by Robert Shagawat

CEO

Shippers Commonwealth

Editor's Note: This Expert Insight column was originally published in the December Edition of the copy Supply Chain Digest Letter. It is being made available to all SCDigest readers.

As pioneers in the development and wide-scale deployment of advanced Transportation Management Systems (TMS), we at Shippers Commonwealth see today’s progressive shipper seeking dynamic optimization with interactive execution, now seamlessly combined with business intelligence for management.   We also see increasing demand for complete Tier 1 TMS suites of the highest quality at an affordable price which can be rapidly deployed and “self-funded”. 

On-Demand TMS solutions on “pay as you basis” with rapid deployment and outsourced hosting have now made integrated Tier 1 TMS solutions available to shippers of any and all sizes. Companies that are realizing measurable immediate and hard cost savings within 35 – 45 days include Bon-Ton Stores, Sonoco, Alcoa, Johns Manville, Jeld-Wen, and North American Salt.   

There is greater readiness and sophistication to take on Extended TMS Solutions (XMS) for expanding to inbound, dynamic pool distribution, multi-modal, and multi-shipper collaboration as part of “communities” or a “commonwealth” of shippers (an XMS can integrate to any ERP system, not just the ERP that your company may be running today.)  Significantly, we see today’s customer base demanding the most complete TMS solution as delivered and supported by real TMS focused experts, not enterprise solutions where TMS is a partial “after-thought” with numerous gaps.  

The sophisticated shipper marketplace now demands the deepest commitment to continuously improving solutions for complex transportation needs in a capacity constrained, high demand business environment.  It is all about the four P’s: products, people, productivity, and performance. The best products need to be delivered by the most qualified people for life cycle expansion and support. 

All shippers and receivers should benchmark what their peers are doing in this space, and also look into XMS programs to advance into collaborative transportation for expansion or On Demand TMS programs to get started.  It is always valuable to benchmark what the right process (and supporting TMS delivery program) can do for fulfilling your organization’s logistics mission.  Leading TMS providers can help you in this quest by delivering on-time, defect-free, at the lowest landed cost.

About the author

Robert Shagawat is CEO of Shippers Commonwealth, a provider of on-demand TMS and collaborative transportation solutions. He has spent many years providing transportation technology solutions to leading companies in many industries.