Underlined by the crisis and democratized by the development of dedicated solutions, the importance of the good management of transport operations must also be accompanied by a control and a very particular follow-up of the transported orders. Focus on the interest of implementing a TMS software to manage not only its transport but especially its orders.

The interests and solutions of an issue at the heart of customer satisfaction.

In recent years, many transport flow management platforms have been developed. Digital and accessible, they have helped democratize the subject of transport and highlight its strategic interest in the value chain.

Transport management and order management via TMS software

And if more and more companies are finally taking an interest in these issues of organization and visibility, it is nevertheless from an angle that focuses on the physical operation of transporting goods from point A to B, thus running the risk of obscuring the major question: where is my customer’s order, not the truck or the container? The real issue is not tracking the transport, but the products that are in it.

The three levels of issues related to order management in transport management with TMS software

1 > Aggregate orders and means of transport for a complete optimization of the supply chain

The supply chain is becoming more and more extensive and complex, and is made up of a multitude of flows and operations requiring different means of transport at an international level. Whether by road, sea, rail or air, they sometimes follow one another before arriving at the end customer.

In this multitude of operations, managing to establish a link between the products making up an order and the means of transport used is a major challenge. Transport management software such as DDS Shipper TMS software has the ability to integrate the order portfolio and associate it with all the transport entities that make up the flow.

2 > Ensure end-to-end traceability of transport and orders

The crisis has once again demonstrated this. The traceability and tracking of orders are essential elements in the proper execution of its supply chain. Beyond transportation, it is therefore necessary to be able to trace and follow the progress of the production of goods by its supplier as well as the dates on which these goods will be available. Robust digital tools allow this positioning and tracking at the order, independently of transport. Whether it is an upstream or downstream traceability of the latter.

Moreover, it is an end-to-end traceability that must be carried out on the transport chain. Each link in the chain must be tracked while providing end-to-end visibility of the product. The challenge of tracing is twofold: to consolidate visibility from several transport segments as well as from order tracking.

3 >Fine-tuning costs and CO2 emissions

These challenges are obviously linked to those related to costs. Beyond the simple price of a transport unit, the TMS software highlights the real value of the process, reducing the transport cost to the product. And for good reason, this data provides real visibility on the complete cost price of the product, spread over several transport stages and therefore different calculation methods. For example, a first leg in full truckload will be divided on the basis of the number of pallets, while an air flow will be invoiced by volume.

Thanks to a management control tool such as the TMS software, it is thus possible to evaluate a transport cost based on products, even in complex schemes. A calculation that can also be adapted to the calculation of CO2 emissions and thus allows to obtain a carbon vision per product, even in complex schemes.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).