Essential services in an economy, such as health care, food production, and fuel production, are reliant on logistics services' availability. Not only the essentials, but almost all services depend on efficient logistics operations to offer deliverables to their customers on time.
Gone are the days of manual management - automation is the trend. It plays a transformative role in optimizing all aspects of logistics operations, including TMS, routing, and telematics. For instance, a cement manufacturer can use TMS to optimize the delivery routes and leverage telematics to receive real-time updates on the driver’s behaviour and several other vehicular parameters.
Further along, we’ll discuss the features and advantages of TMS and its components and their roles in aiding logistics efficiency.
Transport Management System (TMS) – A Leading Fleetx Offering
TMS is a software solution designed for planning, executing, and optimizing logistics through automation. It is a centralized platform for several functions. The Fleetx solution plays a crucial role in managing multiple transportation activities that include route planning, choosing the carrier, indenting, vehicle and cargo tracking, freight audits, load optimization, digital proof of delivery, and many more.
Benefits of TMS Adoption
Being a unified platform, TMS enhances a wide range of aspects of the logistics and supply chain. The noteworthy advantages include:
Increased Visibility and Control
- Heightened visibility results in proactive interventions before situations escalate
- Better control enhances accountability and becomes a tool for service delivery improvement
Carrier and Freight Optimization
- Automated carrier selection based on predefined criteria streamlines the process
- Dynamic freight management through optimum shipment consolidations
Higher Savings
- Automating multiple transportation tasks, mentioned above, reduces labour expenses and minimizes errors
- Additionally, TMS offers valuable spending pattern insights, offering a better scope of negotiation and cost-saving opportunities
Improved Operations
- Real-time tracking and subsequent management of vehicle and shipment
- Users can focus on developing business strategies and let automation execute routine tasks
Data-Based Decisions
- Comprehensive data analytics for insightful decision-making
- A data-led approach identifies trends and marks the areas for improvement, all in a few clicks
More Satisfied Customers
- Real-time shipment updates enable accurate customer information
- Timely deliveries build a positive brand image and loyalty
Scalability
- TMS is adaptable to increasing shipment volumes without any compromise in efficiency levels
- Exploring new markets or increasing product lines are supported through the compounding capabilities
Future Outlook of TMS
With the increasing demand for logistics service automation, the rate of TMS adoption is expected to grow at a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9% from 2024 to 2032. Fleetx is focused on combining the technological benefits of AI and machine learning (ML) to empower logistics providers with advanced tools to run their operations at fair costs. With the wide variety of vehicles (owned and from the market) being increasingly used for optimizing their business, the levels of complexity would only increase, making real-time tracking and the need for transparency business priorities. Such requirements will only widen the scope of opportunities for TMS.
TMS and Route Planning – Managing the Most Crucial Logistics Function
The scope of route planning extends beyond transporting goods from point A to B – it requires efforts to optimize the entire length of the route, based on several parameters to save on time and costs. Efficient route planning is critical for businesses to meet their delivery schedules, battling various route-related issues.
Route planning is a fundamental feature of the Fleetx TMS and is highly in demand. The features and benefits of this function include:
Route Optimization - Automated Delivery Planning & Fuel Efficiency
Selecting the most cost-effective route is a complex task spread over multiple touchpoints, and what better than automation to optimize the process? This Fleetx feature provides not only real-time fleet visibility with a live vehicle tracking system but also serves to utilize fuel efficiently.
Route Progress Tracking – Real-Time Route Monitoring
Fleet managers or operators can track the live locations, route advancement, and late or missed stops in real time. This convenient feature registers all your trips and job sheets.
Route Performance Tracking – Strategizing for Maximizing ROI
With planned and actual route-wise performance handy, fleet forwarders get easy access to individual route histories that become essential for improving routes, increasing vehicle utilization time, and ROI maximization.
Live ETA and Delay Tracking – Refined Customer Communication
Aimed at enhancing client communication and operational efficiency – live route tracking, automated ETA alerts, and real-time route updates – have been significant for channeling customer’s trust in your operations.
A Practical Use Case in Action
Client Overview
Our client, a leading logistics company in India, was bleeding with rising operational costs and delivery inefficiencies resulting from manual routing processes. The company’s overall customer satisfaction rate was on a constant downfall.
The Fleetx Solution
The AI-powered route optimization software from Fleetx transformed the client’s route planning completely. Taking several real-time factors into account such as selecting routes with the minimum toll booths present, GPS and SIM-based live tracking, instant alerts for missed or late stops, analyzing individual route performances over time, automatic ETA and route update alerts to their customers, and more, Fleetx addressed their manual errors with automated services.
How Did the Client Benefit?
Operational Costs Reduction - Optimized route planning saved almost 15% in fuel costs and vehicle wear and tear.
Higher Efficiency – Timely deliveries increased due to the selection of optimal routes, improving the overall efficiency of the business.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction – Deliveries at committed times, backed by instant route alerts, improved satisfaction rates of their customers.
Keeping Up with the Changing Times
In the evolving logistics landscape of the country, TMS has become a necessity for logistics businesses to stay competitive and drive profitability. Through automating route planning and shipment tracking, TMS enhances overall efficiency and controls business costs.
Moreover, logistics businesses have been facing problems such as cargo theft, unproductive on-road driver behaviour, and sudden vehicle malfunctions. Telematics has been a significant tool in tackling and solving these issues. For instance, the AI-powered driver authentication system from Fleetx has been a highly effective solution for enterprises in enhancing vehicle supervision, with video telematics being a key element in its success.
At Fleetx, we aspire to achieve logistics perfection by leveraging new technology and exploring newer, challenging paths.
