You might be thinking, “Do I really need a transportation management system? I don’t feel like our process is necessarily broken. Is it really worth it? Is my company truly ready for one?” Yet, what if you could strategically reduce your overall logistics spend while transforming your team from being reactive and task-oriented to proactive and customer-oriented? What kind of impact would that have on your company’s bottom line? 

That’s exactly what I’m here to help you answer. Here are five signs that I always see when a business is ready to take the next step and invest in a transportation management system. 

Let’s dive in.

SIGN 1: Your Business Meets Any of These Qualifications

There can be some not-so-subtle signs that a business is ready to invest in a transportation management system. If your business

• has a freight spend of $1M or more,
• utilizes a mix of transportation modes,
• has multiple locations that utilize their own mix of broker and asset providers,
• procures a majority of freight via the spot market, or
• manages most of your data via Excel spreadsheets;

then consider yourself qualified!  There can also be some more subtle signs…

SIGN 2: A LACK OF EFFICIENCY

A lack of efficiency in your business directly results from a decentralized and very manual approach. Programs like Outlook and Excel were just never intended to handle a freight spend of $1 million or more. If your freight spend is $1 million or more, you’re probably working with a couple of hundred orders a month, with who knows how many stakeholders to help micromanage quotes, tenders, tracking, and tracing of shipments.

If you’re questioning whether your company has a lack of efficiency, ask yourself:

• How much time is being wasted across your organization with overwhelming manual processes?
• Does this process save you any money when it comes to freight spend?
• Do you know if you are utilizing the right carriers?
• Would contract pricing cost you less than the spot market in the long run? 

The bottom line is this is a reactive strategy focused on individuals’ tasks. To optimize your team and freight, you need a major shift towards being more proactive and customer-focused.

This is where Trinity’s transportation management system (TMS) can help you. All our Managed Transportation features a cloud-based TMS platform that creates a centralized freight command center, replacing your redundant manual processes with automation.

Our TMS helps you manage the entire life cycle of an order and we can even integrate with your order management system to truly optimize your workflow. This means no more phone calls, typing out shipment details, or wondering where your freight is or when it’s going to deliver. Technology is one of the critical aspects of our solutions here at Trinity and also a major catalyst to transforming your supply chain.

SIGN 3: SEEKING IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

Efficiency isn’t just about getting faster; it’s about getting better – creating better team performance, better carrier performance, and ultimately improving your bottom-line company performance.

Is there room for improvement in these areas for you? Are your current strategies effective? Can they be measured? You may have answers to these questions that vary from location to location. You’ll usually find some of your distribution centers are better at procuring freight than others.

While a siloed strategy may have made sense for you at one point, companies grow and change. Considering change is a constant, a more wholistic approach will typically yield a better overall cost and carrier performance for you. This is what we consider to be the process part of our solutions. Data is a key driver for the strategy on this one.

On the surface level, it will appear that you simply are spreading your freight too thin across too many carriers or brokers. At Trinity, our Team of Logistics Consultants can quickly diagnose if you are leveraging your overall volumes to the best of your ability. Through strategic sourcing and customer-specific pricing, you can yield six to ten percent savings, sometimes even more. It can also have a significant effect on improving on-time performance.

Best of all, with Trinity’s Managed Transportation, you’ll always be able to track these metrics. You’ll be able to know exactly how your teams compare to the market and are able to adapt quickly when things change. 

SIGN 4: LACKing VISIBILITY

It’s hard to overstate the importance of real-time visibility in today’s supply chain.

When a customer or sales rep asks for a delivery ETA or if the warehouse needs to know what trucks are scheduled to come in; that can all fall back on your outdated and manual processes. Things like picking up the phone, back and forth emails, creating and sharing spreadsheets, that’s just your day-to-day visibility. 

What about those overall performance metrics and being able to measure your team or your carriers? Unfortunately for many shippers, there can be too many roadblocks for effective communication and a lack of overall supply chain awareness. 

However, with the right strategy and technology, visibility can shift from a challenge to a strength. Having access to a transportation management system takes over a lot of the heavy lifting for you, acting as a virtual control tower for all logistics updates and communication.

With Trinity’s solutions, we included unlimited users who can access updates and data 24/7 via the cloud. We can even create push notifications where your team, your warehouse, and your customers can receive updates for their specific tasks automatically. For most shippers, real-time visibility has fully transitioned from an optional benefit to a business necessity – which is why Trinity brings all of this valuable information right to your fingertips. 

SIGN 5: needing BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Data has quickly become one of the world’s most valuable resources. In order to make effective decisions, proper data and analysis are needed, especially for logistics strategy or more enterprise-level decisions that reach far beyond the supply chain.

Now let’s say you do have access to good, tangible data. Even still, most likely your data is spread out among various laptops, email accounts, and carrier portals. Trying to compile complete and accurate information is difficult in itself this way, but the greater challenge is what can you do with this data?

That’s where working with Trinity Logistics comes in hand. We help compile and present a key analysis in a way that is easy for you to understand and collaborate on action steps for your company’s continuous improvement. Our customers are able to successfully leverage their data to lower costs, improve performance, and drive their company forward. There are many types of helpful reports you can expect to see such as carrier scorecards, customer profitability reports, to network analysis, and distribution projects.

take your business From Surviving to Thriving

So, are the your company’s signs pointing in the direction of a transportation management system?

If it’s looking like it may be the right time for your company to invest in solid logistics technology, then it’s time for your next step – finding the right provider. I understand you have a lot of options, but I’d like to recommend checking out Trinity’s Managed Transportation solutions.

Our solutions are completely customizable, but each comes with a cloud-based TMS, offering a wide range of capabilities to take over as your entire logistics toolbox:

• Order entry
• Tracking & notifications
• Reporting
• Load planning
• Document management
• Claims management
• Freight auditing and payment
• System integration
• Rating, tendering, and routing guide

Now, don’t just take my word – here’s what Ben at cfm Distributors Inc. had to say about working with Trinity’s Managed Transportation solution:

The best part of checking out Trinity for your future transportation management system? Your consultation is completely FREE and you’ll walk away with the knowledge about how your business can operate more efficiently and strategically with Trinity Logistics’s support. What do you have to lose?

Not quite ready for a consultation but still interested in learning more about Trinity’s TMS? Register for a brief demo of our TMS.

Optimized load planning is fundamental to improving your service and revenue.

Could your company be wasting money on a logistics strategy that doesn’t work? Efficient load planning is more critical than ever and a key performance area for any supply chain. Ideally, you want to be able to move your product to your customers while maintaining desired service levels in the most efficient way. Logistics optimization strategies such as improving your load planning processes can be an effective way to reduce freight costs by as much as 10 to 40 percent.

While this sounds great, load planning can be a very manual and time-consuming process. A transportation management system (TMS), specifically one that includes a freight optimization tool, is one way to analyze and take your load planning process from hours of manual work to minutes through automation and technology.

