1. Develop a Holistic, Integrated Approach to Transportation Management
Centralizing transportation management, particularly planning and measurement, is key to gaining better understanding and management of your supply chains. Your centralization plan should include technology, data, management, processes and locales. Look for solutions that allow you to do more, reducing the need for regional point systems and multiple integrations.
2. Gain Visibility into your Global Supply Chain
Many shippers don’t have immediate information on the status of shipments and have no way to track them in transit. Your system should allow you to track and locate any shipment using reference points, such as booking number, container number, order number, part number and shipment references. You should also be able to receive proactive alerts on possible issues, such as delays and deviations, so you can focus what’s important. Finally, consider visibility as a starting point towards improving your supply chain, not just an end unto itself. With an integrated, holistic approach, you can shift focus away from the basics to more sophisticated cost savings, analysis and optimization techniques.
3. Use your System to Drive Integration with Partners
Building a trading partner network can be tedious and expensive if you try to do it all yourself. A solution with connectivity to a global partner network allows you to connect once to the network to gain seamless connectivity between your internal systems and extended supply chain. Collaboration with suppliers is also important. By using a supplier portal, you’ll be able to manage all facets of the purchase order process — including order acceptance, invoice consolidation, shipment creation and document generation – in an easier, more cost effective manner than spreadsheets and emails.
4. Leverage your Human Resources
Effective transportation management involves people as well as technology and systems. Recruiting qualified people, retention and education are a must for developing a best in class transportation management process. With the drive into new, uncharted markets, the role of the transportation manager grows harder by the day. Investing in training and support tools allows staff to successfully address the challenges of a global transportation network.
5. Consider the Financial Implications of your Transportation Network
It’s not just your goods that need to be moved – money needs to change hands too. Carriers, brokers and others in your supply chain network need to be paid accurately and on time. At the same time, you want the best route for your goods and you don’t want to overpay for it either. Contract and rate management, carrier selection and freight auditing are all part of the financial supply chain that needs to run in tandem with the movement of your goods. Ask yourself if you are able to easily and accurately access and manage your rates and contracts; quickly compare options and pick the best carrier, lane and rate for your goods; electronically initiate booking requests; and accurately identify freight payment errors that result in overcharges.
|