At QCX Logistics we welcome your business. A transportation management system (TMS) is a subset of supply chain management concerning transportation operations and may be part of an enterprise resource planning system.
A TMS usually "sits" between an ERP or legacy order processing and warehouse/distribution module. A typical scenario would include both inbound (procurement) and outbound (shipping) orders to be evaluated by the TMS Planning Module offering the user various suggested routing solutions. These solutions are evaluated by the user for reasonableness and are passed along to the transportation provider analysis module to select the best mode and least cost provider. Once the best provider is selected, the solution typically generates electronic load tendering and track/trace to execute the optimized shipment with the selected carrier, and later to support freight audit and payment (settlement process). Links back to ERP systems (after orders turned into optimal shipments), and sometimes secondarily to WMS programs also linked to ERP are also common. Most TMS systems help shipper directly work with asset-based carriers and support dis-intermediation (including avoiding use of non-asset based brokers and other intermediaries).
Licensing
At QCX Logistics we can integrate, upgrade and interface with your current systems. We are able to arrange licensing agreements for the appropriate interface for your company. These different arrangements have given shippers who otherwise would not be able to afford sophisticated software the opportunity to utilize TMS to better manage this vital function. The 3 primary offerings are:
- On-premise licensing (traditional purchased license)
- Hosted licensing (remote, Saas, Cloud)
- On-premise hosted licensing (a blend of 1 and 2)
Additionally, some software providers have either been acquired or merged with traditional supply chain management consultancies and are now offering shippers "blended" managed and software services as an outsourced process. Primary Tier 1 TMS providers are still independent, carrier and 3PL neutral, and ERP neutral.
Functionalities
At QCX Logistics our Transportation management systems manage three key processes of transportation management:
Various functions of a TMS
- Planning and optimizing of terrestrial transport rounds
- Transportation mode and carrier selection
- Management of air and maritime transport
- Real time vehicles tracking
- Service quality control
- Vehicle Load and Route optimization
- Transport costs and scheme simulation
- Shipment batching of orders
- Cost control, KPI (Key performance indicators) reporting and statistics