COMMON LOAD PLANNING TMS MISCONCEPTIONS

Before we dive into how a TMS can help you with your load planning, perhaps you’ve thought of one of these common misconceptions.

A TMS Optimizes on Its Own

First off, not all TMS platforms are the same. Some may not even offer load planning tools. It’s also important to see what kind of support is offered, as having an expert available can help provide you with more insight than the software alone.

The Optimized Load Plan Will Be Perfect Every Time

Technology is a great tool to make your logistics processes more efficient. The word to remember here is “tool”. Even a TMS with a freight optimization tool can overlook certain opportunities for freight consolidation, so it’s important to always treat your transportation technology as an aid to your load planning process and not as a full replacement for it.  

BENEFITS OF OPTIMIZED LOAD PLANNING

• Cost Savings
• Higher profitability
• Improved logistics performance
• Improved logistics collaboration
• Improved customer service

HOW A TMS HELPS OPTIMIZE YOUR LOAD PLANNING

A TMS is a powerful tool for optimizing your load planning. A TMS provides you visibility into your entire logistics process. This allows you to monitor performance and create efficient plans. It helps you with your forecasting and planning so you can find cost-saving options. A TMS can help give you a clearer picture of your entire freight network by housing all your transportation information in one system.

Now, there is a lot of transportation management software out there. To gain the most benefit for your load planning process, you’ll want to make sure you select one with a freight optimization tool.

WHY WOULD I NEED A FREIGHT OPTIMIZATION TOOL?

Anyone who has gone through the process of figuring out how to reduce shipping costs for each of their loads knows how much of a pain it can truly be. The process starts with tracking down all your open shipments, deciding what loads should be moved together, and then building, rating, and tendering those loads manually. For those who have not implemented a TMS, this is usually done with paper and pencil or an Excel spreadsheet.

Many factors go into optimizing shipments, including the number of pallets and weight of each shipment (taking trailer size into consideration), delivery availability for locations, and special services needed.

Perhaps one of the most important dynamics of building a shipment is delivery deadlines. It’s imperative to take note of whether a truck can deliver to single or multiple locations and arrive on time, factoring in the drivers’ hours of service (HOS) and loading and unloading times.

In sum, it’s a like a complex jigsaw puzzle made up of your freight, and trying to figure it out alone can be difficult.

HOW CAN A FREIGHT OPTIMIZATION TOOL HELP ME?

The freight optimization tool in a TMS will take your list of open shipments and consolidate them into loads based on the criteria specified by you. The software’s criteria encompass ship and delivery date flexibility, maximum weight per shipment, the maximum number of pieces, the number of picks and drops, driver hours, and more.

You’re also able to choose which carriers you want to include for consideration. Once these parameters are set and the optimizer has been run, you also have the capability to auto-create loads in the TMS based on the optimizer’s results.

The optimizer tool accomplishes in minutes what usually takes a person hours to calculate and configure, with the likelihood of saving money in the meantime. The top benefits here translate to both time and money saved. Gone are the days of sitting at your desk for hours with a calculator and a headache.

In summary, our TMS (and other similar products) allow you to enter all your shipments, whether it’s 20 or 1000, and will automatically calculate the most efficient way to route your shipments by combining smaller shipments into multi-drop truckloads, keeping other shipments separate, and configuring the way it all gets routed across the country. The results of the freight optimization tool include the reported cost savings and a detailed report of the loads proposed.

START OPTIMIZING YOUR LOAD PLANNING WITH TRINITY’S TMS

Logistics optimization never ends. It is a continuous process only limited by your time, technology, and commitment to improvement. And ensuring your company has access to a best-in-class TMS is the key to starting that process and finding efficiencies.

Discover how Trinity’s TMS, including its freight optimization tool, can improve your logistics processes, like load planning, helping you offer better customer service and reduce costs while increasing revenue.

Optimizing your logistics can make all the difference in your business’s bottom line. However, to fully understand your logistics processes you need to look at your logistics analytics.

To start, you’ll need access to the right technology. One such piece of technology is a transportation management system (TMS). A TMS is an excellent investment and according to Logistics Management Magazine, has been shown to reduce transportation costs by up to 30 percent.

Not interested in reading? Find out these priceless tips on improving your logistics processes.

To get the most out of a TMS and your logistics, you’ve got to know what you should be watching. All the data a TMS provides can be overwhelming and the possibilities of what you could analyze are endless. Ultimately, sifting through that data can be complex and time-consuming. So, to make things easier for you, our Team of TMS experts found the top 5 reports you should be running so you can see your best return on investment (ROI).

TOP 5 LOGISTICS REPORTS YOU NEED

• Freight Accruals
• Cost Allocation
• Carrier Scorecard
• Least Cost Carriers
• Power Lanes

Getting the data you need for a good overview of your logistics processes doesn’t need to be complicated. These reports should give you a broad view of logistics analytics to help you reach your KPIs.

Freight Accruals

Freight accruals is a report used to keep track of the costs associated with transporting your goods to a customer. These costs begin accruing from the moment the goods deliver, and they get discharged once a freight invoice is paid.

Tracking freight accruals allows your company to calculate your true net revenue at any given time. As a result, you’ll gain a better insight into any outstanding balances accumulated during a specific timeframe, whenever you may need it.

Cost Allocation

A cost allocation report breaks down your freight charges by a mile, pound, or SKU.

For any multi-stop loads, or loads made up of many POs, freight charges can be allocated to each order based on the percentage of distance, weight, or quantity the individual order contributed to the whole. Therefore, tracking your cost allocations will give your company a better look into the true cost of transporting your goods. You can then use this report to identify your most costly SKUs or lanes.

Carrier Scorecard

Carrier scorecard reporting helps you track a carrier’s performance. This will show data such as tender acceptance, on-time pickups, and on-time deliveries.

A carrier scorecard report can help you find which carriers are meeting your transportation needs and which are causing extra work. For example, carriers who bid low on a request-for-proposal (RFP), proceed to decline tenders, or provide poor service can cost your company. Without knowing how your selected motor carriers are doing, you could be facing thousands of dollars in extra expenses or, worse yet, lose customers.

By tracking your carriers’ performance, you can reevaluate your routing guide by selecting more reliable carriers on trouble lanes, improving both your costs and customer service. Additionally, this can help you set solid KPIs with your relationship carriers so you can better communicate your needs.

Least Cost Carriers

Least cost carrier reporting helps you identify loads where the carrier with the lowest cost didn’t haul the freight, the reason why, and the extra freight charges that occurred as a result.

This logistics report can help your company identify potential problem areas, resolve the underlying issues, and prevent unnecessary expenses from occurring in the future. If you’re looking to cut freight costs, this report clarifies where your missed opportunities are located.

