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TransportGistics Products
Solutions
should not be more complicated than the problems they are trying to solve!
Generate, Distribute and Manage
Bills of Lading on the Web
Tracing and Tracking
information in a central location to all authorized users
Freight Bill
Management, Shipment Information, Cost Control Portal
Generate Return Authorizations via least cost
carriers, generate bar coded return Bills of Lading and facilitate the
receiving and accounts payable/receivable processes
Communicate
routing guides rules of engagement and carrier selection
Extend visibility & gain
accountability to the desktop by tracking shipments & goods
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Inbound
Transportation Management and Control:
Low Hanging Fruit and How to
Grab It
In most organizations, the cost of
transportation is equal to or greater than the combined costs of
warehousing, order entry and customer service. In addition to its
recognition as an enormous expense, freight transportation is the
“corporate life bloodline to the marketplace” and
has been a precursor to the shrinking or "flattening" of the
world.
As the supply chain becomes more
refined and integrated, its management has an even greater impact on
the bottom line. Every dollar allocated to transportation and
materials management must be ultra efficient. When it
comes to managing your transportation program, the overriding theme
must be control yet, many organizations have not applied the
same efforts to inbound transportation management as they have to
outbound management, making it a great opportunity for efficiency
and cost savings.
This white
paper
will identify and discuss the most important, perhaps simplest of
steps necessary to improve Inbound Transportation Management as well
as the opportunities that this improvement will yield.
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The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act And
The Freight Transportation Implication
Contrived
success, fueled by financial fraud was the soup from which the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) sprung forth. Perhaps driven by a
new business model or old fashioned greed or Wall Streets demands
for short term profits at any cost, manipulated financial
information satisfied all bases. The corporate wreckage and
financial devastation of real people, young and old, rich and poor
that were left in the wake of the schemes looked like a highway
strewn with the destroyed promises of tomorrow
Effective,
efficient, and timely implementation of the immediate requirements
of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are facing delays allegedly caused by high
costs. Timely implementation is important in order to properly
address both the spirit and terms of the Act and to overcome the
current delays and associated obstacles alternative methods of
approach need to be identified.
This white
paper
will briefly describe the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; and discuss
freight transportations unique ancillary capabilities as a timely,
cost efficient and effective resource for exposing and reducing the
potential financial abuses understood by SOX as well as meeting its
compliance objectives.
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Transporting Information at the Speed of Commerce
Communication
is the quintessential means of conveying ideas and information.
Transportation is the quintessential means for moving goods. These
simple facts have long been key contributors for the growth and
development of commerce and industry.
The
culmination of highly influential events have significantly
increased the speed of commerce. However, to accommodate increasing
velocity, a new business relationship paradigm was required. Of
paramount importance was a transportation and logistics management
solution whose converged process and function equalized the flow of
goods with the corresponding information
This white
paper
will identify and discuss: critically important, automated, and
incremental freight transportation solutions that manage the
logistics functions within the supply chain; and how their converged
process and function can simultaneously deliver the collateral
information to the entire trading partnership at the speed of
commerce.
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IDEA LOGISTICS,
Evoking Corporate Intellectual Assets
Transportation’s resources have been focused on moving people and
goods. In this role and throughout time, its faculties, resources,
and attributes have continuously driven the world’s economies and
moved people all around the globe. During the intervening years of
growth, transportation’s capabilities and processes have repeatedly
increased and developed, but remained focused primarily on the
movement of people and goods. Today, transportation is successfully
meeting the challenges of the global economy and its capabilities
and resources are still being principally directed at moving people
and goods.
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SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRITY,
A Basis to Upset Gray Market Distribution
The extreme challenges of gray market
distribution and counterfeiting are increasing at an alarming rate.
Not only are the direct costs of counterfeiting and gray market
distribution sizable, they continually drain corporate strength and
distract the corporate knowledgebase from its core competencies.
Absent effective controls, the convergence of these two destructive
business forms, if left unchallenged and uncontrolled will
eventually sap the life of every affected company.
“Supply Chain Integrity” should be an objective of corporate
security and serve as a means to control and manage gray market
distribution and counterfeiting!
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The Freight
Transportation Value Proposition
Executive Summary
If an excellent product, at a competitive
price; timely and accurate information; and superior customer
service are the essential elements for success, why have only but a
very few astute companies availed themselves of the business
discipline most capable of achieving these objectives?
