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.

Of all industries, the food industry needs data and visibility in the supply chain readily available when it comes to their shipping. Many food products are perishable and need to deliver in a specific timeframe to be able to be used. Recalls and claims can cost a lot to a manufacturer, causing them to lose revenue. The technology to keep data easily accessible can also cost quite a bit. Yet, food manufacturers outsourcing to a 3PL can gain benefits outside of just having their shipments arranged.

Quality Food Products Delivered

No matter the type of food – raw, cold, frozen, canned, produce – it all has a sell-by date and a proper way to be handled. Your customers want the best-looking product with the longest shelf life available when delivered. Having visibility into your shipping offers you insight into your product’s quality and helps you keep your customers happy.

Shipping temperature-sensitive items? Check out our Temperature Shipping Guide.

FSMA & Recalls

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the rise of recalls add in extra pressure for the food industry to have visibility. If food is not handled safely, you can face criminal penalties. Additionally, no one wants to be faced with the adverse publicity and expense of a recall. According to a study by the Food Manufacturing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association, a company faced with a recall can expect an average of $10 million in direct costs, in addition to the damage to their brand and lost sales.

Visibility Is Important In The Food Industry

Visibility in the food supply chain is becoming something that is moving from the Wish List to the Required List. A shipment’s whereabouts are critical in determining actions that may be needed to provide the best customer service and make sure products are delivering intact and on time. Sophisticated brands are ditching their manual and time-consuming processes and replacing them with technology to operate more efficiently while gaining more visibility into their operations than before. With food safety always in mind for this industry, there is a big advantage for those with end-to-end visibility into their operations. But technology comes at a price.

Shippers need to work with strategic vendors who can provide them the technology tools needed for full visibility. They need to choose vendors who can put into place those tools and manage control when necessary to keep operations moving and to stay competitive in the market. To reduce costs and gain a helping hand, food manufacturers can choose to outsource to a 3PL for both their transportation needs and technology.

Technology 3PLs Offer

We all know that outsourcing to a 3PL reduces the stress and workload of finding a carrier to move your freight. 3PLs such as Trinity Logistics, take over the responsibilities of vetting the carriers they work with, making sure they have the proper credentials, insurance, and experience for your freight. But they also offer you access to their technology for all sorts of needs. Technology to track your shipment from pick up to delivery, automate workflows, engage in collaboration with supply chain partners, and more.

Transportation Management Systems

Download this whitepaper for your ultimate guide to TMS, and how it can help you grow revenue, manage costs, mitigate risk, and gain efficiencies.

One such piece of technology offered is Transportation Management Systems or a TMS. A TMS can help your business gain visibility into your supply chain, create new efficiencies, and automate your manual workload, so you can focus on keeping your customers happy and the orders coming. When using a 3PL, such as Trinity Logistics, you often have options to choose in how you want to integrate your TMS. With Trinity, we offer you a choice of:

• Software as a Service (Saas)
• Managed Services
• Integrated TMS

You get to choose how integrated you want the technology to be with your data and get a specialist to work with you every step of the way. No matter what option you choose, you gain the visibility you are looking for in your supply chain.

What Are You Waiting For?

As a food manufacturer, you need to track your supply chain to stay efficient and safe. Gaining supply chain visibility with technology is needed to stay competitive in your industry and outsourcing to a 3PL can reduce expenses for that investment. Taking advantage of their technology offerings, such as a TMS, can provide you insight and improvements.

Trinity Logistics is well-versed in the food industry and understands your need for visibility. Our team of experts is here to help you manage your operations, offer you the data you want, and give you the choice of how you want to integrate that technology and receive that data.

Picture what it was to be a 3PL (third-party logistics company) 30 years ago. Filing cabinets were full of paper documents. Fax machines, handwritten documents, and corded phones were the way of communication. There were no navigational systems, only paper maps.

Thanks to advancements in technology, 3PLs can function without filing cabinets. Now documents can be saved to the cloud and sent in seconds through email. Very few documents are handwritten and employees are highly mobile with the ability to work in office, on the road, or even from home. As great as that all is, even more technology is needed for a 3PL to compete in today’s market.

