Top Transportation Management Systems: Planning Metrics Shippers Need to Consider

Transportation management solutions with digital capabilities put KPIs at your fingertips.

The top transportation management systems and metrics, built on solid analytics, help shippers keep up with ever-changing volatility in today’s market. With e-commerce, digital supply chain, automation, and many other technological advances dominating the transportation industry, freight transportation processes are evolving.

“Challenged by rising freight rates, driver shortages, tight truck capacity, and changing customer demands, shippers are using more technology to work through these and other transportation-centric problems,” according to Logistics Management. “As the true workhorses of the supply chain management software cluster, transportation management systems (TMS) have become the “must-have” for companies.”

Here are key things shippers need to consider when building planning metrics and utilizing a fully integrated transportation management platform.

Where Shippers Go Wrong in Building Planning Metrics

Planning the metrics and analytics used within top transportation management solutions can challenge shippers. One of the leading reasons is that many management teams operate with outdated platforms and rely heavily on manual processes. This leads to several problems.

  • Poor management of resources leads to excessive fees and expenses, as well as missed opportunities.
  • Legacy transportation management platforms struggle to keep up with the automation and digitization that governs the market today.
  • Outdated management practices limit transportation managers’ ability to access information across their network.
  • And a lack of accurate and reliable data for freight transportation services makes it challenging to plan.
Inadequate access to real-time statistics and tracking impede responses to disruptions and exceptions.

Ways Top Transportation Management Systems Enable Better Throughput

An up-to-date transportation management system makes it easier to increase throughput and boost productivity across the supply chain.

Today, many shippers still use manual processes, paper trails, physical spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls to manage the day-to-day operations. As freight costs rise, driver shortages expand, and customer demands shift again, yesterday’s acceptable practices are no longer good enough.
Companies need tools and digital assistance to maintain a competitive advantage.

A top transportation management solution allows for easier processing and management of all critical shipping services. Everything from route planning to carrier selection, load optimization, and supply chain integration is made more accessible and practical without the manual inefficiencies and errors plaguing many companies today.

A unified transportation management platform integrated with systems across your supply chain allows you to gather, manage and analyze information from disparate sources.
Real-time information is vital to determining supply chain planning metrics and transportation strategies.

What Are the Top Supply Chain Planning Metrics?

Shippers need a high-end transport management system to capitalize on the opportunities that help them build and maintain a competitive advantage.
Modern TMS systems are cloud-based software bundles and tech stacks that make it easier for shippers to manage their supply chains. The tools offer the ability to find ways to ship freight as efficiently as possible, especially when there is an ongoing awareness of transportation activity across your network.

Top transportation management solutions benefit from a focus on the following metrics with overall logistics in mind:

  1. Cash-to-cash cycle time reveals how long it takes to convert resources into cash flow.
  2. The perfect order rate compares total orders and those delivered on time.
  3. Fill rate is the metric that shows how many orders were filled on the first shipment.
  4. Customer order cycle time is the time between orders placed and received.
  5. Inventory day of supplies offers insight into inventory flow throughout the company.
  6. Inventory turnover sheds light on how much extended inventory is held before shipping out.
  7. Reasons for return reveal trends about why customers return shipments.
  8. On-time delivery shows, thanks to real-time tracking tools, orders that are delivered on time.
  9. On-time shipment designates how many orders shipped out on time.
  10. Costs as a percentage of sales help shippers see the value and ROI of services.

Calculate your potential Saving While Using an enterprise TMS

Boost Shipment Planning Performance With Top Transportation Management Systems

The lack of actionability, scalability, and flexibility of older transport management systems slows down growth and expansion. And poor collaboration in supply chains leads to an overall inability to execute essential functions without extensive time and money losses.

Innovative cloud-based TMS platforms are the best way to provide exceptional shipping services to team members and customers alike. Technology-enabled transportation management solutions make it all possible.

To learn more about what is included in a fully integrated transportation management platform, be sure to see our brochure on Single-Platform, Global Transportation Management.

See how MercuryGate helps shippers manage transportation.

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