Identifying those business disciplines that could best influence
corporate success and performance may not even include
transportation in the first, second or even third pass, and if
transportation were finally identified, it would probably be
recognized for only one of its many dimensions.
Unlocking the enormous potential of
transportation’s vast resources is a critical success factor and an
achievable goal!
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Freight
Transportation: The Corporate Information Resource
Executive Summary
Information is the basis for all
decisions. Accurate information improves the chance for good
decisions. Accurate and timely information substantially
increases the probability for successful decisions.
Within every
company there exists an inexhaustible supply of information, but its
sheer size and volume can render it useless; and the cost associated
with its cultivation and harvest could exhaust the corporate
treasury.
Freight
transportation is a rich and robust corporate information resource;
but too often it is viewed as a single function whose sole purpose
is to move raw material in, and finished goods out. Recognizing the
dimensions and dynamics of freight transportation, immediately
presents its capability as a powerful and comprehensive corporate
information resource.
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Short Sea Shipping:
Practices, Opportunities and Challenges
Written by
Gary A. Lombardo, Ph.D.
Executive Summary
Short sea shipping is a
concept that has as its genesis traditional coastal sea
transport practices from ancient times. The early merchant
vessels were small in cargo capacity and tended to sail
within sight of the coastlines while moving goods and
passengers from one sea port to another. Recently,
increased road congestion; recognition of the extraordinary
road construction and maintenance expenses; and
technological advances of containerization and cargo
handling have lead many to view coastal shipping, in its new
incarnation as short sea shipping, an attractive complement
to road and rail transport.
Dr. Gary A. Lombardo serves as
an Assistant Academic Dean at the United States Merchant
Marine Academy. He is the Founding Director of the Center
for Maritime Studies and a Professor of Maritime Business.
He has served as a dean during two prior academic
appointments. Dr. Lombardo has lived and worked in Europe
and Asia. He has been invited to deliver numerous seminars
and speeches; and has written more than seventy articles,
book chapters and book reviews. Additionally, Dr. Lombardo
has served as a business consultant and is a Foreign Expert
invited to present lectures at various universities
throughout the People’s Republic of China.
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The Insourcing Paradigm:
Achieving Optimal Transportation Management Performance
Executive Summary
“Insourcing” offers
commerce and industry a highly focused, portable
intelligence. As an expert management tool, insourcing
delivers functional solutions over the Internet. A
developing aspect of insourcing is taking on the form of
human resources; in this form, insourcing may be described
as “imbedding” specialists at client locations where they
perform specific tasks. Viewed as an entirety, insourcing
is comprised of two components, primarily tools and then
services as an evolving capability.
With e-commerce moving faster
and faster; the supply chain was being forced to reach
commensurate speeds. The velocity of the supply chain is
influenced by two primary factors: transportation and
production. The combination of these events,
together with their ensuing operational adaptations, gave
rise to “The law of
commerce and logistics” that is, “Increasing
the speed of electronic commerce results in the
consequential demand to accelerate the supply chain”
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NEGOTIATING SHIPPERS’ NEEDS
For
Meaningful Freight Rates
Co-Authored by
NEXTEL and TransportGistics
Executive Summary
“Freight transportation negotiations” is a
multidimensional subject with broad meaning and is focus
driven by our corporate requirements, individual
experiences, and perspectives. TransportGistics’ white
paper, “Knowledge Based Freight Transportation Negotiations”
addressed the difference between, “cost and service driven
negotiations” on the one hand and on the other, “freight
transportation negotiations”. The experiences of that
paper’s co-author, Jeff Nielsen, Director of Global
Logistics & Compliance at MPC Computers, demonstrated the
need to achieve that elusive “balance” between shipper and
carrier. Attention was also given to the importance of
attaining “mutual advantage” through negotiations. That
white paper also examined some of the negotiations issues,
service needs, practices, and processes of MPC Computers.
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ROUTING MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL,
DRIVING TRANSPORTATION SUCCESS
Co-Authored by
TOYOTA-NAPO and TransportGistics, Inc.
Executive Summary
Freight transportation represents a large corporate expense, “right up there with people and material”, says Mr. Minyon. In fact, in most organizations, the cost of transportation is equal to or greater then the combined costs of warehousing, order entry and customer service. In addition to its recognition as an enormous expense, freight transportation is the “corporate life bloodline to the marketplace”. Its role in customer satisfaction is crucial; the carrier is the shippers’ representative at the customers’ doors. Its importance as a mission critical business function is easily understood; “without freight transportation, neither commerce nor industry can exist”. Recognition and appreciation of the scope and importance of freight transportation is the first step in the process of effective transportation management. Identifying the key elements of this micrologistics component is the next important step. These elements may vary from company to company, but the influence of “routing management and control” as the “corporate life bloodline to the marketplace” establishes it as a universal key element.
