How Seamless TMS Integration Saves One TFM Client Over $1 Million Annually

During Q1 2020, a long-standing Target Freight client wanted to merge two companies into one. They did their due diligence and invited multiple companies to bid for their completely reorganized freight management business. Although we had served this client since 2015, we started our bid from scratch by building a whole new service model to better suit the new company. After months of meetings and discovery, we were awarded the business in May of 2020. The new model we developed would save the client over $1 million in spend annually.

The savings is partly due to the effortless integration between their ERP system and our TMS. This integration enables the client to rate a shipment, create a BOL, schedule a carrier, return the BOL and pre-PROed label to the ERP system, as well as send a copy to one of their 52 warehouses, all in just 3 clicks within their own ERP SYSTEM! Additionally, our team exception tracks all shipments which didn’t pickup or deliver, calls the local terminals to find out what’s happening, and updates the customer with reports that include the most recent information which the carrier websites don’t necessarily divulge. This enables our client to let their customers know of any delays before they receive inquiry calls.

After implementing the new contract, the customer began looking for a way to free up some work for their customer service team during pandemic employment shortages. The client was able to use our TMS’s open API calls to create a link on their website that enables their customers to track shipments. Their customers simply enter the PO# and the destination city and state, and they instantly get the most recent tracking information right from our TMS, leaving the client’s customer service team free to focus on other business needs.

During the pandemic, TFM ran additional business analysis for the customer, which found that moving shipments of less than 150 pounds to Parcel would save them $300,000 annually. Based on their data, we reviewed and advised the client on which select warehouse locations they should move their parcel shipments from. We also helped them prepare for this large shift in their shipping program by implementing packaging enhancements and training each user of the TMS system to ensure they are fully compliant and comfortable going forward.