Transportation management system

Advanced manufacturing research (AMR), a market-analysis company that specializes in supply chain technology, estimates that there wiU be a 48% compound annual growth rate for supply-chain management software until 2003. That wiU put annual sales of these integrated suites at nearly 19 billion. Transportation management systems, with 1998 sales of 314 million, are expected to reach 1.9 billion by 2003 (Forger 1999). 

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS SUPPLY CHAIN S FINAL STAGE... 

The retil potential of transportation management systems (TMS), beyond operational efficiencies, is the substemtial cost savings that it is capable of generating for shippers. Recognizing the enormous logistics costs that are transportation related, transportation management is as complex and difficult as any other problem associated with an organization s business environment. 

Transportation management systems can be categorized into three fimdamentai types ... 

Various dedicated transaction processing systems have been successfully used in these areas for a dozen or so years. Companies often use production control systems, material flow and transport management systems, financial and accounting systems, HR and payroll systems. 

In the area of logistics, transportation costs are reduced, warehouse space is matched with need, and inventories are scrutinized for possible reduction. Transportation management systems (TMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS) are features of this part of the evolution. Most firms finish Level 1 with an improved order entry and order management system that eliminates errors that confound such systems and speeds the cycle time from receipt of order to receipt of cash payment. 

Now the flow moves in two directions. In the first instance, it moves to delivery of the finished products or services. Fulfillment processing takes place in accordance with the delivery charmel set up by the customer. Shipping advice should be available and an advance shipping notice (ASN) sent to the customer at the appropriate time, advising of the proposed delivery schedule. This data should also flow to the warehouse management system (WMS) and transportation management system (TMS) set up... 

From the previous section of this chapter, the transportation management system (TMS) was selected as a project to undertake. One of the responsibilities of the project manager is to develop a project network, identifying the activities that need to be accomplished and how long each activity will take to complete. Table 7.2 shows a subset of a TMS implementation project for demonstration purposes. The table identifies the projects activities, expected activity times, and associated variances of the activity times. 

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