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PURCHASING FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION
IN YOUR CORPORATE CURRENCY
Executive Summary
Purchasing freight transportation services in a currency, one that is understood by finance and accounting uniquely
offers the entire corporate team an important, comprehensive view of its industrial and commercial complex.
Viewing the corporate infrastructure and its operations from this perspective will provide management with new
insights and expose areas of opportunity.
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THE DIMENSIONS AND DYNAMICS OF CONNECTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Introduction
The
purpose for this white paper is to provide a basis and reason
for the “transportation and logistics applications technology
revolution”, and to demonstrate that “connective technology”
is the key facilitator for: future development; growth;
and sustainability; as well as presenting thoughts and ideas
of relevant, forward thinking applications.
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KNOWLEDGE
BASED FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION NEGOTIATIONS
Co-Authored by
TransportGistics,
Inc.
And
MPC
Computers LLC
Executive
Summary
Negotiating
freight costs / services has many meanings. For some shippers
it simply means that whatever is being charged must be reduced.
This attitude telegraphs the posture of the negotiations
and eliminates the potential of “knowledge based transportation
negotiations”. Likewise, some carriers, perhaps
better described as spoilers, chase down their competitors’
customers and offer freight rates and charges that are lower
than the current level. These approaches are not necessarily
“bad”; but they are incomplete! They lack a
proper foundation for a mutually advantageous business relationship
because they immediately fail to recognize each partner’s
assets as well as the relationship’s assets. In order
to overcome this inherent failure, changing the perspective
from “cost and service negotiations” to freight
transportation negotiations should suffice.
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WORLD
CLASS FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION PURCHASING EXCELLENCE
Executive
Summary
Transportation and technology continue to influence the
global economy and its supply chain. Both have significantly
increased the speed of commerce and the flow of associated
information.
While speed has proven to be an important
advantage, supply chain performance is also dependent upon
the knowledge and experience of the transportation and purchasing
professionals. The shift from governmental regulated
transportation to a market driven environment was a primary
motivating force that positioned the purchasing professional
to buy freight transportation services. The elimination
of governmental regulation also removed those highly specific
transportation laws and thereby reduced the need for such
specific knowledge which had been previously required for
the transportation buy.
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CONVERGENCE
THE COMBINED POWER of MICROLOGISTICS and WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
Executive
Summary
Logistics, Transportation and Distribution are mission critical
business disciplines whose capabilities have, for too long,
gone unnoticed and therefore underutilized! Missed opportunities
have their roots in underutilization; and professionals
in logistics, transportation and distribution, up until
recently have long been frustrated by this fact.
Their corporate
centric position and awareness of and sensitivity to
the corporate
knowledgebase, position these professionals adjacent
to one of the largest “pools of potential opportunity”.
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THE FREIGHT AUDIT FUNCTION and UTILITY,
DRIVING CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
Executive
Summary
Freight expense represents a significant portion of the
overall corporate budget. Because of its size and relative
position, freight expense plays a major role in corporate
profitability. Freight expense for the average company
is large enough to warrant attention and intelligent management.
Freight Cash Asset Management® is a valuable treasury tool
that can convert the freight expense to an asset. In order
to properly control the expense and maximize its potential
opportunities, it must be understood and controlled.
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SELECTING A
FREIGHT AUDIT VENDOR
Executive
Summary
White paper titles should be terse, recognizable and reasonably
descriptive of the subject. This particular subject presents
an unusual “title” challenge because of how freight audit
firms have described themselves since their first appearance
in the 1920’s. Their offerings, the business culture coupled
with the influence of banking and deregulation have also
made it difficult to select a meaningful title. Freight
Payment Vendor was considered, while also recognizable it
is probably as incomplete as the title shown. Combining
the two, Freight Audit and Payment Vendor would also be
inadequate, and not as accurate. The most appropriate title,
“Transportation Cost Control and Management Information
Portal” will become recognizable and meaningful after this
paper is read.
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The Role of the Logistics
Leader in Driving Supply Chain Value
Co-Authored, Frito-Lay and TransportGistics
(3rd in the series)
Introduction
We
are pleased to present the third white paper in the series,
Purchasing Freight Transportation. This paper respects the
underlying principals in each of the preceding white papers
and embraces them in this subject.
