by logisticsplus | Aug 18, 2015 | News
Businesses that ship less-than-truckload (LTL) freight shipments would benefit from using a transportation management system (TMS). Most large companies with big freight expenditures are already using a TMS, either with or as a part of their enterprise systems. However, those same benefits are also available to smaller companies with lower freight spending. This is often done by working with a reliable third-party logistics (3PL) partner (such as Logistics Plus). Contrary to what many may believe, most transportation management systems today are web-based and can be inexpensively integrated with a company’s back office or order management system.
There are many benefits to using a TMS. The use of a TMS will help ensure your LTL freight loads are matched to the ideal carrier so that you can get the best rates without sacrificing the service you need. More specifically, here are five key benefits to using a TMS for LTL freight management:
- Streamlined visibility to carrier rates and services: With a robust TMS, you can enjoy instant, real-time access to freight rates and transit times for multiple carriers. Not having to call multiple carriers or access multiple websites is a real time-saver. A TMS can also be customized to your specific shipping patterns and lanes, which leads to greater efficiencies for LTL carriers and better rates and service for you.
- Simplified data entry and the elimination of manual steps: TMS automation features allow you to save your customer, vendor, and product data in an easy-to-retrieve database. This creates bills of lading and other shipping documents fast and easy with little need for manual entry. It also improves document accuracy, which alleviates many downstream issues.
- Improved visibility to your shipments and documentation: Knowing your freight location allows you to be more responsive to your customers or monitor routing compliance with your vendors. Being able to pull bill of lading copies, standardized invoices, and proof of delivery documents not only creates back-office efficiencies but fosters better communication and builds better relationships with your customers and vendors.
- Freight invoice consolidation and auditing: LTL freight pricing and auditing can be complex with fuel surcharges, freight classifications, minimum density rules, and more. A good TMS should house all carrier pricing, rules, and shipment information for easy access and to provide reporting and auditing on variances between quotes and actual freight invoices.
- Availability of analytics and data: With reports generated from your TMS, you can gain better insight into your LTL freight shipping activity, costs, and service trends. Better information allows you to make future business decisions based on facts and not gut or opinion.
As mentioned earlier, smaller companies that don’t have access to a TMS today should consider partnering with a reputable 3PL with a robust TMS. If you choose to partner with Logistics Plus, you’ll receive free access to our online eShipPlus™ TMS platform. Our eShipPlus platform is a proven TMS which customers have been using for nearly a decade. In addition to all of the LTL benefits described above, eShipPlus also provides shippers with access to truckload shipment quoting, booking, and reporting functionality.
If you’re new to Logistics Plus, become our customer, and we’ll provide you complimentary access to eShipPlus. If you’re interested in integrating eShipPlus with your ERP or order management system, please email nadops@logisticsplus.com for more information. If you have general questions about our LTL freight services or tools, please click the button below.
by Scott Frederick | Aug 14, 2015 | News
India is celebrating its 69th year of Independence this month. India became an independent nation on August 15, 1947. Independence Day in India is a day when Indian people pay homage to their leaders and those who fought for India’s freedom in the past. The period leading up to Independence Day is a time when major government buildings are illuminated with strings of lights and the tricolor flutters from homes and other buildings. In honor of this great holiday, the Logistics Plus (LP) employees in New Delhi, pictured below, joined in on the celebrations.
With six locations across India, Logistics Plus is fully committed to helping businesses with their transportation and logistics within, to and from India. We specialize in project cargo, air and ocean freight forwarding, warehousing, and ground or rail transportation. With our 4PL solutions, we can also help businesses manage their entire supply chain using dedicated resources and technology. Please click the button below to request more information about our India logistics solutions.
You can read more about India Independence Day on timeanddate.com or at independenceday.nic.in
by Scott Frederick | Aug 12, 2015 | News
As we announced back on July 7, Logistics Plus was named a 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner by SupplyChainBrain magazine. The official July/August magazine article came out earlier this week. A copy of the article and the official, final listing of top supply chain partners also appears on the SupplyChainBrain.com website. The article points out that no company and no supply chain exists in a vacuum. Shippers and logistics partners rely on each other because ‘no one of us can do it all, successfully, ourselves.’ We all need partners – but which ones are right for your company or supply chain?
