Question

You’re a consultant for a large trucking company and barge operator in the Midwest. The company has looked into a variety of systems to keep track of the location of trucks and barges so that the company can route shipments better and answer customer inquiries faster. The firm’s major concern is with the trucks; the barges have commodities and take weeks to move something. It is much harder to keep up with trucking. They need to know the exact location of the truck at any given time.

In a brief 2-page essay explain what solution would you recommend and why?

Answer 1

The solution to this problem is a Transportation Management System or Logistic Management System. A transportation management system (TMS) helps firms move freight from their place of origin to their final delivery destination efficiently, reliably, and cost effectively. TMS encompasses solutions for moving freight in all modes (land, water, air etc) and also includes intermodal movements. The TMS processes include freight transported inbound or outbound, domestically or internationally; using transportation assets owned either by the company or an outside service provider. The freight managed by a TMS ranges in size from parcels to bulk commodities.

A technology driven TMS would enable organisations (1) Increased Customer Service with real time tracking of their packages (2) Improves warehouse efficiency since a well managed TMS will enable least time on freight and thus the warehouse would be available for other activities. (3) New Delivery Capabilities wherein the TMS will support several new delivery destinations with more extensive delivery networks managed with ease. (4) Better Invetory management since the delivery of packages is ensured on time through TMS (5) Better revenue generation since better service will be appreciated by customer who would be ready to pay increased freight charges for swift delivery capabilities.

The firm should install a Transportation Management Software with real time GPS tracking of the trucks and other modal trasnportation to enable the company to track the vehiles carrying packages and have supervisory control over them to ensure timely delivery of parcels thus maintaining commitment to clients.

We need to develop a Transportation Management iSystem which will be the leading global platform for shippers and logistic (road transportation like trucks) service providers to put the firm on a Global Trade Network.

TMS should be multi-tenant, cloud-based platform which will give the customers a competitive advantage with enhanced functionality, deployment models, and a comprehensive, pre-integrated network of supply chain partners.

It will connect to more than 50,000 carriers initially and partners up and down the supply chain. Tthis would enable reach and swift delivery services to customers.

TMS should be connected to the Global Trade Network, which could give access to a ton of global trade capabilities such as customs management, denied party screening, and product classification in the blink of an eye.

This will ensure that the mode of transportation i.e trucks, ships can be tracked on real time basis for better deployment of inventory, warehouse storage capabilities, trasnport management. The vehcile would be enabled with these GPS trackers with wireless for direct communication and co-ordination with the driver. This will enable a monitoring and control system for efficient staff management. Also the customer would be better served and the drivers would be answerable with real time track on their job delivery.

Thus logistic companies should be driven on technology as this is the most basic intrinsic part of their customer service. Entire revenue of transportation companies is based around such effective and timely delivery of packages. It is a fragmented industry with big giants like Fedex etc having an extensive reach across the globe. Initially one can use the system of Fedex and also their network for better truck management but ones the process is learned and well established we can move into investing in our own Transportation Management System. This will be a capital intensive step but will put the company on the best delivery platforms in logistics industry.