a weighted metric. The scores take into account the importance readers attach to each attribute. Each year, readers are first asked to rank the attributes in each category on a five-point scale, with 5 representing the highest value and 1 representing the lowest value. Our research team then uses those attributes' rankings to create weighted scores in each category.

For example, readers have historically placed the single highest value on On-time Performance—and they've done so again in 2008. If you turn to Figure 1 you'll see that it was rated between 4.1 and 4.6 across the carrier categories. It's interesting to note that On-time Performance scores were up over 2007 in many of the Motor Carrier categories.

The second most critical attribute again this year was Value, followed by Customer Service. And for the second year in a row we found that shippers are putting just a bit more importance on a carrier's Equipment & Operations than on the level of Information Technology offerings. Considering that our 2008 Software Survey found that more and more shippers have spent more time and money upgrading their own IT and communications—including more on-demand solutions—this should not come as too much of a surprise.

After readers have ranked these key attributes in order of importance, they then grade each provider that they currently use on each of the five core Quest for Quality attributes, rating them on a scale of one to three (1=poor, 2=average, 3=outstanding). To produce a weighted score, the research team then multiplies the provider's average scores for each attribute by the attribute's ranking.

Next, the weighted scores are calculated for all five attributes for a given vendor are added together to create an aggregate number. Companies score a quality win when their total scores exceed the average total weighted score in their category.

But, remember, providers must receive a minimum number of reader responses to qualify for a win—at least 5 percent of the total base for the category.

In addition to rating the performance of individual companies, the Quest for Quality survey also explores shippers' relationships with their core carriers—that select group of vendors to whom readers tender most of their business. Again in 2008, we asked readers to share their core-carrier relationship experiences.

As more and more shippers went out to bid, we found that the percentage of shippers using core carriers was down from our 2007 findings in every category except South/South Central LTL, Truckload-Bulk, Truckload-Industrial/Heavy-Haul, Truckload-Expedited, Rail/Intermodal, and Air Cargo (See Figure 2). These six categories saw subtle upticks or stayed even with last year's percentages.

So, after reporting last year that we had seen a near-record jump into the core carrier concept during late 2006 into 2007, it appears that a considerable number of shippers started to turn their backs in late 2007 and early 2008. Like last year, the Surface Package category led the way, with 75 percent reporting they're hopelessly devoted to a select few. The National LTL category, however, saw the biggest drop in percentage of core carrier usage, going from 70 percent of respondents in 2007 to 60 percent in 2008.

Multinational LTL, Midwest/North Central LTL, and Ocean Carriers came in second with 66 percent of the shippers responding in those categories reporting that they remain devoted to the core. And while those scores were relatively high, that number represents a drop from last year's core usage in each of those categories.

Next, we asked respondents to appraise those core relationships in order to gauge whether shippers experience higher levels of satisfaction in partnership arrangements. As a general rule over the many years of Quest for Quality, shippers have nearly always given higher quality ratings to their core carriers than their non-core carriers across every mode—and this year was no exception. Across every single category we found that the core satisfaction scores were higher than the overall satisfaction scores.

The good news this year is that we're actually seeing a troubling short-term trend being reversed. Last year the findings revealed that Overall Satisfaction and Core Satisfaction scores were trending downward over a two year period. Well, this year we find that just about every Overall and Core Satisfaction score has improved by almost a full point over 2007 results across the board, a sign that the nation's shippers are seeing overall service improvements.

What group of shippers are the most satisfied? Shippers who use Truckload-Industrial/Heavy-Haul report the highest Overall Satisfaction (35.71) and Core Satisfaction (40.24) scores this year, followed closely by Truckload-Expedited with an Overall score of 35.93 and a Core score of 38.81.

Editor's note: The editorial staff of Logistics Management would like to thank the near-record number of readers who took time out of their busy days to complete and submit the 2008 Quest for Quality ballots. Your time, effort, and insight have helped Logistics Management maintain the Quest for Quality as the premier benchmark study for logistics and transportation quality and service over the past 25 years.

In accordance with tradition, Logistics Management will hold an awards dinner following the final day of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Annual Conference. This year's event will be on Wednesday, October 8, at the Hyatt Regency Denver Convention Center. The Quest for Quality awards dinner is one of the most anticipated evenings on the logistics and supply chain calendar. Our entire staff will be on hand to congratulate the 2008 Quest for Quality winners.

Full reports that include the scores for all of the carriers that were ranked in the survey are available for purchase from Logistics Management. Reports may be purchased on an individual basis for $99 or as a complete set for $550.