Technology Improves the Customer Experience

Reducing paper use, being mobile, and wireless, is not enough to keep a 3PL competitive. Customers are looking for more visibility, while carriers are looking for easier and quicker processes to book shipments. There are still many manual processes that are able to be automated with technology, offering a better customer experience. Technology such as digital freight matching and artificial intelligence are some examples of what is now available to 3PLs.

Trinity Logistics looks for ways to improve efficiencies and serve greater support to our customers, carriers, and independent Agents through technology. Over the past few years, we’ve been able to grow our technology and offer our industry audiences many improvements with their experiences.

Trinity Stays on Top of Technology

Trinity’s Technology Team is always growing as we look for ways to stand out and provide excellent service as a modern day 3PL. We have a team of our own software engineers who keep our business applications up-to-date with newer technology.

Are you ready to read about the technology we can offer to support your business?

Tracking and Tracing Options

Trinity offers our customers and carriers their choice of tracking and tracing applications. Currently, we offer FourKites, Trucker Tools, and Macropoint. A carrier downloads one of the apps, giving Trinity the ability to keep track the shipment and offer real-time visibility to our customer. This also helps reduce the check-in calls to the carrier, allowing them to focus on reaching their destination safely.

Quick and Easy Carrier Setups

We have a Carrier Relations Team to ensure Trinity connects with fully vetted and qualified carriers. We have taken what used to be a two hour process down to an average of 20 minutes thanks to integration with My Carrier Packet (MCP). Instead of printed paper packets that had to be filled out, scanned, and emailed or faxed in, My Carrier Packet gives the potential carrier the capability to fill out information online through their website. Thanks to MCP and our Software Engineering Team, the packets and insurance are seamlessly integrated with our Transportation Management System (TMS), making carrier set-ups a breeze.

Up-To-Date Systems

As stated earlier, our Software Engineering Team works hard to continue improving our systems. Our TMS was updated which made our carrier module more user friendly and offered the capability of housing more vital information, making it easy to link up to services like My Carrier Packet. The new carrier module also offered our Team Members a capacity and history tool to help continue building relationships with carriers who have hauled with us before.

Managed Transportation Technology Solutions

Geared toward our shippers, we offer Transportation Management Systems (TMS). A TMS gives you more visibility into your supply chain, reduces your costs, and improves performance. Choosing to house all your transportation management needs in one place and having access to a Team of logistics experts through Trinity’s Managed Services can help increase efficiencies.

Banyan for LTL

Instead of manual processes you can utilize our easy-to-use system to manage your LTL (less-than-truckload) shipments fast and more efficiently. When choosing to work with Trinity for your LTL shipments, you get the use of Banyan Technology at no extra cost to you. You are trained and given a login and password and gain exclusive access to Banyan’s Live Lane Specials and Ground Freight Pricing.

With one of Trinity’s guiding values being continuous improvement, we look for new ways to improve and better serve our industry audiences. Right now, as you are reading this article, our Technology Team is working to improve your experience. Don’t just choose to work with a company that arranges the shipment of your freight; choose to work with a company that serves you the data you need and the experience you deserve.

AUTHOR: Christine Griffith

If you’re unfamiliar with third-party logistics companies, or 3PLs, you may be left with a lot of questions about what exactly they are, what to expect from 3PLs, or the benefits of working with one.

Whether you’re currently working with an asset-based company, you’re starting to shop around for the best rates for the lanes you need, or you’re working out of your basement in the business brainstorming stages, there’s no time like the present to check out why a 3PL could be best for your particular needs.

Here at Trinity, we’re all about teamwork (it’s one of our guiding values). So when you think of a “third-party” in terms of a 3PL like Trinity Logistics, it means we are more of an honorary extension of your team rather than just a silent partner.  In this blog we’ll go over what to expect and benefits of working with a 3PL by using a few scenarios.

Scenario One:

Since these are hypothetical scenarios, we’ll make up names for our fictional business owners and associates. Let’s say Bob owns a small packaging company with about $45 million in annual revenue. His business has been family-owned from the start, and he has a good-sized staff that has done their best to manage his supply chain over the years, but their network of carriers is small.

