For any company in the logistics industry, an effective Transport Management System (TMS) is a useful tool. An up-to-date TMS can improve a business’s overall operations and help a logistics company improve customer service delivery with time.
A freight and logistics company can benefit from a TMS in many ways. Apart from helping the company move the freight from one point to the next in a cost-effective manner, it also helps keep field service agents updated. Here are other benefits of a TMS you should look out for:
1. Reduces freight spend
How much you spend on freight is greatly influenced by the time spent on the route. An effective TMS helps in route selection and planning. It provides useful data for routing that helps drivers pick the shortest route, reducing freight services’ cost at the end. An effective TMS enables you to save between 10-20% of the total freight spend.
2. Better customer services
A reliable Transport Management System improves customer services by monitoring all services in real-time. The system can quickly locate the shipment’s exact location and estimate the distance to the client’s site.
TMS also provides useful information to customers on-demand, helping them to plan for the reception of their order. It also increases customer service where customers can find accurate information on their shipment right on their phones or computer.
3. Warehouse efficiency
A company that uses a TMS reduces the time spent on freight management, creating more time for warehousing. You also reduce the day’s entry error when you have a TMS integrated into other systems such as the ERP.
When you spend less time correcting entries in the Warehouse Management System, you improve your productivity. It is easy getting insights on supply chain visibility once you combine TMS into your warehouse management system.
4. Better planning for inventory
With a reliable TMS, your company is assured that client orders are delivered to their doorsteps on time. TMS can update you that your customers are receiving their orders as scheduled.
This enables you to plan your inventory. When you have many customers placing their orders online, you have to keep in touch with them and be updated on receipt of every shipment. A TMS enables you to forecast how your inventory should be increasing so that your customers do not miss anything.
5. Improved supply chain
Your business can quickly increase its productivity when it easy to track drivers, inventory, and workers out in the field. This way, you can reduce inefficiencies in the supply chain and boost your overall productivity. You also save a lot when using a reliable TMS in your business.
Final Thoughts
A Transport Management System (TMS) is useful in many ways to a company. It helps a freight company analyze customer reports, centralize orders, gain visibility on shipment and fleet, and analyze all orders. Most TMS comes with a simple dashboard that helps freight managers to analyze supplier scoreboards and trace orders with a click of a button.
