freight expenses, ARTC can handle your needs,” Fisher concludes. freight expenses, needs,” Fisher
CTSI-Global’s Honeybee TMS is customizable to meet the specific needs of shippers and to address any challenges that arise.
CTSI-GLOBAL Customization Provides the Buzz CTSI-Global’s Honeybee TMS was developed based on the company’s understanding that its customers are all different and the ways those customers use a TMS will be different, too. “We’ve got a team of TMS experts who know the industry and work directly with our customers and their carriers to customize our TMS to meet their needs and address any challenges that arise,” says Spencer Gore, vice president, operations excellence (CoE). to customize our needs and address arise,” says Spencer operations excellence “We’ve developed in-house, which “We’ve developed our own TMS tools in-house, which gives us great exibility when it comes to those implementations and allows us to focus the tools on each speci c customer and what they need,” he adds. That includes giving clients powerful tools to make savvy, prompt adjustments when supply chain obstacles emerge. “Our real-time analytics provide insight that allows customers to reroute shipments currently in transit or to book shipments with alternative modes when needed,” Gore says. “In addition to those analytics, customers can use the Honeybee TMS to understand the impact from a cost standpoint, which allows them to make more informed decisions when selecting a carrier to In recent years, CTSI-Global particularly has focused on increasing its bandwidth for parcel shipments. “We have developed parcel shipping tools that allow customers to optimize and ship both domestically and internationally as well as to track those parcel shipments in real time from ship date all the way to delivery,” Gore says. “In addition to large parcel shipping companies such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL, our TMS is also connected with smaller regional carriers, which gives our move their freight.” ZEROING IN ON PARCEL SHIPPING Customization CTSI-Global’s developed based understanding different and the use a TMS will “We’ve got a who know the with our customers
the components of individual functions so that customers can pick and choose those pieces that best t their needs. “We have clients who prefer to maintain their data ‘on-prem’ with software they install and integrate with their ERP and WMS applications, while others prefer a 100% hosted environment with ARTC managing software updates. Yet others prefer a hybrid deployment,” Fisher explains. “We accommodate all of those deployment scenarios.” In addition, not only does ARTC’s TMS support the API functionality that carriers offer, but it also provides the capability for its clients to store, maintain, and update information that might not be available from the carrier’s API or that the shipper might prefer to manage themselves, such as freight rates. INBOUND VS. OUTBOUND CONTROL The control of inbound freight costs versus outbound freight costs is typically overlooked when weighing a TMS, Fisher says. Shippers tend to focus on outbound freight costs because they can easily control them. “But when shippers attempt to manage freight costs and get that information from suppliers shipping products to them, or when they have to issue returns from existing customers, it is dif cult to manage,” he says. “We have a good mousetrap that handles the components of individual of individual functions so that customers can pick and choose those pieces that best that best t best t their needs.
the control of inbound freight spend and planning.” Another advantage of the ARTC Logistics’ TMS is its “what-if” function that allows clients to analyze the freight impact of potential changes in their supply chain—whether those changes are forced by an external impact or a shipper is looking to make a shift in strategy. As an example, if they were to move a facility from point A to point B, or open a new facility, within minutes ARTC could give them some de nitive expectations of that cost impact. This is similar to what ARTC can do when a carrier submits a new bid when its customers are negotiating. ARTC also has some comprehensive tools that allow customers to understand the potential impact if one or more of their carriers change their freight rates. It is not uncommon to hire high-priced consultants who spend weeks of time and charge top dollar for that type of analysis; ARTC’s clients can quickly go into the ARTC tool, plug in their changing parameters, and have the system spit out a solution. ARTC Logistics’ TMS clients include manufacturers and distributors doing outbound, inbound, or interplant shipping. They represent a wide range of commodities, with a focus on intra-North America over-the-road shipping. “If you are making a widget or shipping boxes to the company manufacturing the widget and you have the control of inbound of inbound freight spend Another advantage of the ARTC
44 Inbound Logistics • May 2024
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