Business

Big Wins for Manhattan Associates’ Transportation Management System

July 15, 2024
7:29 pm

By: Maria Williams

You can say, “The world is going faster,” anytime you want, and it will be true every time, especially if you’re working in any kind of business that relies on shipping and transportation. These are industries built on logistics, with supply chain complexity growing more difficult with every new road, every new partner, and—now more than ever—new technology. Growing demand for real-time visibility and sustainable practices is pushing businesses to innovate new, advanced solutions. Fortunately, there are Transportation Management Systems and specialized tools provided by businesses like Manhattan Associates.

For industries like retail, manufacturing, and food distribution, a comprehensive Transportation Management System can be a lifesaver. Manhattan Associates is one company leading the development of these tools, turning decades of expertise in innovating supply chain solutions into the creation of cutting-edge technology that can help businesses handle their monumental logistical challenges.

Here are three examples of how the Manhattan Associates TMS is solving some of the biggest challenges in transportation.

Cost Savings and Fuel Efficiency

The Problem: Any kind of shipping is going to be vulnerable to fluctuating fuel prices and constantly increasing operational costs. This is perhaps the oldest and most persistent challenge of the industry, and Manhattan Associates’ TMS is bringing in future-forward solutions for a new decade.

The Solution:

Advanced algorithms optimize routes, considering factors like traffic, weather, and delivery windows.
Intelligent load building maximizes carrier capacity, ensuring each shipment is as efficient as possible.
Strategic freight procurement finds the most cost-effective transport methods without compromising service quality.

The Impact: Properly managed routes, loads, and freight lead to straightforward, consistent reductions in transportation costs thanks to improved fuel efficiency. This isn’t theoretical. Manhattan Associates brought this benefit to Giant Eagle, a major American supermarket chain. Since they implemented the TMS, they have reported an 8% reduction in empty miles and a 7.7% reduction in total miles. There’s a sustainability benefit here, too, since fewer miles means a small carbon footprint.

Operational Efficiency

The Problem: The more shipping and travel a company engages in, the more chances there are for inefficiencies to make their way into the process. This is particularly true with siloed systems at different points along the supply line. Small delays or operational challenges can snowball and turn into crippling problems with horrible speed.

The Solution:

Automation of manual processes eliminates human error and speeds up operations.
Seamless integration with other supply chain systems, such as Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), ensures smooth data flow.
Real-time data sharing and analytics provide instant insights for better decision-making.

The Impact: Streamlined workflows can dramatically reduce mistakes and errors, especially with data-driven decision-making removing the human tendency to make a bad call. This worked well for Goya Foods, America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company when they implemented Manhattan Associates’ TMS. They unified their inbound and outbound distribution into a single system that also integrated the TMS with their WMS, leading to smoother workflows and improved efficiency across their entire supply chain.

Better Visibility and Tracking

The Problem: You live in the future, and here in the future, customers and vendors expect a tracking page that tells them where their order is and how soon they’re receiving it. This also has industry importance, however, especially for companies that ship perishable goods and need those goods to arrive at their intended destination exactly on time. There’s no room for error here: if your supply chain lacks visibility, you lose business.

The Solution:

Real-time shipment tracking capabilities offer instant updates on cargo location.
Exception management alerts notify stakeholders of potential issues before they become problems.
End-to-end supply chain visibility through a unified platform provides a holistic view of operations.

The Impact: Improved customer satisfaction is just the beginning. Keeping everyone on the same page mile-by-mile enhances coordination between different stages of the supply chain, making the entire process more efficient. Even better, knowing the instant that delays occur makes an entirely new kind of proactive problem-solving possible. Manhattan Associates brought these benefits to John Christner Trucking, a refrigerated truckload carrier that saw excellent results.

Countless Challenges to Be Overcome

You know that there’s no limit to the challenges and problems that can hit a supply chain. Rising costs, operational inefficiencies, and visibility are three deeply interconnected issues that touch every part of the supply chain. The Manhattan Associates TMS addresses all of them, affecting a company’s transportation and shipping logistics with a holistic, unified platform that is well-prepared for the problems you expect and even the ones you can’t predict.

And for those new problems that seem to appear out of nowhere with increasing frequency, Manhattan Associates is working on enhancing their TMS with cutting-edge technology, like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. They’re also evolving sustainability solutions to meet the challenges of the future.

This is only an introduction to what a Transportation Management System is capable of. If any part of this can help your business, you owe it to yourself to find out more about what Manhattan Associates and their TMS can do for you. Take a look today so that you can begin to imagine what your logistics operations and your business can become with the right tools.