Business is growing and Bob’s staff would either have to devote more time and resources to coordinating the increased freight, or hire additional staff.  After meeting with leadership, Bob and his team decided they simply couldn’t afford to tie up any more resources in managing their supply chain.

Bob reached out to a 3PL and learned how he could leverage their experienced staff as an honorary extension of his own team. No longer would valuable time and resources be spent shopping for the best rates and finding carriers to cover their loads.

Working with a 3PL opened up many doors for Bob’s company. He developed a relationship with the manager of his account, who was able to give him a review of areas that could be improved to maximize efficiency. His 3PL was even able to find warehousing for his product, opening up even more opportunities for Bob’s business. Smart thinking, Bob.

Scenario two:

Stacy is an entrepreneur who started her own organic snacks business. She gained her business fame through social media marketing and exhibiting at various trade shows. Now the demand for her product is expanding and she doesn’t know the first thing about coordinating shipping.

Stacy has worked so hard to get her business to this point, so the last thing she wants to do is trust her product in the hand of strangers. In her research, Stacy stumbled across the term 3PL.

After contacting one, she quickly found out that it would be a perfect fit for her company. A 3PL would become an honorary extension of her own team: validating carrier’s insurance, managing her pricing requests, and coordinating the shipment of her products, whether it was less-than-truckload (LTL) or a full truckload, tracking them from start to finish.

Working with a 3PL helps Stacy focus on securing more customers and servicing her current ones better, with peace of mind that her products are arriving where they need to go, right on time.

Scenario three:

Of course, there are many scenarios where 3PLs would be beneficial to a company, but we’ll go through one more. Say Frank is the CEO of a company that makes and distributes private label cleaning supplies that stores purchase to sell as their generic brand.

Frank’s company has an annual revenue of around $140 million dollars. Right now they have inbound and outbound products moving multiple times a day from warehouses across the United States. As part of the company’s vision plan, they wanted to gain better control and visibility over their supply chain.

Frank reached out to a third party logistics company (3PL), and found out a 3PL could help his business save time and money by coordinating their freight. They also offered transportation management software to help Frank and his team see the inner-workings of their business.

Frank’s 3PL was able to offer him business reporting and personnel who would meet with his business to analyze how they could continue to improve their supply chain.

Here’s the moral of these scenarios: don’t go through all of the hassles and headaches of supply chain management alone! There are numerous reasons why partnering with a 3PL would be beneficial. Be like Bob, Stacy, and Frank, and see what a 3PL can do for your business.

Trinity Logistics has more than 35 years experience in the business. Our 3PL team coordinates freight, offers logistics consulting, supply chain technology, and logistics outsourcing services like warehousing, supply chain optimization, on-site freight management, and more. You can also trust that we are on top of the latest trends in shipping and logistics so we can stay ahead of how it would affect your freight.

Have a question? Ask here! If you would like to request a freight quote, click here.

A number of months ago, we published a blog on the most common myths perpetuated about transportation management software  . It was so popular that we decided to address each individual myth in its own blog post. Today, we’re going to talk about learning how to use TMS software and the misconceptions about its difficulty.

Transportation management software (TMS) is an innovative and time-saving tool for businesses who ship freight, but integrating a TMS can definitely feel intimidating when you’ve been relying on the same manual processes for some time.  Here’s the good news: if you work with the right TMS provider, they can easily remove that fear factor for both you and your team. A user-friendly, easy-to-use TMS can be a complete game changer for your company.

Is a TMS difficult to implement and use?

Don’t let apprehension about learning and implementing a new TMS prevent you from taking advantage of all of the benefits, like reducing your manual processes and optimizing your shipments to ensure you’re getting the best shipping rates.

Many TMS options are now web-based rather than desktop versions, so there is nothing to download and no software to install. This makes them easily transportable and mobile in a sense that they can be used from any computer with an internet browser. There’s no need to allot certain computers for TMS use.

