Transportation or Logistics Management has a wide variety of aspects, but fundamentally it exhibits two basic function shipping spend and process. The data usually are fractured into pieces, and there is no translucent pipeline of how the money and time flow through these pipes. Transportation management company promises to bring down the cost and time, and also provide lucid accounts.
As per the transportation management definition, it deals with the very aspect of control and functions on the pillars of transport management. They deal with shipping and spending processes and various other tributaries. The logistics are an integral part and circles around executing and planning. It starts at point A and ends at point B. Point A being the place of origin and B. ending the place of consumption. The main aim of this is to determine a smooth flow from point A to B, keeping in mind customer requirements.
Transportation Management System works via leveraging the shipments, negotiations with carriers, invoicing and many more. Doing this they almost stand immune to the fluctuating scenarios of the industry. Here we highlight detailed discussion on how a transportation management company escalates the freight capacity to add it to the advantage of the shippers and supply chain partners.
Understanding Transportation Management
A transport management requires a system which logs, thus making it easier for people at the opposite ends to acknowledge, making the transaction smooth and efficient with, the information available on your screen one does not have to contact the driver or the person concerned ceaselessly, thus saving time. The person in charge can make necessary changes if he sees something incomprehensible along the way. The knowledge provided by the driver, which includes his location as well as the situation, can be handled more curatively when one has information.
Thus, transport management functions with logistics (inventory management and transportation) and customer service. A smooth flow among these decides the capacity of the freight. If these sectors, are managed efficiently the freight capacity increases. Technology plays a big part in these sectors. They network with each other and bring information which is used in turn to keep a clear knowledge about the intricacies of the management, making it easier to flow. It helps in running the company smoothly without much hassle.
Components of Logistics Management
Customer Service
Customer Service has various dimensions and is a crucial part of logistics. The customer service deals with the various wants of the customers. So, they don’t have to play a role in the complexity of the work.
Inventory Management
Inventory management comprises storing, ordering and using company inventory which includes raw materials, finished products, components, etc.
Transportation
Transportation includes the movement of goods, whether it’s the raw material from the source or finished product being shipped out to customers.
Technology is one of the most important elements which aid available capacity to a much larger extent. Technology helps to encapsulate various elements of transport management.
Clear knowledge about loading and tracking brings a drastic change in this process. These technologies have been used by large carriers for a large period of time, but what brings a change is the information from the surroundings, that provides information to the broker and the shipper. The customers might not be interested in where the object will arrive but they do show interest in when it will arrive and how it will arrive.
Why Securing Available Capacity is a Challenge for Shippers?
The situation originates from the basic circumstances of struggling in safeguarding the limited source of capacity across all the platforms by the shippers. On the other hand, freight consolidation and deconsolidation programs have contributed in helping shippers to have returned from the value of additional modes. However, the basic solution of capacity remains rigid and tight and additionally, the crushing force of expectations of having an escalated demand in e-commerce pushes to the edges of the current system.
As the demand kept on increasing with each passing year, the rise in the number of trucks was equally more as per the last year. Coming as part of the consequences, shippers kept on investing their money in buying private fleets. Apart from that, they are also open to partner with the transportation management company.
As per the Logistics management statistics, the data as of 2018 is pretty much server and noted to be having a significant crunch due to lack of capacity however, the picture is quite much the opposite as of 2019; however the productive need of increasing capacity remains the same and estimated to be so in the coming future as well.
Expanding Available Vendor Choices with TMC Partnership
Although the conceptual fact of tying up with a third party vendor such as a sounded and reputed transportation management company is not new, yet the prospective aspects of leveraging services and technology verticals are not deniable. As per one of the very well-known and famous logistic management case study, it was found out that the higher demands for TMS collaborations was happening and growing at twice the rates it used to be. This was analyzed to be an obvious outcome for getting lowered freight rates.
Implementing this has also brought in various other benefits including enhancements and efficacies of order tendering. Shippers these days turn to their partnered transport management companies in need of more capacity and secure the same. However, there is a significant dispute as a consequence of this. With TMS growing at such a mushrooming rate, carriers have realized that they are losing out on money.
To explain this in a few more words, shippers were in no more direct collaborative terms with carriers after the inception of Transportation Management Companies. Quote, obviously carriers faced the challenge of putting in money for the middle players and eventually it was unacceptable. Stating data from a survey done for the last two years, carriers have got their rates increased by a meager value amount of 4% in a year. But the current year is re-shaping the potentials of setting new records due to the growth in e-commerce.