Since cost isn’t the only factor when selecting a carrier, this report can also help you identify carriers that get repeatedly passed over despite offering lower rates. Therefore, these carriers provide you with the opportunity to work with them on a service-level agreement before you award business solely based on cost.

Power Lanes

Power lane reporting identifies new lanes and provides a benchmark for negotiating contracted rates with carriers.

You can identify a new lane as an origin-destination pairing that occurs a set number of times. Once a new lane is identified, the spot market rates paid to move that lane get broken down by load, mileage, pound, and more. This helps you have a point of reference when negotiating rates with carriers.

Identifying power lanes will help you secure fixed rates and better predict future freight costs.

Note: Most transportation management software products have the ability to run the five reports listed above. If you’re missing out on these exclusive reports, or you’re interested in a TMS for your supply chain, request a special demo with our logistics experts, who can help assess your needs!

MAKE LOGISTICS ANALYTICS MEANINGFUL

The logistics part of your business is complex and dynamic. There are lots of moving parts with many potential bottlenecks, so it’s important the metrics you report on are meaningful.

The right logistics analytics will help you measure performance, optimize routes, and streamline functions. Without the proper data, your business growth will be stagnant. There’s no way to know what needs to be changed if you don’t have visibility.

Additionally, unfound inefficiencies can impact your customer service and carrier relationships and can lead to lost sales and higher costs. Having the right logistics analytics can be one of your most powerful tools and make a big difference in your everyday business activities.

START LEVERAGING YOUR LOGISTICS ANALYTICS

According to research, 93 percent of shippers believe logistics analytics are critical to making intelligent decisions. And 71 percent believe that data improves quality and performance. Yet, too many businesses continue to use manual, time-consuming processes to analyze their logistics.

Take advantage of logistics technology and innovative logistics analytics so you can find actionable insights with the right reporting. And if you need help with your logistics analytics, we can help.

Start hitting that easy button because a TMS with Trinity can make tracking your logistics data a breeze. Not only do we understand everyone’s needs are different and offer customized solutions, but you also have the option of as much or little support from our superusers as you want.

And if you’re looking for expert advice based on your logistics analytics, Trinity offers Quarterly Business Reviews so we can help you find efficiencies.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get connected and see how we can optimize your processes.

With cold chain logistics, every product that you deal with has very specific temperature requirements that you need to adhere to. These products are ending up on tables across the entire country, so you want to make your product arrives precisely the way it needs to be so it’s safe for human consumption. Because of this, cold chain logistics can be challenging to manage, and finding reliable providers can be frustrating. There are many moving parts of the cold chain that can be hard to follow and track. It would undoubtedly be helpful to find one provider that could offer you end-to-end cold chain management, from production to delivery. And that’s what we’re here to talk about today. Burris Logistics and Trinity Logistics working together could be the solutions you’ve been looking for to simplify your cold chain management. Keep reading to find out how we work better together to serve your complete cold chain.

BURRIS LOGISTICS CAPABILITIES

Let’s start with Burris Logistics. What do they offer that can enable cold chain shippers and their businesses to thrive in the face of its complexities?

Quick Background

Burris Logistics has been around for 96 years. The company started as a produce hauler from southern Delmarva to Philadelphia. They quickly grew and expanded into the frozen food business and found their purpose as a driven food logistics provider. Today, they own 14 cold storage sites up and down the east coast and out into Midwest. Burris Logistics currently has a family of brands including Burris PRW Plus, Honor Foods, and Trinity Logistics.

TRINITY LOGISTICS CAPABILITIES

Quick Background

Trinity Logistics has been around for over 40 years. The company was started by the Banning family in Cambridge, Maryland. Throughout the years, the company grew and expanded as a non-asset-based third-party logistics company (3PL) and was acquired by Burris in 2019. The two companies saw similarities in company culture and future goals, deciding to unite for greater opportunities and offer more supply chain solutions for our customers.

Burris + Trinity = Better TogetherURRIS

What’s great for Trinity being part of the Burris Logistics family of brands is being able to offer more help to Burris customers. Trinity’s support helps Burris better assist some of the existing freight business they have for customers either coming back into their buildings or going to other places.

The addition of Trinity also offers Burris customers a wider variety of options in modes and technology, or even help outside of the cold chain. Trinity is very experienced in heavy haul moves or more complicated hazardous moves for the chemical industry. So, no matter the size of your company or freight, we have a solution for you. But, we’re here to talk about the cold chain, so let’s focus on refrigerated and frozen freight.

HOW WE CAN SERVE YOUR COLD CHAIN BETTER TOGETHER

Experience in Cold Chain

For many reasons, Burris Logistics and Trinity work well together for cold chain shippers. First off is our combined years of experience. There are certain things in cold chain you can only learn from the experience of working with temperature-controlled shipments. For example, things like picking and loading fresh produce, understanding what those temperatures are and what they need to be for storage and transit, and keeping track of those temperatures. Or understanding how to move ice cream from the West Coast and knowing that you can’t go over the mountains; that you must travel around them so as not to cause shrinkage. By having years of experience and understanding of those complex situations and small details that make or break a cold chain shipment, you can trust your temperature-controlled freight is handled safely and correctly with Burris and Trinity.

Technology

Between both Burris and Trinity, we have incredible logistics technology available, but what differentiates us from others is that we keep in mind that logistics is still a “people” business. Technology will always be a tool for our Teams to use and bring logistics solutions to other people who need them. Therefore, we try to stay away from technology just for technology’s sake and make sure what we use and offer is always a valuable solution.

Communication

Because of our years of experience, we are well-versed and experienced in many different situations. We know when and how to pivot quickly and keep business moving forward. When issues arise, we work until they are resolved and keep open communication every step of the way. Having a solid relationship with experts like Burris and Trinity will prove to be your largest asset no matter what supply chain bottlenecks you may face

Flexible, Customized Solutions

Because our two businesses offer many options while keeping business People-Centric, it means you can find a solution that’s customized for your growing business and needs and your solution can be flexible. We know the cold chain and solutions aren’t static, they are ever-changing, so you need a provider that can keep up. By working with Burris and Trinity, you’ll never have to worry about changing up your logistics plan as we’re readily equipped to accommodate any changes you may need. In addition, we can help you stay flexible as one sole provider instead of working with several.

Visibility and End-to-End Cold Chain Management

As the cold chain sector continues to grow, there’s been a growing demand for efficiency and visibility throughout the supply chain. Companies don’t like to be left in the dark when it comes to the logistics of their temperature-controlled freight. Working with Burris and Trinity can not only give you a wide range of technology to gain visibility and provide you with all the logistics services you may need, thus making your cold chain efficient and transparent. We’ll provide you with dedicated, knowledgeable experts, increased productivity and workflows, and reduced complexity by working with Burris Logistics and their family of brands instead of several different providers.