Another additional feature that contributes to the ease of use is the fact that many TMS options are customizable. With the right implementation team, the software can be configured to work within your current process flows rather than forcing your processes into an out-of-box solution.

Perhaps one of the best aspects of implementing a TMS is that the right provider will handle the majority of the work. This can include coordinating special projects and working with the right people from your team to accomplish each task.

While a TMS can simplify your daily tasks, there still may be a problem that comes up every now and then. The right TMS provider will hold weekly status meetings and will communicate any issues, as they arise, that might jeopardize the “go live” date for your new system.

Will it be difficult to train my team on the TMS?

A common concern that holds back potential TMS users is that the training will take too long and be difficult for employees to grasp. However, this really doesn’t have to be the case.

There are often many ways a TMS can be integrated with any of the programs you are currently using, like an ERP, WMS, or accounting software. This means less training, as all of your current software and processes won’t be thrown to the wayside. The right TMS provider will be able to handle multiple integrations to accommodate your specific needs.

A capable TMS provider will also be able to provide group training, whether it’s virtual or onsite, as it is needed. They can even provide customized user manuals to reflect your TMS setup, and will provide your users with a point of contact who will work one-on-one as needed for additional support.

The bottom line here is that a TMS is meant to be easy and reduce your headaches at work, not give you a new one. The right TMS provider, like Trinity Logistics, will be able to integrate the software with your current programs, supply group training sessions, and work with your team on any issues that may arise.

To get a TMS consultation, click here.

We get it – when you’ve been managing your transportation manually, the thought of integrating technology into your processes can be a little intimidating. Especially if you’ve been doing things the same way for 15 years. But if you’re a good candidate for transportation management software, the time and money you’ll save by switching means that it’s something you should seriously consider – and believe it or not, integrating a TMS into your supply chain doesn’t mean ditching everything you know.

Of course, the pressing question is: how do you know when it’s the right time? How can you tell if it’s really something you need? Having offered this software solution for years, we’ve gradually noticed a pattern. There are two major characteristics that define the companies who truly, desperately need the TMS. To find out if your company fits the mold, read on.

Telltale Sign #1: Too many manual processes

This one is sort of a no-brainer, but if your supply chain is managed in a largely manual fashion, you should consider a TMS. Not sure what we mean? Well, consider your day-to-day tasks. Are you consolidating your loads manually? Do you have a manual quoting and tendering process? Is it impossible for you to report on your transportation data? Are you manually entering data into an Excel spreadsheet? Are you lacking EDI communication? If you have other locations around the country, do you have to call or email them in order to gather shipment information? And perhaps the most telltale sign of all – are you hand-writing your bills of lading? If this description fits you… you should seriously consider a TMS.

Telltale Sign #2: Your company is either in growth mode or emergency mode.

Most companies peacefully exist somewhere in between these two modes, and if you only fit the bill for the first telltale sign, you should still consider a TMS. However, if your company also falls into one of the two categories below, that means you need to call us and learn more about the TMS literally as soon as you’re done reading this blog.

What do we mean by growth mode? We’re referencing a specific scenario: your company is experiencing seriously great success, but there is a caveat. Maybe it was unexpected, or maybe you were planning for exponential growth all along, but either way, the success has also brought a drawback: you’re drowning. There’s so much new business that your old processes aren’t efficient enough to work anymore. You’re not sure what to do in order to effectively service all your new customers without making some serious changes.

Emergency mode is on the other end of the spectrum. Trouble is on the horizon. Maybe there have been some layoffs, but your team is still expected to handle the same workload. Perhaps the guy who’s been handling your transportation is about to retire after 20 years – and no one knows how to do his job. Maybe your company is being acquired, or you’re merging with another company, and you’re not sure how to integrate or change your supply chain management strategies. Maybe you’re facing financial troubles and you need to seriously overhaul who is responsible for what on your staff.

No matter which end of the spectrum you fall on, a TMS can address all these issues. The efficiency created by automating your supply chain means you can accomplish more work with less people, freeing up time for your employees to accomplish whatever else is a pressing need.

Okay, I think we might need to consider transportation management software. What now?

