TMS: Implementation and Benefits

Transportation Management Systems (TMS) are solutions that allow comprehensive management of the distribution operations of both Freight Providers and Logistics Operators. They cover all processes from receiving orders, route planning and optimization, resource allocation. They also cover vehicle movement control in the distribution center from arrival to departure for distribution, real-time monitoring, delivery control, trip valuation and settlement, analysis of results, among many other features.

Implementing a TMS

The idea of implementing a TMS (Transport Management System) is to solve the needs of managing and improving the end-to-end distribution operation. In order for this objective to be met, we must follow the following platform selection and implementation methodology

Define clear goals

The basis of any project. We must be very clear about what we want to achieve with a TMS. What processes to improve, what strategies to follow, what technologies will be required, who will be involved, what information will we need and how it will be executed.

Organization and projection

Defining roles in the implementation— managers, activities, projecting the time required for each activity by the people who are involved in logistics operations on a day-to-day basis, defining deadlines— allows the development and fulfillment of clear goals.  In a TMS implementation, this means having sponsors, project leaders, key users, end users, implementers and consultants. They all ensure that each step is fulfilled according to plan.

According to Jorge Sureda, Director of Product and Implementation at UNIGIS, “each one of these people (within a TMS implementation project) has a very clear and well-defined responsibility. However, we must first ensure that these roles are included in the project and that they commit both on the client side and on the provider side to carry out the TMS implementation.”

Integrations and coordination with other areas

A TMS is normally integrated with external systems such as WMS, ERPs, or IoT devices. These integrations must be thought through from goal setting. Through review with the areas of the business that must participate in order to carry them out.

Some of these areas can be: IT to integrate orders from the Warehouse with a WMS system. Also IT codes and integrates inventory reading devices. Billing for service settlement integration and Sales by objectives and territorialization.

It’s important for people from all these areas to be involved in the implementation and to adhere to the goals set for the project.

Digitization of processes and information

The organization should have documentation of all the necessary processes needed. This is in order to be clearly defined as they should be carried out, how they can be improved, and which ones should be digitized. With a TMS implementation, this step is a basic one.

Information and processes that were previously tracked on paper or in Excel are now migrated into the system to be integrated, centralized, and optimized for decision-making and preventive or corrective actions.

This is where we begin to see how the system facilitates the work of users daily, optimizing the planning, monitoring and results of each process in precise ways, controlling the correct execution according to defined goals and business rules.

Training

“Training is always a good investment” and being able to count on a team capable of solving functional needs is invaluable for all companies, as a vital step towards ensuring the correct use of the new tech platform.

Trainings regularly take a period of 2 to 3 weeks. It depends on the goals and complexity of the operations and the implementation. During this training, users should learn the system well enough to handle it independently.

Additionally, the need for internal and external technical support from the supplier is essential to resolve any doubts or problems during the operation. This need is also usually defined when setting implementation objectives. Technical support services must be available 24/7 to cover all possible consultation hours of the operation.

Continuous Improvement

A TMS must always be innovating, adapting to technological, logistical, operational, geographic, legal and sometimes even social changes that arise.

When implementing a TMS, we cannot think only of short or medium-term goals. We must consider that a TMS will be a strategic ally for all our logistics operations and must generate the ability to adapt to all future goals that may be necessary. A TMS should be innovating and constantly creating benefits for our organization.

Benefits of a TMS

Speaking of benefits, we may have already implicitly mentioned a couple of them during the implementation process. TMS platform benefits such as the ones managed by UNIGIS can be summarized in three key aspects:

Qualitative

Improvement of Service Levels increasing the percentage of deliveries and with better control of orders, routes, deliveries, settlements and more.

Automate Processes from their digitization, even saving planning days.

Real-time visualization of information, from order management to final customer delivery, that allows us to have complete control of our operation from a single platform.

Quantitative

Reduction in vehicle use, by increasing the use of boxes and optimizing delivery routes.

Reduction in miles traveled, by lowering the number of returns, forwarding and improving routes, and by real-time resequencing. This considers across all geographic variables and business rules.

Reduction of penalties for late arrivals, by monitoring routes from start to finish or avoiding fines for any mishandled cargo.

Value added

Implementation of sustainable development in logistics processes.

Reduction of carbon footprint, as a result of the optimization of routes and use of vehicles.

Reduction in paper use, digitizing even the signature and proof of delivery. It also works generating a QR code with digital documentation at different stages of the logistics process.

If you’d like to learn more about the benefits that a TMS like UNIGIS can provide, you can visit our Solutions section. There you’ll find specific benefits for each module within our TMS.