HAVE YOUR COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS TAKEN CARE OF, END-TO-END

Between Trinity and Burris, we have a substantial Team with a lot of experience in cold chain and knowledge about its potential pitfalls. As a result, we’ve created processes and different services so that we get it right the first time, every time we handle a cold chain shipment.

You can find value in our combined companies’ sizes and services offered. Cold chain logistics can be complicated and trying to do it all alone can be frustrating. That’s why we’re here to help you simplify it. You can count on Burris Logistics and Trinity to serve and support your cold chain all the way from production to delivery, and every step between.

Using transportation management software (TMS) is a powerful way to gain control and visibility over your supply chain. But trying to decide which transportation management provider to use can be overwhelming. There are so many different software platforms available and providers that offer transportation management software. How can you choose the best software and provider for you?

When starting your search for a transportation management provider, there are several questions you should ask yourself: 

• Do I want a cloud-based TMS or otherwise? 
• What capabilities do I want from the TMS? 
• Do I want a Managed Services option? 
• Am I looking for more help than just technology when it comes to my logistics? 
• Most importantly, do I want to buy the software outright or outsource it?

BREAKING DOWN THE TWO TYPES OF TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PROVIDERS

On a high level, there are two different types of companies that offer TMS products. There are software companies whose sole purpose is to develop and sell TMS software. Then there are third-party logistics (3PL) companies that offer TMS software as one element of the many other logistics and transportation services they provide. 

There are differences and advantages to working with each kind of transportation management provider. Particularly, sourcing your TMS through a 3PL provider can have some major benefits, especially for small- to medium-sized businesses.

In the past, implementing a TMS was usually out of reach if your company was not of a certain size. However, advances in transportation management software have made it an option for more companies than ever.  

For this reason, deploying a TMS can be a new experience for small- to mid-sized companies. And working directly with a software provider can be intimidating if that’s the case. Additionally, logistics may not be a core focus for smaller companies, so they might need an extra hand in determining their best solution.

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE COMPANIES

The transportation management software of today is nothing like it was years ago. However, implementing a TMS will often make it the new backbone of your supply chain. And if you’re looking to purchase software outright versus outsourcing with a 3PL, you’ll soon realize that not all transportation management software companies offer the same thing. 

When shopping around for your own transportation management software, you’ll want to look for these capabilities:

• Rating and contract management
  • This will help you with managing freight rates, sourcing, contract management, and bid RFP tools.
• Order planning
  • This will help you with routing, optimizing your delivery processes, integrating your delivery data, and getting a granular view of all transportation stages.
• Optimization
  • This will help you by offering more comprehensive load-building tools so you can identify opportunities to reduce costs, whether through consolidation, multi-stops, zone skipping, pool distribution, or other methods.
• Load Tendering
  • This helps you by automating tendering, managing your carriers, and helping turn quotes into loads.
• Tracking
  • Simple enough, this helps you by giving you end-to-end, real-time visibility.
• Reporting
  • This gives you more insightful data into your processes, so you can review expenses, carrier performance, and more to find what’s working and what’s not.
• Financials
  • This helps you by helping automate financial operations.

According to Intek, these are some of the top transportation management software providers:

3GTMS

BLUEJAY

CLOUD LOGISTICS

DESCARTES

JDA

KUEBIX

MANHATTAN

MERCURY GATE

ORACLE

SAP

TMC

TMW

TRANSPLACE

A TMS ALONE MAY NOT BE WORTH IT

Just like buying QuickBooks doesn’t automatically make you an accountant or purchasing Adobe Creative Suite doesn’t make you a graphic designer, purchasing a TMS outright doesn’t automatically make you an expert in how to use it. 

To start seeing the benefits of transportation management software, you’ll need a team of experts to use it. You’re going to need to build out a team of transportation management software specialists who can expertly use, read, and pull reporting from your new TMS. Unfortunately, the amount of expertise and support needed can be difficult to find, establish, and maintain. 

This is where you might find a greater benefit to using a transportation management software provider who does more than sell TMS software.

MAKING A CASE FOR A 3PL PROVIDER

You might think 3PL companies only handle arranging freight, but they offer so much more and can be an ideal transportation management provider.

Transportation Management Software

A 3PL can be an excellent option for a transportation management provider. Not only do you gain access to their TMS technology, you know that they will know the software inside and out as most make use of it themselves. You’ll have access to experts who know how to make use of all the tools and reporting. Additionally, many offer Managed Services with their transportation management software, meaning you could have a team of TMS specialists ready to help you from Day 1. No worries over finding, training, and retaining your own in-house team.

Access to Their Relationships

Outside of their transportation management software, you’ll also gain access to a 3PL’s relationships. This includes their carrier, vendor, and technology relationships. So, whether you need them or not, it’s still good to know that should the time come when you need some extra help, you have a 3PL on your side to support you through their built industry connections.

Expertise

Often, 3PLs have seen it all. They’ve most likely worked with many different companies, freight, and complicated situations. They’ve faced supply chain disruption, tight turnaround times, and transportation inefficiencies. Having a logistics expert like a 3PL on your side can be an exponentially significant benefit. It can be near impossible to source the type of knowledge and consultative expertise a 3PL has without directly working with one. 

Customizable Solutions

Generally, a 3PL will work with your team to deploy a system that specifically meets your needs, while a software company is more likely to offer an “out of the box” solution. That’s perfectly fine if you know exactly what you are looking for. But for smaller companies with less logistics experience, it can be overwhelming. A 3PL can help fill the knowledge gaps and ensure your investment is valuable and will have ROI.

This difference can also have an impact on the cost of implementation. Software companies tend to consider a customized solution as more work for their implementation team, which translates into person-hours, and into higher implementation fees for your company. On the other hand, an experienced 3PL can guide you through the process and advise the best options for your company, and that’s not considered an additional service. Again, this may not be required for companies with very experienced and knowledgeable logistics departments – especially if they have implemented a TMS before – but it’s extremely valuable for businesses that may be doing this for the first time.

TRINITY LOGISTICS COULD BE THE TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PROVIDER FOR YOU

Trinity Logistics is an excellent example of a 3PL that offers a TMS to its customers while also offering many other services.

At Trinity, we understand everyone’s needs are different, which is why we offer a highly configurable system. To start, we offer you three main options in transportation management software:

• Software-as-a-Service (Saas)
  • Looking just for transportation management software? Through this option, you’ll get the tech, support, and account management. 
• A managed TMS
  • Looking for a TMS and some additional support? Through this option, you’ll get TMS technology and operational support to offload your day-to-day processes.
• An Integrated outsource TMS
  • Want to fully outsource your transportation management? This option gives you the TMS plus a fully outsourced logistics team with an integrated partnership.

If none of those three options fit your business’s needs, we can further customize a solution for you, so you get exactly what you’re looking for. No matter your unique needs, you’ll gain access to our best-in-class technology backed by superusers with logistics expertise. And through our People-Centric service, you’ll gain valuable insight, support, and knowledge for your company’s logistics management. 