You can check out all the resources on our site to learn more. If you’d prefer to talk to us about it and get direct answers to your questions, you can request to get in touch with our logistics consultants right here on our site. We’re passionate about helping businesses get their supply-chains in tip-top shape, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

MARCH 31st, 2014 – Trinity Logistics has been selected by Pompeian, Inc. as the single source logistics provider for their main distribution center in Baltimore, MD.

Pompeian, founded in 1906 and headquartered in Baltimore, is America’s largest national brand of olive oil, best-selling wine vinegars and a variety of cooking wines. Well-known as the industry leader, Pompeian is the first brand to carry the USDA Quality Monitored seal on its extra virgin olive oil.

Trinity Logistics has been serving Pompeian’s truckload transportation needs for fifteen years. As is the case with many manufacturers in the beginning phase of logistics outsourcing, the partnership between Trinity and Pompeian began as a transactional, load-by-load relationship. Over the years, as Trinity arranged thousands of truckload shipments for Pompeian, including just-in-time expedited shipments, a 15-year track record of successful truckload shipping for Pompeian and its customers emerged. This long-standing relationship built on trust and continued success is what ultimately led to Trinity being selected as Pompeian’s single-source logistics provider.

As part of the agreement, Trinity Logistics has placed a member of their Design Solutions team on-site at Pompeian in Baltimore to assist in managing Pompeian’s logistics operations. Pompeian’s order management system has also been integrated seamlessly with Trinity’s transportation management software (TMS), allowing for more effective load planning and complete shipment visibility.

“Over the past five years, transforming into a single-source logistics solutions provider has been a huge focus for Trinity Logistics,” shared Jeff Banning, Trinity’s CEO and President. “We’ve been relentlessly dedicated to expanding our service offerings and truly becoming a one-stop shop for our customers. The opportunity to put these efforts to work on-site at Pompeian is an incredibly exciting opportunity for all involved.”

“Pompeian strives to provide the best service to our customers.  Such service entails timeliness and accuracy in our deliveries,” explained Robin Harricharan, Controller at Pompeian. “Our relationship with Trinity provides us that comfort.  It is that comfort that led us to welcome Trinity to show us their transportation management software, which we now rely on, and it has been a great success.  We greatly look forward to our continued relationship with Trinity as they assist us in navigating best practices and cost effectiveness in our everyday logistics decisions.”

Want to see exactly how Trinity Logistics has been able to help Pompeian? Check out our case study here.

In 2009, Trinity Logistics began offering freight management with transportation management software (TMS) for our customers. The technology we offer isn’t new, but for many small- to medium-sized businesses, it can be a foreign concept. As freight consultants, we’ve always listened closely to what our day-to-day contacts are saying and taken steps to help overcome challenges on their behalf. Over time, we’ve seen some rather surprising patterns in our conversations. It’s good to be cautious, but commonly held myths seem to be holding many shippers back from incredible improvements to their supply chain! It’s myth-busting time, and we’re here to give you the real scoop on transportation management system facts.

Myth #1: Implementing transportation management software will cost too much

Fact: While there are several incredibly robust intense TMS programs out there that will indeed cost a small fortune to purchase licenses for, there are web-based SaaS products like ours that are designed to allow every business the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the system. You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to streamline freight spend, enhance reporting, and create efficiencies. We even offer a tiered pricing system with varying levels of features to make it easy for you to select a TMS option that fits your budget.

Myth #2: A TMS will replace my job

Fact: This one always makes us shake our heads in wonder.  You’re going to look like a hero for taking the initiative to present an opportunity for your company to grow and improve! The savings you will be able to demonstrate from your newly-created efficiencies alone will be enough to “wow” your supervisors. Even better? You can be the one at the helm, managing implementation, training your teams, and monitoring and supervising the entire supply chain, making you a more valuable piece of the puzzle – not less.