According to the SupplyChainBrain authors, when they looked closely at all of this year’s ‘Great Supply Chain Partner’ nominations carefully, they found the following top ten challenges on readers’ minds with regard to issues that their supply chain partners help them solve:
- Reliability – Meaning well is not enough; hope is not a business model.
- Excellence – If they don’t have this upfront, should they be your partner?
- Value – Seriously, what does your potential partner bring to the table?
- Expertise – Give me a partner who knows my business – and something I don’t already know.
- Problem-solver – You deserve a proactive partner, not one looking to you for the answers.
- Continuous improvement – Does your partner value ongoing education?
- Support – Your partner needs to support you well after the sale is done or the implementation is finished.
- Positive attitude – You need a partner who sees challenges as opportunities.
- Global reach – You can’t conquer the world if you have a stay-at-home partner.
- Strong leadership – What’s required is much more than Leadership 101.
We here at Logistics Plus remain very proud of being both nominated and recognized as a 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner. Our ability and flexibility to address many of the supply chain challenges listed above is clearly a primary reason we were chosen for the list. Although we don’t know for sure which of our customers actually nominated us, we do continue to receive many testimonials that confirm our status as a great supply chain partner, including recent ones from a solar industry manufacturing company and a shelter systems relief organization.
Feel free to read the full SupplyChainBrain article online, check out the full 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner list, or contact Logistics Plus if you have a supply chain challenge of your own that you’d like us to help you with (just click the button below).
by Scott Frederick | Aug 12, 2015 | News
Last week Thursday, Logistics Plus was given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at an Erie Seawolves baseball game in Erie, PA. The person selected for this honor was Jesus Mireles de la Cruz “La Guera,” the father-in-law of Logistics Plus employee Alfredo Ayala. In addition to being Alfredo’s father-in-law, Jesus is also a former Double A player from México and was one of the Little League players that played at Williamsport in the 1960’s (Liga Pequeña Industrial from México). You can watch a short video of the first pitch on the Logistics Plus Facebook page.
(Pictured below on the left is Alfredo, Jesus and an Erie Seawolves player; in the center is Jesus and his grandchildren (Alfredo’s children); and on the right is a player recognition plaque for Jesus)
by Scott Frederick | Aug 11, 2015 | News
As a reminder, today is Erie Gives day! Erie Gives celebrates the local community where Logistics Plus was founded and maintains its global headquarters today. We have well over 100 employees working in the community area, most that give back freely to the community through weekly raffles, volunteering for charitable events, and generous donations. Please join us in support the community during this event that runs today for 12 hours between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. When you do, the Erie Community Foundation will match a percentage of each donation that you make to your favorite nonprofit(s) when you donate through this website. The more donations made to a nonprofit, the more matching funds that nonprofit will receive. Of course, you’re free to donate to your charity of choice (however, we’re sort of partial to theAmerican Heart Association (AHA) since Jim Berlin, founder and CEO of Logistics Plus, is chairing the overall 2015 Erie County Heart Walk fundraising program for the community).
by logisticsplus | Jul 31, 2015 | News
Thank you to the Logistics Plus (LP) customers and non-customers that recently responded to our “logistics survey” request. Your feedback is extremely helpful and will allow us to examine some of our services and processes to make improvements where we can. While we cannot share all of the results or individual details, here are a few high-level insights from the survey:
- 80% of the respondents were LP customers; 20% were non-customers
- Half of the respondents were manufacturers, while the other half were mostly retailers and distributors
- Almost all respondents require domestic trucking services, and nearly half require international freight services
- Customers gave LP an average overall satisfaction rating of 8.8 on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being most satisfied) – a great score (but always room for improvement)
- Half of LP customers, frequently or occasionally, log in to our eShipPlus or eWorldPlus freight management tools
- The majority of LP customers would enthusiastically recommend our services to other businesses (we had a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64 which is fantastic!)
- Among non-customers, the most cited reason for not working with Logistics Plus is that current providers are doing a good job
- Nearly half of non-customer respondents indicated a possible openness to working with Logistics Plus in the future (Yay!)
That’s about all that we can share publicly at the moment. Thank you again to everyone who participated in our survey! If you missed out and still would like to share some feedback with us, feel free to send it to marketing@logisticsplus.com at any time. And if you have any upcoming shipments we can help you with, please let us know (just click the button below).
PS: Congratulations to Michael K. for being our random, lucky winner of a $100 Amazon gift card. We’ll be contacting you shortly.