NOT LOOKING FOR A FULL TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE?

We understand committing to a transportation management provider is a big change. That’s why we also offer you Trinity’s Customer Portal, exclusively for shippers working with Trinity. There’s no commitment or additional charges and you’ll get to experience a sample of our TMS technology. Through the Customer Portal, you can track your Trinity shipments, request quotes, and view and pay your invoices online – all in one place.

Author: Christine Morris

I’m sure you’ve heard the term TMS before in logistics, but what does it stand for? The term TMS is short for Transportation Management System. The reason you’ve probably heard that term TMS is that it is the most common and effective way for shippers to manage their logistics in one place. This technology allows companies to manage their transportation in one place. Transportation Management software offers you a way to view insightful data, gain visibility, and better manage all the moving parts in the shipping process. While a TMS might seem daunting and expensive, it’s become an essential tool for businesses to be successful.  

Who uses Transportation Management Software? 

If you have a business in which you regularly need to ship, move, and receive goods on a regular basis then a TMS is a technology you should consider. Many companies use a TMS, such as manufacturers, distributors, e-commerce companies, retail businesses, and companies that provide logistics services (like us). A TMS is best suited for companies that spend more than $1 million in freight, use an array of transportation modes, have several locations, get a majority of your freight via the spot market, or manage most of your data through Excel spreadsheets.  

Why You Need Transportation Management Software 

Transportation management affects every part of your logistics process, from planning to procurement and more. It’s a large piece of the logistics puzzle. If you’re not using a TMS, what are those processes? Are you using programs like Excel and Outlook to manage your shipments? How do you gather and view data? How much visibility do you have into your logistics? Simply put, a TMS makes your transportation easier on you, enabling you to serve your customers better. To give you a better idea of how it helps, let’s look at the benefits.  

What are the Benefits of Transportation Management Software?  

There are so many benefits to using a TMS. Through a TMS, you can automate and optimize your processes, gain visibility into your logistics, and view valuable data.  

Automation 

A TMS allows your company to eliminate your manual transportation processes. A TMS offers you automation with your load planning and execution through its advanced algorithms. With this, it can optimize each shipment, allows freight tracking by using real-time updates, payment processes are simplifying and streamlining invoices are audited, and develops reports through its in-depth data collecting.  

Optimization 

A TMS is a perfect resource if you’re looking for your logistics to be more efficient and optimized. For one example, a TMS can analyze many batch shipments based on various sophisticated parameters and can determine the most cost-effective route plan for your shipment. A TMS can make recommendations for you on different factors like least-cost mode analysis, freight consolidation options, and continuous move opportunities. It can also account for many other factors, including your due dates, mileage, vehicle weight, stops during transit, and out-of-route parameters. The optimization engine of the TMS allows for dynamic, static, and closed-loop routing. 

Visibility 

Real-time visibility of your logistics data and activity are the primary value drivers for companies implementing a TMS.  A TMS can help you view data from internal systems, vendor systems, and get data that may not have been accessible before. Along with collecting data, visibility from a TMS allows your stakeholders access to update their part of a shipment and receive their own real-time. A TMS will essentially act as a virtual control tower for all your logistics updates and communications. Visibility has gone from being an optional benefit to a necessary one in logistics. Using a TMS can change visibility from being a challenge to a strength for your business. 

Reporting 

The reporting offered by a TMS is another huge value to companies. Access to data is becoming more of a necessity for supply chains, but it can be hard to gather it all. Most of the time it’s spread out among various platforms – e-mails, portals, and laptops. A TMS makes it easier for you to compile and view your data through reporting. A TMS has multiple options and breakdowns to give you the best analysis of your data. TMS reporting can provide you with insight into your freight volumes, lane analysis, freight spend, RFP analysis, and so many more. You can dive deep into your data, breaking it down further by load route, price, and even state-by-state to see your load count and total spend as well. A TMS can also give you monthly metric reports, world reports, and various graphs and breakdowns to help you interpret your data for better performance.  

What Does Trinity Logistics Offer in Transportation Management Software?  

There are many different routes you can take in acquiring transportation management software. Simply put, you can choose to purchase transportation management software directly through a vendor or work with a logistics provider, such as Trinity, that offers it as a cloud-based service.  

A Trinity, we understand everyone’s needs are different, which is why we offer a highly configurable system. We offer you three main options to start with: software as a service (Saas), a managed TMS, or an integrated outsource TMS. If none of those options quite fit what you need, we can further customize your solution so you get exactly what you’re looking for.   

No matter your specific needs, you’ll gain access to our best-in-class technology backed by superusers with logistics expertise. Through our People-Centric service, you’ll gain valuable insight and support in your logistics management.   

Looking to learn more about what TMS solutions Trinity can offer you?  

Looking FOR TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY BUT NOT A FULL TMS? 

We understand committing to a TMS is a big change, especially if you have no experience with one. That’s why we now offer you our Customer Portal, exclusively available for shippers working with Trinity. There’s no commitment or additional charges and you’ll get to experience a sample of our transportation technology. Track your shipments, request quotes, view and pay your invoices online – all in one place.   

Wait, I Still Need More Information on Transportation Management Software..  

We have plenty more educational resources for you to learn about a TMS.   

Author: Turner Lee

No one likes spending their valuable time working on manual tasks that take forever. Streamlining operations with automation is the dream for every business, yet many companies still rely on spreadsheets and manual interactions. One way to drastically reduce your manual processes is by implementing a transportation management system (TMS). Many companies use a TMS for their logistics management, like e-commerce companies, retail businesses, manufacturers, and distributors. By adopting a TMS, you’ll be able to eliminate manual processes and focus more of your team on revenue-generating tasks. Read on to learn how a TMS can help you make the most of your time by automating your manual processes.   

MANUAL PROCESS: TOO MUCH TYPING 

Even if you already have a TMS, you might still be doing more work than necessary if your software doesn’t have integration capabilities for order entry. You might be stuck typing each order into your enterprise resource planning system (ERP), as well as your TMS. And if you don’t have a TMS, you certainly are spending way more time doing data entry than you should. 

TMS SOLUTION 

If you’re currently using an ERP, you should make sure the TMS you’re working with can interface with your system, allowing order information to transfer automatically. This prevents the need for dual entry and gives you and your team more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks. 

MANUAL PROCESS: QUOTE MANAGEMENT 

Shopping for shipping rates can be time-consuming if you have to look through each of your carrier’s rates on a lane, and that’s if they offer contracted rates. If not, emails and phone calls to every available carrier might be necessary for even just a single lane. And even after all that, are you sure you’ve selected the best carrier for the best rate? If you work with several different shipments, it can be time-consuming to be on the phone or going through emails asking for rates from carriers in your network. Trying to manually keep track of all those quotes can take you away from more important aspects of your business.  

