In 2020 so far, the market has experienced numerous disruptions, and a freight management solution is more critical now than ever. From design to implementation, Werner Logistics delivers complete freight management programs that help customers control costs and better manage their transportation. Amy, Werner’s Director of Logistics and Michael, Logistics Account Executive answered some common questions to elaborate on how freight management can be beneficial for a supply chain.
Q: How would you describe the freight management solution?
A: Freight management requires a comprehensive assessment and understanding of a client’s supply chain and then introducing new solutions and suggested improvements. Supply chain management is complex for businesses, and a freight management provider can help deliver cost savings, capacity solutions and reduce process and transit times in many cases. It consists of providing the best possible solution for the customer by leveraging various technologies, relationships across multiple transportation modes and experience across a variety of industries to develop and implement an effective program.
Q: Who benefits as a freight management customer?
A: Most companies with physical supply chains can benefit from freight management solutions, especially clients with limited technology in place to manage their transportation transactions with carriers, suppliers and customers. Manual processes and information management are greatly improved with automation and capabilities of a transportation management system (TMS). Freight management can provide better order and shipment visibility to customers, suppliers and carriers and manage costs through mode and carrier selection optimization. This is also a beneficial solution for customers that want to reduce costs within their supply chain, but lack the experience, tools and time to identify opportunities and make changes.
Q: What services do you provide for your freight management customers?
A: At Werner Logistics, we are an asset-backed 3PL providing a wide array of services and solutions to our customers. A few of these include:
- Order and mode optimization, load planning and carrier management
- Transportation network modeling
- Supply chain analytics and process improvement
- Conducting carrier bid events and RFPs
- On-site logistics and transportation staffing of experienced professionals
- LTL freight consolidation
- Vendor and carrier routing guide set-up and compliance management
- Carrier performance management
- Invoice audit and payment
- Web-based TMS including PO and vendor management
Q: How can a transportation management system (TMS) help a customer?
A: A TMS accumulates information in a central repository allowing for actionable intelligence to be created and worked on. It is a useful tool for customers because it can help with order and shipment visibility. Understanding transportation costs, transit times and service levels across the supply chain is the basis for cost reduction initiatives and can be used to establish more accurate forecasts and set KPIs. A TMS can help measure supply chain performance, which results in a more proactive approach to improvements based on KPI data. Our web-based TMS includes customer portals, real-time tracking and shipment optimization, purchase order management and door-to-door solutions across rail, road, ocean and air modes.
A: Tell us about a creative solution you’ve implemented for a customer?
A: At Werner Logistics, our team redesigned an import process for a client that took advantage of our domestic TMS and capacity options to reduce cost and improve transit times. Import containers previously moved intact to the Midwest DC were experiencing delays and demurrage issues at the DC location. Our solution involved transloading the product from 40’ ocean equipment to 53’ domestic equipment to reduce the number of deliveries at the DC through increased space utilization and eliminating costly ocean equipment charges at the DC. This reengineering of the inbound container program was possible because our client had visibility to the PO detail of each container, allowing us to deconsolidate and sort product by destination DC at the port of entry. The domestic shipments now included the right product to the right DC with improved transit times and a lower overall landed cost.
Q: Who can I contact for more information?
A: Our best-in-class freight management team would be happy to assist. Please reach out to Michael at 904-584-5800 or Amy at 855-284-3042. You can also visit Werner.com for more information on our service offerings.
