Transportation operations have become more complicated. Fuel price fluctuations, changing toll charges, customer expectations, last-minute changes and planning difficulties could negatively affect efficiency and profitability.
But choosing the right Transport Management System (TMS) can help logistics service providers solve many of these issues. Modern TMS can minimize manual work, plan transportation more effectively, increase visibility and control transportation costs.
1. Provide Customers with Real-Time Information
The modern customers demand reliable ETAs and communication. However, manual provision of constant information updates can create additional work for transport teams.
Relevant transportation events can be communicated with customers automatically. Thus, you don’t need to update your customers manually.
Here are some benefits:
In real-time information can help you improve transparency and reduce administrative work related to customer updates.
2. Plan Your Transportation More Accurately With Smart Route Calculations
The accuracy of route calculations can influence transportation schedules, costs and margins.
The newest TMS features use up-to-date map information, vehicle profiles, toll regulations and emission data in route calculations.
It can help you to achieve:
Thus, accurate route calculations can help you plan your transportation operation before the vehicle departs.
3. Secure Your Margins from Fluctuating Fuel Prices
Fluctuations of fuel prices make accurate fuel surcharge calculation crucial for transportation business.
Manual calculation can create additional administrative work and increase the risks of missed or wrong surcharges. But automatic diesel fuel surcharge clause can calculate the required surcharge and add it to transport order and invoicing process.
It can help you to get:
The automated fuel calculation allows minimizing repetitive work and control transportation costs.
4. Greater Clarity For Transport Planners
Transport planners take decisions all day long. There can be order modifications, vehicle unavailability and other deviations which impact planning.
The updated visual planning screen combines orders, trips, drivers and vehicles in one overview. This way transport planners can see available capacity, possible bottlenecks and areas which need attention.
As a result it may bring:
Greater clarity in the process of planning can help logistics service providers adapt to the changes while controlling transportation operations on daily basis.
5. Prevent Toll Costs From Reducing Profit Margins
International transportations are associated with variable toll rates. With growing number of European countries introducing tolls for trucks, it is becoming increasingly important to calculate them precisely and pass them to customers.
If the toll rates are calculated manually, there is a chance that these costs will not be charged or calculated incorrectly.
Automated toll calculation can calculate toll costs depending on the route and add them to the order and invoice automatically.
It can provide:
Automated toll calculation can help logistics service providers keep control over their costs and avoid reduction of transportation margins.
6. Standardize Complex Bulk and Tank Transport Processes
Bulk and tank transportations require special knowledge about products, equipment and other requirements. In case this knowledge is possessed only by individual employees, it is hard to assure standardization and scalability.
Features such as Additional Goods, Address Bulk Storage Units and Transport Equipment allow to store this information centrally and use it when planning, executing and administrating orders.
It may lead to:
By structuring operational data in the TMS, logistics service providers can achieve transportation process standardization.
Smart Ways to Optimize Your Transportation Operation
Transportation companies face increasing customer expectations, margin pressure and complex planning needs.
Advanced TMS systems help logistics service providers deal with these problems thanks to better visibility, automation of repetitive tasks and more precise transportation planning.
The capabilities listed above help you to:
Transportation Management Systems of today are not only means to plan the trips. They help to build a transportation operation as a whole, connecting planning, execution, cost and administration processes.
For transportation companies wishing to optimize their transportation and have more control over operations, adoption of these smarter TMS capabilities can be a key step towards building a more efficient transportation operation.
Reach out today and let’s start discussing your business goals. Connect with us now to explore how our solutions can elevate your business operations.