TMS SOLUTION 

Quickly compare contracted rates or submit instant spot quote requests to multiple carriers at once with a best-in-class TMS. The carrier quotes are automatically filtered into the system by the lowest cost carrier for easy comparison instead of piling up your inbox. 

MANUAL PROCESS: DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT 

Manually managing documents or paperwork is monotonous and outdated. Everything from manually completing the documents to organizing and filing takes a significant amount of time. Not to mention the process of searching for the documents you need later. According to a report by CMS Wire, 36 percent of an employee’s day is spent looking for documents, with information going unfound up to 44 percent of the time. Going by those statistics, you could be spending almost three hours of your day searching for lost documents.  

TMS SOLUTION 

Managing large volumes of loads is timely, and in business, how you spend your time is critical. Sifting through filing cabinets or folders is not an effective use of your time. By using a TMS, all of your documentation is managed, stored, and shared digitally. Not only does this keep your information more secure, but it makes organizing and accessing your documents easier. Using a TMS is the easiest way to manage all of your documents while saving you hours of time every day. 

MANUAL PROCESS: FINDING AN AVAILABLE QUALIFIED CARRIER 

Calling or emailing carriers to see if they can not only accept your load but have the expertise to haul it can get quite time-consuming, especially if you’ve got hundreds of loads to cover. And even more so if you’re working with many kinds of freight. Because not every shipment is the same, the same carrier probably shouldn’t handle them all. Finding carriers best suited for your shipment needs is tough. In the midst of your workday, it’s easy to forget which carriers you’ve talked to already or those you’ve missed. This can translate to a long list of uncovered loads at the end of the day. 

TMS SOLUTION 

Say goodbye to the dozens of phone calls and emails previously used to secure carriers on your loads. With a TMS, you can send a load tender to your preferred carrier, allowing them to accept it electronically. If they reject the tender or don’t respond promptly, the load automatically goes to the next carrier on your list based on cost, performance, or other parameters defined by your company. 

MANUAL PROCESS: SHIPMENT DELAYS/TRACKING/TRACING 

Without using technology, you often won’t know about a shipment delay until your unsatisfied customer calls you. If you’re tracking your shipments, you’re usually doing this manually through emails or phone calls to find out where your freight is, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. While it can be common for several different shipments to be in transit on different company trucks and located all over, tracking can be a challenge. Without a TMS, a lot of time is spent manually tracking shipments and trying to get ahead of delays.  

TMS SOLUTION  

Spend less time tracking your loads and more time filling your orders with a TMS. Carriers will have the ability to provide their own status updates on each of your loads either manually or automatically, allowing you to easily manage your shipments and know in real-time whether there is a delay or not. When asked what features they were looking for in the aforementioned survey, 25 percent of shippers said they needed shipment tracking.  

MANUAL PROCESS: REPORTING 

Reports can be a pain to produce manually since they require merging multiple spreadsheets or pulling information from different sources. This is often done in Excel, which has no way of validating if the reports are accurate. It’s also almost impossible to track carrier performance since it’s hard to see if loads were delivered on time and who shipped which load, all on one spreadsheet. Without proper reporting, how can you really know which carrier had the best performance, what your freight costs were on specific lanes, or which carrier was cheapest the past year? 

TMS SOLUTION 

Forget spending precious time compiling reports from multiple spreadsheets. A TMS will give you the ability to generate all your transportation reports on demand. Do note that not every TMS can generate the reporting you may need, but a best-in-class TMS can offer you advanced reporting to go into specific logistics metrics. From gauging your monthly freight spend to rating your carriers’ performance, you can easily access it if you need it. Need it on a regular basis? With Trinity’s TMS, you can schedule reports to be run daily, weekly, or monthly and even have them automatically emailed to recipients on a distribution list. 

READY TO ELIMINATE MANUAL PROCESSES FROM YOUR LOGISTICS? 

With the ability to eliminate multiple manual processes, it’s easy to see why a TMS allows you to focus your time and attention on more important things, like widening your profit margin. 

If you’re ready to make the move to automation to improve your logistics, we’re here to help. Our combination of experienced account management and best-in-class TMS technology offers you a customized solution to help you achieve your unique supply chain goals. Whether you’re looking for Saas, a Managed TMS, a fully integrated Outsource, or something in between, we’ll work with you to design a solution that’s unique to your business. Gain control, cut costs, improve performance, and most importantly, eliminate those manual processes! 

Author: Christine Morris

Shipping freight is often a large and crucial part of a company. To make a profit, you need to get your customers the right product at the right time, and for the best cost. If not managed properly, your transportation can cost you substantial money. With costs rising recently, it’s easy to see why the challenge for many companies has been to reduce their transportation costs. Are you taking the proper steps to do so?

WHY COSTS ARE RISING

Before we jump into how to reduce your transportation costs, it’s essential to understand what factors are causing them to rise. 

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS CONTINUE TO INCREASE

Consumers’ demand for faster delivery times is affecting everything from food and more. It’s forcing shippers to try to keep up to retain their customers. The so-called “Amazon effect” is alive and well as the world of e-commerce and faster shipping times grows. 

HIGHER DEMAND

As noted, e-commerce was growing steadily before, but the pandemic only accelerated it. Consumers are ordering and demanding more, delivered right to their doors. Demand is far exceeding supply, and this trend is expected to continue through the rest of 2021. 

TIGHTER CAPACITY

With such overwhelming demand, there are not enough drivers or labor to keep up. These shortages are impacting every mode of transportation, causing delays, and raising rates higher. 

RISING COSTS FOR DRIVERS

Drivers are also experiencing rising costs. Fuel prices have been increasing, and tolls have risen; truck costs and insurance prices have gone up. All these costs roll over to their trucking rates. 

STEPS TO REDUCE TRANSPORTATION COSTS

There are several ways to reduce transportation costs while also improving your logistics.

CUT YOUR MANUAL PROCESSES

Chances are, you’ve been doing things the same way for so long, you don’t even recognize there’s a better way to do them. We’ve all been there, and while change can be challenging, noticing you have room for improvement is the first step towards growth.

Automating your manual processes will help reduce your transportation costs. With automation, you’ll streamline your operations, allowing for better management while creating and improving your efficiencies. As a result, you’ll end up saving time and becoming available for your more important tasks.

USE ANALYTICS TO IMPROVE OPERATIONS

Reviewing historical records and analyzing trends can help uncover any slow processes and extra costs. For example, you may discover that one carrier consistently adds accessorial charges while another compatible carrier does not.

TRY DIFFERENT MODES OF TRANSPORTATION

Trying different modes of transportation could help you offset your costs. Shipping freight by sea could be less expensive than by air. Intermodal transportation is another option that you may not have considered. Shipping intermodal is usually less expensive than trucking. Even using a combination of the two could reduce your cost. Keep an eye on the transportation costs for different modes and don’t be afraid to make the switch. Being more flexible with your freight shipping could give you some financial benefits. 

