The Transportation Management System (TMS) is fundamental for contemporary supply chain and logistics enterprises.
TMS is a tailored software designed to assist in planning, executing, and optimizing freight shipments. It mainly undertakes three functions:
Identify shippers and compare prices
Book shipments at the lowest rates
Track & monitor the shipment’s progress
TMS allows real-time visibility into the supply chain, improves shipping efficiency, and cuts back costs. You can increase the efficiency of your entire shipping process and improve customer service significantly.
Today, we will find out how TMS helps businesses ship and manage their operations efficiently. But before that, let’s touch upon the importance of a transportation management system.
Benefit 1: Increased customer service
Benefit 2: Increased warehouse efficiency
Benefit 3: Cash flow improvement
Today’s customers aren’t willing to wait. Adapt your business to align with their expectations.
The logistics and supply chain business is witnessing high demand. Parcel deliveries are expected to increase by 17% to 21% each year between 2017 and 2021. Same-day shipments will account for a 50% rise in logistics costs relative to revenue.
On top of this, standards have been set by programs like Amazon Prime! How do modern logistics businesses ensure top customer service at cost-effective shipping rates?
Like many shipping companies, you can also implement a transportation management system to rise above the challenges. TMS is ideal for use by shippers, carriers, and logistics providers and also utilized by other businesses like-
e-Commerce
Manufacturing
Wholesales
Retailers
Third-party logistics providers
TMS is now recognized as an enabler of global trade and logistics, helping your business achieve growth along the way.
Transportation management software has four core functionalities-
Freight management is one of the top priorities of logistics and supply chain companies. Managing freight effectively reduces waste, eliminates excess costs, and speeds up your whole operations through technologies like automation.
TMS provides real-time rate updates from multiple carriers, allowing for effortless comparison. Negotiate and handle rates from one platform, eliminating the need to contact various carriers. A TMS can effortlessly manage tens of thousands of carriers.
Furthermore, a transport management system is also useful to automate workflow and reduce paper processes. You can take advantage of load tendering, order management, and other advanced features too.
Effortlessly execute tasks with TMS. You can make bookings in real-time, and perform essential functions of freight management. The transportation management system software also gives you real-time visibility into your goods’ movement, allowing tracking at any moment.
You can even access all shipping-related information from a single place and share necessary details with customers and clients. The solution also lets you communicate with drivers and track time and distance remotely.
The dashboard gives you a complete picture of your operations to make informed business decisions.
Optimizing the shipping process is one of the main goals of TMS software. Your TMS will provide all the necessary data and analytics to leverage your shipping process and deliver goods quickly at the most affordable rates.
By leveraging your TMS, you can efficiently utilize resources, especially when optimizing less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments. Your fleet can also cut down on fuel and labor costs by strategizing multi-leg journeys and minimizing empty distances between delivery points.
The analytics from TMS can be linked with business intelligence applications for in-depth analysis. The insights will help you dig deep into your logistics operations, identifying crucial trends and behaviors.
Administration features in your TMS allow you to manage transport and logistics workflows effectively. It comes with robust documentation and reporting features to achieve compliance and eliminate paper-based tasks. You can enjoy several features like-
Billing
Payment processing
Invoice generation
Generating bill of loading
Track payments
Advanced transport management systems also handle settlement by confirming freight milestones like pickup, delivery, and transit time. Additionally, you can assess customer demand through the data provided by your TMS.
How does your business benefit from implementing TMS? Let’s find out!
A transport management system helps you reduce freight costs in multiple ways. You can shop for the best rates and make considerable savings. Optimizing routes and balancing loads further cut down your freight charges. Real-time analytics and accurate fleet data ensure the best utilization of resources.
TMS streamlines freight management and workflows, leading to additional savings. By adopting TMS and automating tasks that are labor-intensive, you can notably reduce expenses.
TMS allows for real-time fleet tracking. On a GPS-enabled map, you can identify each driver’s location, and observe routes, delivery spots, and other pertinent details. Enhanced visibility of your fleet leads to more efficient management and improved productivity.
Monitoring drivers enables route optimization and effective scheduling. You can find available drivers and allocate tasks as needed. With this tracking, evaluating driver performance and offering feedback becomes straightforward.
If unfamiliar with transportation management software, consider how you track a driver when booking an Uber or Lyft. TMS tracking operates on similar principles.
TMS ensures a seamless supply chain operation, enabling you to make on-time deliveries. Your customers can track deliveries and stay updated on the progress. The predictive analytics of TMS allows you to send accurate delivery notifications to your customers like late deliveries.
Furthermore, TMS bridges the gap between order management and warehouse operations, enhancing efficiency. It allows for the consolidation of customer orders to secure the most favorable shipping rates.
TMS helps you provide on-demand, personalized service to your customers. This transparency keeps customers well-informed, leading to increased satisfaction.
A TMS enables real-time tracking of your order and delivery lifecycle. By using this data, you can enhance forecast accuracy and boost supply chain transparency.
A transportation management system organizes your warehouse effectively. It simplifies inventory management through precise tracking of goods, whether in transit or stored. This leads to enhanced process efficiency.
Shipment accuracy is improved with TMS, as it lessens manual data entry. The system also cuts down on paper tasks, leading to a smoother workflow.
Overall, TMS implementation can elevate warehouse efficiency and productivity.
You can get a bird’s eye view of your entire supply chain through advanced transportation management software. The system also provides access to real-time information and full visibility into your operations. Managers can also use the solution to take advantage of any opportunity and resolve any issues that may head your way.
Additionally, the capability to monitor orders, drivers, and inventory enhances efficiency.
TMS can help you save precious employee hours through its features. It eliminates paperwork and automates lengthy tasks. Shippers receive timely information, keeping them updated and allowing them to inform customers.
The system further streamlines tasks by comparing rates and shippers from one platform. You don’t need to scroll through endless pages of spreadsheets anymore! Customers benefit as well, utilizing self-service portals for their information needs.
So if you want to save time and always make strategic decisions, a TMS can go a long way to fulfill that objective.
By employing TMS, your company can enhance its delivery capabilities and refine shipping methods. For instance, introducing shipping programs like point distribution can boost efficiency and reduce expenses. Another example would be creating inbound programs between the various locations of your company.
Using a TMS, you can effortlessly produce a master bill of lading. Then you can utilize individual logins at multiple locations to manage everything from one place.
A transportation management system software streamlines the planning and execution of capabilities. So if you have any new programs in mind, it’s time to implement them through TMS.
The future of TMS is vast, with the technology set to become even more robust and packed with features. Presently, TMS providers are integrating IoT to offer comprehensive fleet details, including driving conditions and metrics like fuel usage.
Additionally, TMS will embrace machine learning and AI to enhance predictive insights, aiding businesses in precise planning and reducing risks for perishables such as dairy or meat. Customer-centric additions, such as chatbots, are becoming increasingly prevalent in TMSs. Moreover, blockchain is emerging to boost visibility and accountability in the supply chain. TMS will prove essential for logistics businesses, promoting trade and freight transport across regions and borders.
We are Fretron, India’s 1st cloud-based, collaborative Transport Management System, which connects Shippers, Logistic Service Providers, and Fleet Owners to enable a simpler, efficient & responsive logistics network.
Address: 7th Floor Plot 55P, Institutional Area, Sector 44, Gurugram, Haryana 122003
Email: sales@fretron.com
Phone: 9711799111
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