Loader TMS: control your costs and guarantee your ROI

Transportation is a key process within logistics and represents a significant expenditure item for companies. It also has a strategic role and plays an active part in a company’s competitiveness, quality of service and customer satisfaction.

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Ever-more demanding consumers are expecting rapid, high-quality services with real-time information on the carriage of their parcels. Expectations for not only speed, but also visibility and information are becoming increasingly important to consumers. As a result, loaders need to incorporate flexibility and responsiveness into their commitments to customers and leverage all available opportunities to achieve those goals.

Controlling the cost of transportation therefore becomes a priority. However, it is difficult to embark on this task without a suitable tool. On the one hand, the Supply Chain is

undergoing a digitization process from start to finish, specifically in the form of WMS, however when it comes to transportation, the equipment rate is still relatively low. The maturity levels of the WMS and TMS markets are not comparable. The equipment rate for loaders is thought to be just 20 to 25 %: that’s low.

The issue: diverse TMS offerings and too many companies believing that TMS is only intended for large operators, which is not the case. These solutions are increasingly modular and can now be acquired over time, which reduces the initial investment cost and allows them to be adopted by the smallest stakeholders thanks to a rapid ROI.

WHY IS TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT ESSENTIAL?

At present, a great many loaders manage their transportation activities manually and do not necessarily appreciate the significant loss of revenue represented by their failure to strictly control their transportation activities.

In addition to the cost in terms of human processing time (paper, spreadsheets, double/triple entry, etc.), the manual aspect of processing involves potential risks of billing errors and a lack of traceability for operations, as well as having an impact on quality and customer satisfaction. In a digital age where reputations spread quickly, retaining complete end to end control of your key operations ensures customer satisfaction and competitiveness in both price and technical capability.

Lack of traceability

Lost time

Customer disappointment

Billing errors

Poor quality

Lack of competitiveness

Designed for all companies seeking to optimize their transportation activities, the features of the loader TMS enable transportation activities to be managed. The TMS is modular, has a wealth of features and can be deployed gradually. Certain functions should be activated as a priority if you are seeking to obtain an immediate increase in efficiency and a rapid ROI.

We recommend that you initially focus on the grouping modules, financial modules (pre-invoicing and billing control) and the Track & Trace module. Once deployed, these functions will allow you to take the three key steps that will lead to complete control of your transportation..

Optimize transportation with a grouping function

First of all, it is essential to tackle the optimization of costs using the grouping function. Grouped together in an efficient and deliberate manner, orders are then automatically allocated to the lowest-bidding carrier, i.e. the least expensive. Grouping orders together will enable trailers to be better filled and thus achieve the best allocation and a reduction in the price of transportation. This mechanism will help you save 1 to 3% on your transportation budget. Please note that there are different grouping engines, depending on whether you are working with express courier services or freight.

Control costs thanks to pre-invoicing and billing control

Controlling transportation costs consists of ensuring that your carrier’s billing actually matches what you have shipped. This seems obvious, but when managed manually using spreadsheets, this task produces numerous errors potentially resulting in payment for services that have never been provided. Cumulatively, these minor errors can ultimately represent a significant cost which weighs heavily on the daily transportation budget.

Only automatic billing control will enable these errors to be reduced and allow you to achieve savings of 2 to 5 % on your transportation budget.

Quality control

It is important to ensure the service provided by the carrier will enable you to meet your customer commitments. Tracking your shipments via a collaborative portal, managing events and uncertainties, as well as providing your customers with complete visibility are all advantages which will allow you to fulfill your promises to your customers and provide a high quality of service.

This will help you reduce calls to your call center by up to 30%.

ROI in terms of direct costs

following the implementation of a TMS, you will rapidly experience a significant reduction in costs thanks to the grouping function and improved transportation allocation. Billing control, as well as reviewing KPIs, will provide more relevant leverage when negotiating the purchase of transportation services.

ROI in terms of overheads

overheads comprise multiple data entries, as well as time spent checking the accuracy of invoices. The TMS allows these tedious and time-consuming tasks to be dispensed with and personnel to be reassigned to higher value-added roles.

ROI in terms of customer relations

the improvement in transportation quality has a direct and positive influence on customer relations, retention and overall satisfaction.

Transportation is a key link in the Supply Chain, the quality of which has a direct and not insignificant impact on customer satisfaction. Within the framework of pure-player activities, it is actually the only link between the seller and the end customer, hence the need to do everything to ensure it is flawless at a time when negative opinions spread quickly. In another respect, we have also highlighted the significant burden of the transportation budget for a company and, despite this, a very large number of loaders are still poorly equipped.

The use of a TMS solution is an effective response and one that is extremely interesting, above all from the point of view of the rapid ROI it generates. What better way to restore transportation to its true role as a means of boosting competitiveness.