The Transportation Management System, TMS is an effective and necessary tool for those large or medium-sized companies that have to control loads and manage the procedures that derive from the functions of each department.
In the companies that use transportation as a fundamental part of their own business, controlling all the variables that affect each section is essential and is what determines the success of the supply chain.
Doing it with TMS software is decisive for questions such as which carrier will perform the service, loads, rate control, loads and other functions. A TMS software combines all the variables to manage transport in the most efficient and optimized way. One of the most important characteristics of the Transportation Management System is that it is an application for managing primary transportation of intercity cargo, parcels, air cargo, rail, maritime cargo, among others. The TMS is part of the supply chain systems such as ERP.
Some of the benefits that a TMS provides are the improvement in the efficiency of the processes, increase in sales, monitoring of transport providers , improvement in cargo consolidation, operations control, cost reduction. The incorporation of this type of management system in a company for the control of operations will become a strategic element.
What are the differences between an ERP and a TMS?
As the market raises service parameters, it becomes imperative that companies seek specialization in the sectors in which they operate and in Cargo Transportation this occurs in the same way.
That is why today in the market we find Cargo transportation companies specialized in different niches and that seek the level of excellence and differentiate themselves from general cargo transportation companies.
This specialization in transportation has forced information technology companies to create specific solutions for this market considering that Transportation is an industry where the variables of the operation, such as regulations hours of driving, tolls, maintenance by type of driving, etc. they influence the cost and profitability of an operation, making the form of administration very different from that of a garment factory, a medical center, a restaurant, etc.
It is for this reason that the TMS Software is born, that due to its Acronym in English means “Transport Management System†which unlike an ERP Software, it is specifically focused on cargo transport companies, logistics operators and cargo agencies.
The TMS especially Meribia Transport have the ability to manage information from freight forwarding companies in an optimal way and provide detailed and specific information for each area of the company.
Traffic
One of the main differences between a software ERP and software TMS such as Meribia Transporte, is that the ERP in general are focused on the management of the budgetary resources of the companies, leaving aside the operational resources of a cargo transport company. For example, Meribia Transporte has the ability to determine the availability of trucks and trailers beyond the information that GPS can generate, since it It can collect the information issued by the GPS, such as the kilometers traveled by a truck and alert the traffic operator if that truck is available for an upcoming service or should enter maintenance. This type of tool is very useful for the commercial, operational and maintenance areas of companies, since having this type of information speeds up response times to customers who request transport services and considerably reduces the possibility of human errors. in the scheduling and assignment of trucks, trailers and drivers.
Document management
A Traditional ERP, especially those in SaaS mode, treat document management with an approach to macro expenses, as long as they have the ability to store documents in digital formats such as invoices or dispatch guides, instead a TMS like Meribia Transporte stores and manages digitized documents associating them with a specific service, for example a multipoint dispatch service can generate different documents such as They are Dispatch Guides, payment of tolls, delivery incidents (damage to packaging), etc. All this information Meribia associates it with the corresponding service, which improves the billing and customer service processes since the information regarding that trip can be be easily obtained through the client's RUT, date of service, license plate (registration) of the truck or the name of the company that provided the service in the case of being a Freight Agency.
Maintenance
The possibility of Generating a maintenance log associated with the type of service provided by a truck is essential. Most ERPs do not offer the possibility of integrating with the telematic tools (GPS) of a truck. A TMS such as Meribia Transporte offers companies integrate the information generated by the fleet GPS. This integration makes it possible to create maintenance planning that involves the commercial, operations, warehouse and workshop areas, since alerts and blocking of units are generated through the information on the mileage traveled in the panel of available rolling stock. This has been created thinking that a truck used in last-mile delivery does not have the same wear as one that performs trunk services, or that a truck used in a forestry operation does not have the same wear as one used in mining. Each item has its needs and Meribia has integrated it into its TMS.< /b>
Service History
Every time a company wants to project sales growth for the next period or needs to plan an investment, it is necessary to have information about the movements of the operation, be it in the financial, administrative, operational areas or maintenance. Being able to see maintenance history and determine repair costs is key information in determining whether it is time to replace a truck or trailer or continue to opt for repairs. A TMS such as Meribia Transporte delivers to companies this information in a detailed and downloadable way so that the administration can analyze each movement that was made, whether it is knowing how many TON were transferred or the costs of spare parts for a unit. This is one of the big differences with ERP since, being a specific software for cargo transportation, industry-specific reports and analysis are generated.
In addition, the possibility of having profitability reports such as those generated by Meribia Transporte allows you to It is up to the administration to determine if a recurring service is being profitable by combining all the costs associated with the service. This allows companies to generate rate changes, search for new customers that make a profitable route, or choose to stop providing that service.
As we can see, there are differences between an ERP Software and a Software TMS, so we recommend that when implementing management software, a survey of the areas and problems that are sought to be solved is carried out, so as not to incur in investments that are later stored in company warehouses.