SEE IF YOU CAN CONSOLIDATE

Are you making the most of every truck moving your freight? Your shipment planning team should analyze current and future orders to build your shipments in the most cost-effective manner possible. Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments are cost-effective for smaller weights. Yet, consolidating your shipments into one full truckload could have you seeing savings. With consolidation, there will be fewer trips, meaning you’ll see lower rates on one bulk shipment versus many small ones. 

BID MORE OFTEN 

To offset tight capacity and rising shipping costs, shippers should go out to bid for new transportation contracts more than annually. This allows you to find the best rates and avoid potential disruptions from transportation shortages.

GAIN CONTROL OF YOUR VENDOR-ROUTED OR CUSTOMER-ROUTED SHIPMENTS 

Depending on your customer, sometimes you have your hands tied when it comes to logistics. For example, you may be required to use their specific providers as a condition of doing business with them. However, there are instances where you may be able to gain control of these opportunities for savings. Don’t you wonder about the potential for savings if you controlled this section of your business? 

By leveraging ALL of your volume, you could qualify for some decent savings with LTL and truckload providers. Additionally, you’ll gain control of your shipments, which equals control of the quality of the provider, saving you money by retaining happy returning customers. You can better measure service performance and rates to ensure your best interests are being cared for when the ball is in your court.

INCREASE VISIBILITY 

Without visibility, costs can begin to sneak in like stealth monsters that eat away at your bottom line. True visibility is using a best-in-class TMS that enables you to see all your transportation network. You can track and manage control over your products, see service disruptions or shipment delays in real-time, find optimized routes, and work with the best carriers. You’ll not only reduce your costs but increase your service levels and improve your relationships with all stakeholders. 

PREPARE AHEAD

The more time you have before your shipment gives you more options in carrier selections and the chance to find a decent rate. Or look into another mode, as mentioned earlier. It also gives your provider more time to prepare themselves and let you know of any upcoming circumstances that may increase your logistics costs, giving you more time to consider making any changes. It also helps you alleviate delays and missed deadlines. 

CONSIDER WAREHOUSING SERVICES

If you do a lot of shipping to and from the same lane, especially if it’s over a long distance, it may be a good idea to warehouse your goods closer to your customers so you can reduce those long-haul transportation costs. 

BECOME A SHIPPER OF CHOICE

It’s never a bad thing to be a shipper of choice. Carriers are in the position of choosing which shippers they want to work with. Those shippers who provide better experiences for them can not only reap the benefits of better rates but higher service levels and fewer claims. To become a shipper that carriers will want to work with, it’s important that you run efficient and friendly dock operations, reduce driver wait times, provide comfortable breakroom and restroom accommodations, and pay your carriers quickly. 

GET DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS

Data has quickly become one of the world’s most valuable resources. With a best-in-class TMS and proper reporting that you can analyze, you’ll be able to better manage disruptions, reduce downtimes, and effectively plan and budget your logistics spend. By using data analytics, you’ll be able to recognize which carriers are the most likely to have the capacity and ensure proper rates for shipments. 

CONSIDER OUTSOURCING

In business, any activity that isn’t directly tied to securing more business deflects attention away from your goal of making a profit. That means the hours you can spend sourcing transportation providers and managing your logistics are not considered a profitable way to spend your time. By outsourcing your logistics and partnering with a third-party logistics company (3PL), like Trinity Logistics, you gain back all those hours to focus on what you do best – make a profit! 

According to the 2020 Annual Third-party Logistics Study, 67 percent of shippers stated that using a 3PL contributed to reducing their overall logistics cost, while 83 percent said using a 3PL has improved their service. By utilizing Trinity Logistics, you won’t have to worry about any of the steps above because we’ll take care of them for you.

We’re listed as a Top 100 3PL by Inbound Logistics, and through our People-Centric service, we can help you find one or more customized solutions to meet your business needs. The first step to finding out exactly how we can help you reduce your transportation costs and improve your service is by having that initial conversation. 

Will you choose to take that step today? 

Updated September 16, 2021 by Christine Morris.

If you work in logistics, you’ve likely heard the term TMS before. TMS is the acronym of a transportation management system. A TMS is a software program that allows you to manage your entire supply chain, including your internal logistics department, suppliers, warehouses, carriers, vendors, etc. Having a TMS for your supply chain can help provide your company with greater visibility, better reporting, and improved performance through automating many manual processes. Many companies use a TMS for their logistics management, like e-commerce companies, retail businesses, manufacturers, distributors, even logistics service providers such as 3PLs (like us!). If you’re reading this article, more than likely you’re interested in a TMS but are hesitant. Let’s talk through some of those hesitancies and see if we can help resolve them.

TMS HESITANCY 1:  I WANT TO KEEP CONTROL. I FEAR OF LOSING MY ROLE IN LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT.

Most fear losing control of their logistics operations or that it won’t be done correctly. However, a best-in-class TMS allows you to decide the amount of control you would like to have. You can opt for a TMS that integrates with your current system, using your own carriers and rates. Or if you want to be more “hands-off” you can outsource your TMS with a 3PL that provides software, account management, and use of their carrier relationships and rates. If you’re in between, you can have help with account management but still be involved and a mix of your own carriers and rates and your 3PL’s carriers.

Even with all those options, no matter your role in logistics management, a TMS isn’t going to do it all for you. Instead, technology like a TMS simply helps you do your job more efficiently by automating those very manual and time-consuming tasks that we do every day!

TMS HESITANCY 2: IT COSTS TOO MUCH

This is often a misconception. With software as a service (Saas) and a cloud-based or web-based TMS, sometimes there are no costly up-front investments. It also means you won’t have to worry about having software installed on company servers and continuously managing updates.

It really depends on your logistics needs and the solutions your provider can offer you. At Trinity, we offer technology solutions for companies of all sizes and with different levels of services. A TMS can often end up saving you money in the long term by helping you better manage your freight spend and performance.

TMS HESITANCY 3: MY BUSINESS IS TOO SMALL. WE DON’T WANT TO MAKE ANY CHANGES.

No business is too small! And even if you don’t want anything to change in your process, change is inevitable as it will happen in your industry and business. Will your business be ready for when that happens?

It’s vital to adopt technology, like a TMS, into your business before you grow too fast rather than waiting until while you are growing quickly. What you have in place may work for now, but when your business really starts growing, the cost and time to manage your workload will be growing too. Can your process handle that?

We all know change can come quickly and unexpectedly, causing disruptions in our processes. 

A TMS can help you be better prepared and ready for any changes.

TMS HESITANCY 4: IT’S TOO COMPLICATED TO USE. WE TRIED IT BEFORE AND NO ONE WOULD USE IT. 

