When a TMS Isn’t Enough: Managing Transportation Technology Complexity

After an extensive review of all the transportation management systems (TMS) on the market, DHL Supply Chain standardized on what we believe is the most robust and capable solution available today. The marketing for that solution promises that it, “provides a single platform for companies to manage all transportation activity throughout their Supply Chains.”

This is not the only TMS that makes such a claim—many TMS providers market their platforms as a complete solution. But, in our experience managing high-volume and complex transportation networks across a number of industries, no TMS lives up to that lofty claim—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

Enhancing the Value of a TMS

A TMS provides the foundation for transportation digitalization, but no single solution meets all the requirements of a typical transportation network. There are almost always either gaps that exist or opportunities to relieve the TMS of some data-intensive, non-core functions that can compromise its ability to optimize freight flows.

This reality has led to the development of microservices and supplemental applications that integrate with the TMS to extend its value and make it easier to tailor transportation technology to an organization’s specific requirements. At DHL Supply Chain, our technology strategy is to augment our core TMS with complementary technologies where they can add the most value. The major opportunities are in the following areas:

• Order Management: When managing inbound transportation, supplementing the TMS with dedicated order management capabilities simplifies tasks such as manual order entry by external partners, releasing orders against purchase orders and order verification and enrichment. Many TMS solutions have at least some of these capabilities, but they aren’t particularly customer friendly. Using an application dedicated to these functions provides a better experience for customers and can unlock optimization opportunities when multiple suppliers are located in proximity to each other.
• Track and Trace: Shippers and customers alike expect to be able to identify the location of a specific shipment at any time. This often isn’t possible through the TMS because event compliance is inconsistent. In addition, managing every event for every shipment is data-intensive and can compromise the performance of the TMS. A track-and-trace microservice closes the gaps in event compliance through standardized, repeatable integration and aggregation. The TMS gets only the events required to optimize transportation efficiency while the track-and-trace application provides full visibility into each shipment for shippers and their customers.
• Document Management: TMS performance can also be optimized through a microservice that offloads the management of the digital documents associated with shipments, from bills of lading to delivery verification. This can be achieved via digitizing paper documents via scan or mobile capture, or through full end-to-end digital documentations (eBOL).
• Business Intelligence (BI): Cloud-based business intelligence solutions are another example of using dedicated technology optimized for a specific function rather than putting that burden on the TMS. These services replace the spreadsheets traditionally used to monitor and manage carrier and 3PL performance. Instead of loading data into slide decks for weekly or monthly evaluations, shippers always have access to up-to-date performance data.
• Solution Design: Transport network optimization tools apply sophisticated algorithms to large volumes of historical transportation data to quickly identify opportunities for optimization and guide the development of solutions that address these opportunities. Use of these tools compresses the solution design process and can identify opportunities that significantly reduce transportation costs.

Dedicated Fleet Management

When a dedicated fleet is part of the transportation solution it often makes sense to deploy a dedicated fleet solution in concert with the TMS being used to manage third-party carriers.

The specific functionality required to optimize a dedicated fleet is very different than that required to manage transportation flow through third-party carriers. In addition to providing sophisticated route planning and driver management capabilities, a fleet management platform also provides better insight into fleet performance and enables more informed decisions about how and when to scale the fleet.

Dedicated fleet solutions can also benefit from complementary technologies and microservices. This is especially true when managing the fleet to minimize empty miles. At DHL Supply Chain, we do this through a proprietary algorithm that dynamically matches capacity to available loads in close proximity to the capacity. Our transportation specialists then review the available loads to ensure compatibility between the supply and demand. Other services that support dedicated fleet management are out-of-route fuel guidance, asset management, electronic logging for compliance and commercial navigation.

Absorbing Complexity

While the emergence of microservices and other solutions that complement the TMS are creating new opportunities to reduce transportation costs and improve service levels, they also bring increased complexity to transportation management.

Few organizations have the resources or expertise to manage this level of complexity. Fortunately, 3PLs, such as DHL Supply Chain, can insulate shippers from the complexity inherent in transportation technology today.

At DHL Supply Chain, we manage all aspects of transportation technology design, implementation and management, from determining the mix of technologies that will deliver the most value to integrating those solutions to ensure they function as a single platform to optimizing the capabilities of each component of the platform. While there is a lot of complexity on the “back-end,” our customers never have to deal with it. They get everything they need to manage performance and serve customers through a single sign-on, easy-to-use interface, called MySupplyChain. 

Transportation management is becoming technically complex. But shippers don’t have to grapple with this complexity. Working with DHL Supply Chain, they can take advantage of the full complement of transportation technology solutions available today, while enjoying the benefits of a single, integrated platform that delivers the information they need when they need it.

To learn more about how DHL Supply Chain can help you optimize your transportation management system’s capabilities, visit http://app.supplychain.dhl.com/e/er?s=1897772577&lid=6910.

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