Optimal fleet management and optimal deployment of the available drivers to carry out all the transport requests: that’s what it’s all about. With TMS transport planning you can easily plan and manage individual transport requests, right up to invoicing. Based on the individual requests you compile shipments (autonomous or criteria-based), link a truck/trailer to the shipment and assess who is available to drive this shipment according to resource planning.
Transport requests are created in the TMS or are scanned in via EDI, at which time you can indicate the type of goods to be transported, the collection and delivery locations, as well as the requisite weight, volume and product details etc.
Pre-set routes, such as collection from the depot, the distribution out of the depot, direct transport, via ferry or tunnel/bridge, depot shuttle traffic, national or regional distribution etc., are automatically generated if an order from A to B is entered. If you use our integrated WMS the transport requests are automatically entered into the TMS, as ‘to be scheduled’ shipments.
These routes are made available to the planner and can be classified using filters by country/region, today/tomorrow, per customer, per destination address etc.
The planner sees the complete overview of their workload on a manageable start screen.
Thanks to the real-time link between the TMS and the onboard unit or the driver’s tablet/smartphone, the planning department gains maximum insight to facilitate planning and adjustments, and the driver can quickly and easily handle the necessary administration.
As soon as transports have been scheduled and forwarded, the driver sees all the relevant data on their onboard unit or on the app on their smartphone or tablet. This provides them with all the necessary data onboard, without the need for any paper freight documents. As soon as the driver has delivered the goods, their onboard unit (tablet or smartphone) is updated, where necessary with the (digital) signature of the recipient. Moreover, if needed, the driver can also register potential losses and packaging.
At any given time the planning department sees where the trucks (and the consignments) are located, who is being delayed, etc. By filtering on transit statuses, for example, the planner gains prompt insight into the shipments being driven and the progress thereof. As soon as something goes awry, scheduling changes can be rapidly instigated.
As soon as transport requests and the corresponding routes are created, they are made available on the planning board for the planning department. Various routes, areas or activities are clearly set out for the planner in question.
By using filters the planner can collate orders into a shipment, can link it to a vehicle and an available driver, and where necessary, can print off the corresponding documentation (consignment notes, loading lists, shipment lists, and driver instructions). Upon route selection, the planner can also see the ultimate load factors of a particular truck.
If you use an automatic planning system (APS), then we can link this to our TMS software. The transport orders are sent from the TMS to the APS, and subsequently, the scheduled APS shipments are sent back to the TMS.
After that, the shipments run manually through the various statuses or they are triggered by an onboard unit.
