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Trucking transport, the critical piece of today's complex supply chains, is beset with far more challenges than ever, including higher fuel and maintenance costs, a shortage of qualified drivers and hours-of-service limitations.
Transportation management systems (TMS) aim to ease these pain points in helping companies determine the most efficient and cost-effective choice to move products to their destination while maintaining consistent levels of customer service.
Lorne Jones offers a snapshot of where TMS is now in the food and grocery industry. "We've seen a shift in the balance of power in the retail supply chain, with grocery retailers consolidating and with Wal-Mart in the business now," says Jones, logistics and distribution industry executive at Sterling Commerce (a division of AT&T) with global headquarters in Dublin, OH.
"Rising costs and driver shortages are raising the costs of goods sold at a time when those costs are getting beaten down. So optimizing equipment and operations is important just to maintain efficiency levels and delivery costs."
Industry manufacturers and distributors are turning to TMS solutions––many Web-hosted––to control costs through intelligent planning and optimization of loads and equipment. A report issued by ARC Advisory Group indicates "the transition from implementing a Transportation Management System (TMS) in-house to accessing it via an on demand service is well underway. The trend now is to bundle managed services as part of the outsourced solution."