Myth #3: A TMS is too difficult and time consuming to use

Fact: If the TMS you’re considering appears difficult to use, you’re looking at the wrong TMS. The system you select should be user-friendly and intuitive, easy to navigate, and simple to explain. When we demonstrate our software, we can create a sandbox in which your team can “play” in with real data in order to show you how a customized portal can not only link your entire team together, but put to rest concerns about the system being too difficult – for even the least technologically-savvy users. If you really want to talk about things that are time-consuming,  how much fun is it to juggle a bunch of different spreadsheets and keep track of carrier rates “the old-fashioned way”?

Myth #4: I won’t be able to get all our locations in sync

Fact: Trinity can work with your team every step of the way to help implement the transportation management software across all locations, training every team member and explaining your business operating procedures. Not only will you have support in getting everyone into the system, we can also provide accountability measures to show you when a location isn’t playing by your established rules. This will help provide you with hard facts about sunk costs due to improper carrier selection and rogue routing.

Myth #5: We will lose control/ownership of our pricing

Fact: If you aren’t using our blanket pricing, and come into the freight management relationship with your own carriers and your own pricing, those stay in your name. Trinity works under your authorization to keep those carrier networks and to demonstrate the volume you provide each carrier. Our TMS easily creates reports to show the freight breakdown per provider, and you can leverage that with our logistics consulting services, in which we’re able to help you with a managed RFP process each year. You will always own your pricing.

Hopefully, with those five myths busted, the idea of transportation management software sounds a lot more appealing! We offer free consultations if you’re still on the fence. Get in touch with us today, and we’ll answer any lingering questions you may have about the implementation of a TMS.

Have you heard the saying “there’s always room for improvement?” Well, that’s exactly right when you’re looking for a solution to better your supply chain processes. Implementing transportation management software (TMS) could be the missing piece to your puzzle when trying to control costs, catch and resolve transportation discrepancies, and create in-depth reports. This software can help you analyze valuable transportation metrics while keeping supply chain communication as transparent as possible.

Are you missing out on customizable reports that can show you fluctuation in lane rates, carrier performance levels, and freight spend? A TMS allows you to easily view all of this information and analyze it from all levels of your supply chain.  You can determine where your freight spend is really going, discrepancies with freight audits and payment, what you need to cut, what you need to do more of — information that’s vital for current and future business decisions.

Is your current ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system lacking transparency? Our transportation management system is unique to each user, whether it’s management, dock personnel, vendors inputting shipments, warehouse staff, or other service staff in your supply chain. Each user has their own portal login, allowing them to view supply chain processes in real time via your choice of EDI or a carriers’ access portal.  Alerts are available when the shipment is created, loaded, tracked, and delivered. Sounds slightly less stressful, right? Every user will have customized access to what is going on, down to the very last detail, all according to your specifications.

Are you starting to wonder how this is even affordable?  It’s true that many transportation management systems can cost up to $10,000 monthly, with additional exorbitant implementation fees. When you work with Trinity, that’s not the case. We offer a best-in-class, customizable TMS that is easily integrated with your current system, at reasonable price points, with the small-to-medium sized shipper in mind. You don’t have to be a multi-million dollar company to enjoy the benefits of a system like ours.

Worried you might lose information from your old system? Your TMS can easily be integrated with your WMS (Warehouse Management System) and finance system so that all of your information is in one place and you’re not losing any ground. Trinity’s freight consultants are here to make this transition as easy as possible, helping you every step of the way. In fact, we take service so seriously that one of our project managers, Adam Miller, is providing on-site freight management for one of our clients, assisting with their TMS and providing logistics consulting.

Hear it straight from a TMS customer:
“Trinity’s transportation management software has given us the ability to audit freight invoices by focusing on exceptions. This means that if the invoice amount matches the system rate, then it can be approved for payment without having to review it. We are able to run an exception report that shows us all of the invoices that do not match the system rate so that we only spend time reviewing the invoices that need to be reviewed.”- IAE

If you want to improve your supply chain, manage your precious cargo in real-time, and dig deeper to find possible hidden costs and lost efficiencies, it’s time to fill in that missing piece of the puzzle! Haven’t quite decided whether you want to make the switch? Talk to us – we offer no strings attached freight consultations that can answer any questions you may have. What suits your schedule best? Request a consultation today!