A transport management system is cloud-based logistic solution software designed to efficiently and economically manage the transportation process and a subset of supply chain management.
Therefore, it is the best technology that will significantly allow you to plan efficiently, ship track, and deliver goods or products from one place to another.
Larger supply chains, such as freight companies, the manufacturing and retail industry, e-commerce organizations, and distribution companies, have employed TMS to convey and deliver products in real-time.
Tracking the physical movement of goods is not easy. Still, it is an essential link that will ensure the goods have been delivered as documented, thereby minimizing complications around stock management.
How Does Transport Management System Work?
TMS works by helping an individual how plan, execute, and optimize the physical movement of products.
However, for TMS to be functional, you must feature or integrate it with three central supply chain management systems, that is, enterprise resource planning {ERP}, Warehouse management system {WMS}, and global trade management application {GTM}.
Integrating TMS with SCM will help you have robust carrier systems, data sources, and transactional and communication systems.
Since the Warehouse management system is integrated with TMS, it will facilitate automatic entry of orders and coordination of tasks.
The primary role of WMS is to manage inventory, which automatically tracks the chain of product movement from shipping to delivery.
Therefore, the WMS update will automatically update the ERP system, thereby updating the inventory.
Hence, we provide an efficient, economical, and straightforward transport management system for invoices, orders, and inventory.
TMS prepares and executes transportation from the ERP data stream with detailed information about the client and the order.
Client information is essential because TMS will update the client about the shipment and order status and manage the customer relationship.
After executing the shipment, the TMS returns information regarding the shipment to the ERP system for order management and accounting.
What are the Functions of a Transport Management System?
Understanding how TMS works will help you maximize control and manage the shipment of products from one location to another.
Thus, it is purposely designed for the following functions, they include:
Freight Planning and Management
Planning how to deliver the product from one point to another requires an optimal, safe, and secure model.
Therefore, with TMS, an individual can plan and decide based on shipping mode, which depends on its cost and efficiency, the distance, and the route.
This is because TMS can provide information regarding the transit time and trade and tariff quotas.
Hence, delays or time spent on the booking process and delivery time are minimized through traffic management.
Furthermore, it will help an individual handle the workflow and paperwork for freight management, such as contracts and load tenders for carriers charging for shipping.
Executing
TMS can help an individual simplify the shipment process by matching the loads, evaluating the merchandise, and documenting for stock management.
Tracking the shipment of products will also be efficient since, after dispatching the carriers, they will provide a real-time status update of the load to the distributors and the client.
Additionally, TMS will alert unforeseen delays on the route, providing transit exceptions for untimely delivery.
Optimization and Administration
Since TMS can plan and execute the shipment process, individuals can improve their chain supply management system.
For that reason, an individual will have a real-time status update report regarding the delivery and carrier performance analysis.
Analyzing shipment performance is significant because it will offer in-depth insight into a flexible and fine-tuned supply chain management system.
Moreover, it can provide reserved information on custom reports for analysis to discover and eliminate potential discrepancies, thereby providing transportation intelligence.
Benefits of Transport Management System
Incorporating TMS into your business will benefit you through the following ways:
- It improves inventory management by providing better visibility of the supply chain network, thereby providing an efficient way of tracking product movement from the warehouse to its financial destination.
- It helps to reduce administration costs like documentation and billing because it significantly minimizes invoicing errors. Nevertheless, it also reduces distribution and warehouse costs by ensuring better carrier and fleet management coordination.
- It ensures the orders are delivered on time to the client, improving shipment services and client satisfaction. Clients can also check the shipment status.
- It offers a detailed solution and insight capabilities that allow individuals to access custom reports and invoices and create easy-to-analyze information.
- It helps simplify the shipping processes because TMS provides trade and tariff information, enables you to choose the suitable carrier for shipping the goods, and permits an individual to create a profile for shipment planning.
- It provides a central location, allowing an individual to control the inventory, accounting, shipment tracking, and freight management.
- Since TMS cannot function without sufficient administrative features like WMS and ERP, the documentation and financial report will be accurate. Accurate documentation is significant for auditing, eliminating discrepancies, and minimizing the cost of handling invoices.
- It helps to minimize import and export compliance shipment penalties because TMS provides customs trade and tariffs.
- It eliminates time wasted on the booking process because it provides a central location for quoting. This eliminates traffic and saves time, minimizing delays that can attract penalties.
- It eliminates human error because TMS will provide an updated status of the shipment route. Shipment status will help the carrier and freight management team decide what alternative to take if any problem arises to ensure the products are delivered immediately.