Shippers are somewhere forced to re-evaluate their prevailing partnerships with transportation management companies due to the market estimation of hike in carrier rates in the coming next three years. For increasing spot market freight rates they will turn towards robust a platform that benefits them in a much broader sense than the simple transport management system integration. These benefits are primarily all kinds of value-add-ons services and include freight invoice auditing, managing inbound logistics, after-hours scheduling and much more.
Benefits of Partnering with a Transport Management Company
Under this context there are multiple ways of why partnering with a TMC adds shippers’ benefits:
Increase of Capacity
One of the primary advantages of working with a transport management company is the basic goal of obtaining more capacity. Considered as the best option by so far of increasing freight capacity, shippers always look out for this benefit by partnering with a transportation management company.
Expanding Vendors’ Reach
The second most optimal advantage is increasing the vendor base. With the freight capacity being increased, the streamlining of business comes on naturally and therefore reaching out to more vendors is a prospective result for partnering with TMCs.
Streamlining Formal Actions
The necessary legal actions like enhancing the recordkeeping process get much better with an improved agreement that has a strict formulated list of regulations.
Digitized Approach
The transportation management companies have the privilege of engaging with the latest model of technologies and therefore add benefits to the shippers in having less hassle with managing operations manually.
Tender Shipments
Shippers nowadays spend less on freights due to their partnered advantages. Additionally with this, getting an easy hold of tender shipments has come into the scene with the minimal amount of reduction in the errors.
Access to Analytical Data
As a consequence of transportation management companies having access to the latest technological advancements, they will leverage shippers with important insights are known as analytics to give them the scope to evaluate the current progress and errors. As a result, this will automatically empower shippers to gain the full authority of their business operations.
Freight Enhancement
Shippers partnering with the leading transportation management companies will allow them to make their freight more attractive.
Third-Party Benefits
One of the most crucial elements of partnering with TMCs is that shippers not just have guaranteed better services but also gain on having good rates through corporate or volume buying capacity of third parties.
Supply Chain Effectuality
Increasing supply chain efficiency is one such benefit of being partnered with a transportation management company since the access to track drivers; inventory is all that you gain productively. This will boost production and reduces inefficiencies.
Expert Inventory Management
Transportation management companies are capable of helping shippers with enhancing warehouse efficiency and productivity. Accommodating with the continua flow of the incoming as well as the outgoing process of inventory, a well-organized warehouse is something very crucial. This action also denotes being an integral part of the logistics process.
When in collaboration with a transportation management system, you can formulate a registered record of orders and track their geo-location in the warehouse or the transit or even at the time of their arrival. This will empower users to go through the processes of their respective logistics and have an escalated amount of credibility already identified.
Enhancing Customer Service
A sounded transportation management company contributes to improving customer service levels with the accessibility to scrutinize and monitor the performances happening currently. Due to the potential of locating the geo-location of the shipments and mapping the distance from its destination source, the assurance from the customers’ point of view raises automatically.
To understand the technicality of this situation, this happens due to the set up of an online portal on which customers can view their shipments’ progress updates and can be well-informed about the same. As a result, it elevates customer services efficiently.
Real-Time Tracking
With the transportation management system leveraging shippers to track drivers and shipments, this must be noted here that all of it happens in real-time. Providing end to end details to managing it up all real-time tracking is something that can be phenomenal for every logistics company.
At the crux of operations, the safety and security of each shipment getting delivered to their destination source is the primary objective that needs to designate. Such minute details like the amount of time taken on a route are taken into consideration for analyzing the efficiency of a route schedule.
Amongst the multiple advantages that can be listed out here in support of transportation management companies being partnered with shippers, the above-mentioned are the most significant ones. All of these play a pivotal role to gain worthy returns in a competitive logistics and transportation industry competition and empower business continuity. However, what is vital for shippers to always make a note is the identification, evaluation, and analysis of the right and successful ready-to-partner logistics partner.
Expanding Capabilities with Right Partner
One of the most kernel points that must be admitted is to bring on an upsurge in freight management which is essential tough. In this growing age of competition with countless brands struggling at the global platform, the scenarios have become more rigid. Here the important thing to implement is to get partnered with the right and leading transportation management company.
Many logistics brands would invest in assessing or reviewing vendors based on recommendations or from some random reviews on the internet. Instead of doing these, what can be much more effectively done is to look for the potential and capability in such companies that are competent to take up the initiatives voluntarily.
Assess the information that has been put up on the public domain and also leverage from blogs that debunks the current statuses and the tricks on avoiding the pitfalls. Along with this, seek for opportunities that are easy to integrate and has an end to end solution provided.
Conclusion
Thus, with such prospective aspects of getting partnered with a transportation management company, take your logistics brand to the next level and gain the best befits existing in the market.