Some TMS’s can be difficult to navigate and if there’s not a lot of support, you may abandon it. But a best-in-class TMS should be user-friendly and configurable to the needs of each individual user. You should also have access to a support system that can help you when needed.

There’s a big difference between purchasing software to use from a company and working with a 3PL that offers it as a solution. Considering a 3PL often uses their own TMS, they’ll know how to use it and help you. Quality TMS providers will work with you to make sure the TMS meshes well with your other systems.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCING ANY OF THESE CHALLENGES?

Struggling With Keeping Your Quotes Organized

If you work with several different shipments, it can be time-consuming and overwhelming to be on the phone or going from website to website asking for rates from carriers in your network. Contacting all those carriers for your different shipments and keeping track of those quotes can take you away from the other important aspects of your business.

Managing and Selecting the Best Carriers

We know that not all shipment is the same. Some shipments need temperature control, require special delivery services, or need to be handled with extreme care. Because of that, not all shipments are handled by the same carrier. There are carriers best suited to handle all your shipment needs. However, managing them all can be difficult.

Keeping Track of Your Shipments

As mentioned above, most often all your freight is not hauled by the same carrier. It can be common for several different shipments to be in transit aboard different company trucks all over the country/world. Because of this, freight tracking can be challenging. Without a TMS, there will have to be someone entering shipment numbers into forms on several different carrier sites.

Not Getting Insight into Your Logistics

Without proper reporting from a TMS, it can be hard to gather data to determine which carrier was the cheapest throughout this past year. Or analyze which carrier had the best performance. Or find out what your freight costs were on certain lanes. 

Not all TMS’s may generate the reporting you need, but a best-in-class TMS can off you advanced reporting to go into specific logistics metrics. Without TMS technology to offer you data-driven insight into your business, can you really know how you are doing year after year?

STILL NOT READY TO COMMIT TO A TMS?

Say Hello to Trinity’s Customer Portal

We understand. Committing to a TMS can be a big change. We listened and heard you.

That’s why we now offer our Customer Portal for shippers working with Trinity. There’s no commitment, no additional charges, with a sample of TMS technology right at your fingertips.

Track your shipments, request quotes, view and pay invoices, or view and duplicate historical quotes. See how easy it is.

Start shipping with us today to gain access.

LOOKING FOR MORE?

Trinity’s Managed Transportation

We’re here and ready to help you with your logistics management. Our combination of experienced account management and best-in-class TMS technology offers you a customized solution to help achieve your unique supply chain goals. Through Trinity’s Managed Transportation, there’s no need to worry about an out-of-the-box solution that doesn’t fully meet your needs.

Whether you’re looking for Saas, a Managed TMS, a fully Integrated Outsource, or something in between, we’ll work with you to design a solution unique to your business, not the other way around. You’ll gain control, visibility, improved performance, reduce costs, and eliminate manual, time-consuming processes.

So, what do you have to lose?

Looking to learn more about Trinity’s unique TMS solutions? Schedule a risk-free live demo with Ryan O’Halloran to learn more about our customizable solutions.

AUTHOR: CHRISTINE MORRIS

Chemical manufacturers collect and use a lot of data in their supply chain. They deal with data on their products, customers, transportation, storage, operations and more. Acquiring that data is not hard but managing and utilizing that information to be able to analyze your business is the challenge. Taking advantage of a Managed Services solution can assist in better managing and using your data in your chemical supply chain.

Managed Services

Managed Services is when you outsource your freight and logistics processes to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, such as Trinity Logistics. You can find ways to manage your data in one place using a 3PL’s Transportation Management System (TMS). By better managing, using, and analyzing your data, an organization can reduce costs, improve margins, generate revenue, and make smarter business decisions. How does a TMS offer you all this?

Supply Chain Visibility

A TMS can provide visibility into your supply chain data in many ways. Best-in-class TMS’s, such as Trinity Logistics’, can provide better insight into your logistics processes.

Executives can combine this improved visibility with robust reporting to help guide their decision making. You can also provide system access to your outside supply chain members such as suppliers, carriers, and vendors. Each partner can better plan for their part, having the potential to reduce expensive production costs, limit excessive accessorial charges, and improve customer service.

Freight spend visibility has many benefits within itself. By analyzing freight spend by lane, companies can learn which of their lanes are not profitable based on transportation costs. Identifying company-wide shipment volumes and rates can provide you leverage when negotiating your carrier contracts.

Reporting & Analyzing

Not all TMS’s can generate the reporting you may need. Most generate basic reports that summarize your transportation information. Examples of basic reports include freight spend totals, shipment statuses, and shipment volume reports. But a best-in-class TMS can generate advanced reports that go into specific logistics metrics. Advanced reports can include accountability, analyzed freight spend, lane analysis, and carrier performance to name a few. The reports are dynamic, and you can filter, summarize, or graph information based on what you want to see.

The above-mentioned offers:

Accountability Reports

Accountability reports offer companies the opportunity to hold core members of their supply chain accountable for controlling costs. For example, with carriers you can view costs of carriers used, late fees accrued, any unnecessary detention charges and more.

Analyzed Freight Spend Reports

Analyzed freight spend reports allow a company to track their freight spend based on parameters. Having the ability to track it in this way ensures that potential causes of lost profits are identified and addressed right away.

Lane Analysis Reports

Analyze changes in rates by lane and predict trends in your freight costs with a lane analysis report. You can prepare for changes up front or try to prevent them altogether through carrier rate negotiations.

Carrier Performance Reports

Carrier performance reports can help you identify which carriers are best meeting your transportation needs.

Reports are an important tool to use to find areas of successes and setbacks. Once identified, companies can take advantage of this information by adjusting their practices. They can find ways to create more successes and overcome shown setbacks. Yet, most companies don’t have the technology needed to analyze their processes in such a manner. Money is often wasted on unknown and unnecessary expenses.

Quarterly Business Reviews

When choosing to work with Trinity’s Managed Services team, you gain a relationship with a specialist. Our Team analyzes, produces, and presents Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR), making it easier for you to digest your data. We help you understand what is working, what is not, and what can be done to further escalate your company’s growth.

The importance of data doesn’t revolve around how much data you have, but what you do with it. Managing and analyzing your data effectively is what will take your chemical company even farther. Take it from one of our largest chemical customers, Albaugh;

““We have had tremendous growth over the last 3-4 years. This would not have been possible without the level of service and expertise Trinity Logistics provides. They are a true strategic partner in a very dynamic environment.”

Click here to read our case study on how Managed Services helped Albaugh with their growth.

When you combine your data with our Managed Services solutions, you can,

• gain visibility into your supply chain,
• generate advanced reporting to look into specific metrics,
• analyze reports to create efficiencies, successes, and overcome setbacks,
• and see how your company can grow with our Quarterly Business Review presentations.

Do you want to see what you will find when you manage and analyze your data with Trinity Logistics?

Start your free consultation.