“The Role of the Logistics Leader in Driving Supply
Chain Value”, was created by Keith Thurgood, Director,
Strategic Sourcing, of Frito-Lay and co-authored by TransportGistics,
Inc.
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FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION
PURCHASING PHILOSOPHY
Co-authored by Toyota-NAPO and TransportGistics
(1st in the series)
Introduction
TransportGistics’
white papers were designed to provide useful, informative
and timely logistics information and to provide a forum
through which our fellow logistics and transportation and
distribution professionals could exchange ideas and information. This objective has been achieved, as evidenced
by many of our readers suggesting white paper subjects along
with their content questions.
Recently, an overwhelming number of our readers asked
that we present white papers addressing: Freight Transportation
Purchasing Philosophies; The Role of The Logistics Leader
in Purchasing Freight Transportation Services and Contract
Carriage Agreements.
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Too
often, business is viewed from the “oversight or high
level”, consequently not enough attention is given
to the critical operating components necessary for growth
and ongoing performance.
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Executive
Summary
This
white paper continues to address the notion that logistics
is comprised of two primary components: Macrologistics
and Micrologistics; and that logistics is best represented,
visually, as a set of gears driving the process (micrologistics);
surrounded by macrologistics, which manages the process.
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Executive
Summary
This
paper will challenge the supposition that “logistics”
is a chain, and further reject the notion that it is comprised
of two distinct sides, supply and demand. The chain portrays
logistics to be stagnant and linear; it also suggests
that supply and demand are two separate chains. This view
causes rigidity of thought and creates a contrary set
of theoretical business rules, forcing those involved
to think within those limitations.
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It
wasn’t all that long ago when there were a limited number
of motor carriers to choose from. The industry was highly
regulated by both the federal and state governments for finance
and safety. There were three (3) types of motor freight carriage
recognized in law:
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Y2K
was touted as the thing that would shake the underpinnings
of the world if appropriate attention, time and talent were
not dispatched. Budgets were established, consultants were
hired, staffs were increased and of course the programming
queue was extended
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This
paper will discuss the necessity of improving the shipment
information management process in order to facilitate a
more seamless supply chain.
The objectives of this paper are threefold:
1. Help executive management realize the importance of this
corporate information repository
2. To assist Logistics, Transportation, Treasury, Accounting,
Purchasing, Operations and Manufacturing professionals leverage
the transportation database for profit
improvement and corporate performance
3. Use a freight bill management, shipment information and
transportation collaborative portal to achieve collaboration
amongst the business partners
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Executive
Overview
Collaboration
is being discussed in almost every business publication
today! Many companies are discussing the topic internally
and some have had in-depth discussions amongst their preferred
or necessary business partners. While there are protocols,
and transaction sets, the ability to articulate a universal
compelling reason that would effectively create the collaborative
industrial and commercial culture is severely lacking. In
order for collaboration to succeed, there must be a business
culture, universal standards and willingness to make certain
information reasonably available to authorized partners.
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Freight
claims occur for various reasons, some are real, some are
contrived, some can be prevented, but they all can be controlled,
understood and kept to acceptable, understandable and reconcilable
levels.
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Applying
the correct legal terms associated with the movement of
freight is one of the most important events in the entire
purchase and sales process! They establish the relationship
between the parties and every related event thereafter will
rely on these terms to satisfy the relationship.
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The
economy and trade of the 21st century truly consists of
one global market. While Buyers and Sellers very often find
themselves on different continents in different parts of
the globe, they can rest assured that they have a uniform
and standardized set of trading International Commercial
Terms (“Incoterms”) to help them navigate through
international transactions and also elucidate each Buyer
and Seller’s role in the supply chain.
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International
Freight Terms and Corresponding Issues
In order
to best understand a subject and to effectively articulate
and communicate ideas, thoughts and issues, it is imperative
that we share definitions. In this connection, the international
transportation and foreign trade interests cried out for
such standards; the result of the process is Incoterms.
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PROPER FREIGHT COSTS CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN PROFIT AND LOSS!
Education,
Information, Knowledge
Decision Criteria for the Professional Accounting Firm
There
are four key things that this paper will do for you:
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It will provide you with
the tools to tell your client how to save money.
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Show you a tool that will
give you advantage over your competition.
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Provide a new opportunity
to increase your consulting practice.
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Increase your revenue.
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