Get an Insight into the Efficacy of Transportation Management System

Transportation is one of the most integral parts of the supply chain processes. Smaller businesses starting with a few shipments involved with their operations can use phone calls and spreadsheets to handle transportation. But, when your business grows, you must switch to something more advanced other than Excel sheets for controlling the transportation process.

Hence, this is where technology plays an important role! Transportation Management System (TMS) is software that will help businesses plan and execute the movement of goods. Let’s follow this article to learn more about TMS, its benefits, features, and main providers.

Understanding the Transportation Management System (TMS)

All supply chain members were timely using TMS software, from manufacturers to distributors to third-party logistics providers. Any party involved in handling the shipment attributes of the business can use the TMS software.

The purpose of a TMS is to obtain the data in association with the goods in real-time. And it is possible with the use of EDI or API technology. Thus, the users will get detailed data about the entire process while the product travels from manufacturers to distribution centers to the customers.

The data acquired through the TMS software can further be used for running analytics on the performance of your supply chain, customer service issues, and financial aspects. Hence, this is where you will optimize your business to streamline the supply chain and other operational aspects.

There are two user groups associated with the Transportation Management System Software. The first group consists of distributors, manufacturers and shippers. The second group consists of third-party logistics providers.

A web app development company or a TMS vendor will offer you the same platform for both user groups, as the usability perspective matters most. The TMS software is modular, which means the user groups can enable the functions depending on their specific needs.

Features of a Transportation Management System

All businesses that have logistics in their operations will need TMS, at one point in time or another, to improve the efficiency of their operations. It will drive the business towards productivity and help you serve the customers well. So, to help you understand its efficacy, here are some of the features of TMS software for your business:

     1. Order Management

With the help of a TMS, the order information will be feasibly accessible by almost all parties involved in a shipping procedure. The drivers, planners and even the customers can access this information. It supports you with order entry and order overview.

You can enable a manual or automated order entry process, where all of the important details of a shipment will be entered. The details will include weight, current location, destination and others. The system will automatically generate a feasible route, assign the transportation and allot a driver for the process.

The ETA will also be calculated concerning the distance between the source and the destination. If your TMS software is integrated with that of the WMS software, then the order will automatically be shared with the scheduled logistics team for commencing with the transportation.

Once the orders are created with routes and drivers, they will be accessible by the drivers and planners through the dashboard. They will be able to see and accept the workload for the day. The drivers will keep updating the order status over time, and the planners can see the order location and scheduling changes in real time.

Read more: How to Hire Developers for Your TMS System Development?

     2. Powerful Optimization

Today, you might find a lot of TMS solutions in the market, but there are only a few of them that has optimization engines within them. The purpose of the optimization engines is to help the software decide on the best route plans to make the delivery seamless.

Moreover, these optimization aspects embedded into the TMS software intend to save overhead costs and maximize the capacity of vehicles. The TMS software should be integrated with load and route optimization programs.

     3. Integrating with OMS, WMS or ERP Systems

TMS enables businesses to integrate it with other software solutions, such as WMS, OMS or ERP. With this, the businesses will get real-time insights into the products, from purchase to transportation and inventory.

With such integrations, the distributors and manufacturers will have end-to-end visibility over all warehouse and shipping functions, such as record access, ledger information, order processing and other processes. Hence, this will help them with better coordination and planning.

     4. Offers Business Intelligence and Reports

The reports are considered one of the simplest forms of conveying crucial business information to all the involved parties within a shipping process. The TMS software mostly has ideal reporting tools like dashboards, charts, and specialized maps. With such tools, sharing vital analysis and data will be easy, which would greatly help the business adapt to trends.

     5. Tendering

The shipments are tendered automatically over the TMS software. The list of carriers will be organized so that you can access the vendors depending on your specific parameters. You can also enable the automated features over TMS to make it find the right carrier for the shipment. Some of the tendering strategies enabled with the TMS systems are as follows:

• Least Cost Tendering

TMS will choose the lowest possible rate and expand the offer to other carriers.

• Allocation Tendering

TMS will use the specified contractual percentages or the load numbers for assigning the job to any carrier.

• Customer-Based Tendering

TMS will assign the job to a carrier that the customer prefers on priority.

• Service-Based Tendering

TMS will pick only those carriers for the job who have been rated as the best-performing.

• Auto-Award Tendering

In this case, the TMS will assign the shipments to only a group of specific carriers.

Related Guide: Reduce Software Development Costs With Dedicated Developers

Benefits Associated with Transportation Management System

You know how the TMS software functions towards streamlining logistics operations. Following that, if you intend to learn how TMS is beneficial for your business, then here are a few of the areas where it eases your job:

     1. Improved Customer Service

The need of customers to get lightning-fast deliveries can now be attended to with a proficient TMS system Development.

     2. Better Warehouse Productivity

With TMS, you will spend less time managing the freight, so that you can spend more effort and time on warehousing operations. Thus, increasing productivity! Integration of TMS with WMS will also ease the management efforts further.

     3. Constant Track of the Deliveries

You will always have a track of where the shipments are during the entire transit period.

     4. Lowered Shipping Costs

A Transportation Management System Software will help find the best and fastest route, reducing overhead costs, fuel consumption and overtime costs of the driver. Hence, the shipping costs will be saved.

     5. Minimum Documentation

You will save time and money as you will automate most administrative tasks. As a result, the amount of paper documentation will be reduced, and there won’t be any invoicing or billing mistakes.

     6. Accurate Fulfilment of Orders

Using TMS enables you to boost shipping accuracy to a massive extent. With supply chain insight and real-time tracking features, you can eventually fulfill the orders with utmost accuracy. Shipping mistakes won’t hamper your customer satisfaction rates anymore.

     7. Proper Dock Scheduling

Dock scheduling is more efficient with enabled TMS systems because of the predictable planning and execution of the transportation of shipments. The waiting times are reduced while aligning the deliveries with the dock schedules.

Read Also: How to Hire Full Stack Developers for Your TMS Software Development?

The Main Providers of Transportation Management System

Here are some of the major providers of TMS systems that you can use:

     1. Descartes Aljex

It is a SaaS-based TMS for all third-party logistics companies and brokers. It is a cloud-based software with a list of shippers, intermodal users and 3PLs, who will orchestrate your shipments.

     2. MyCarrierTMS

It is another popular TMS that allows shippers to streamline and automate the shipping process. The digital cost savings rate increases as the software allows you to compare transit times and shipment rates of various carriers before choosing one.

     3. GoComet

It is an intuitive and easy-to-use TMS that allows global businesses to automate their logistics solutions profitably. You get to enable effortless automation from the warehouse to customers’ doorstep.

Conclusion

This article gave you a brief insight into the important parameters associated with a TMS system Software. Even though there are several TMS systems available across the global market, you can still get one developed per your preferences and requirements. Hire dedicated developers and assign them to develop a perfect TMS based on your specific business attributes.

Ensure the web app development company you hire implements all of the analytics, intelligence, automation and other features within your TMS. You will eventually see how brilliantly your business takes off and gets you immense customer satisfaction.