As a leading European transport and logistics company, the complete control and visibility of our customers freight, carried by our fleet and our partner carriers, is vital.

Our commitment to innovation has enabled us to launch a revolutionary new transport management system that’s been designed and developed in-house by our own specialist team.

What is a Transport Management System (TMS)?

Dan Khosa, Efret’s lead IT and Software engineer explains: A TMS is an intelligent software solution that helps freight companies manage increasingly complex and challenging logistics requirements, regardless of the mode of transport or country.

A TMS helps ensure on time delivery of cargo by optimising loads with trucks and delivery routes and makes real-time tracking anywhere across the globe a reality.

It enables the automation of previously time-consuming tasks, such as vehicle scheduling, transport documentation and customer billing. An efficient TMS system reduces costs for both businesses and customers.

What are the features of the Elite™ TMS?

Our new TMS, which we call Elite™, has been designed specifically around the needs of Efret’s organisational and customer requirements. It takes order processing and intelligent vehicle scheduling to another level featuring seamless integration with existing systems, such as accounting.

This means that more end-to-end processes are now automated, which allows our transport planning team to focus on more productive tasks, such as customer communication and relationship building.

Elite™ can also integrate with a customer’s systems, receive freight orders via EDI link, and then schedule a vehicle, providing real-time location and status updates. After delivery is confirmed, the system automatically generates an invoice and access to the proof of delivery.

What are the benefits of the Elite™ TMS?

1. Increased efficiency

Our TMS offers significant efficiency improvements for both Efret and our customers in several important ways.  

Firstly, it reduces time consuming administration. Our TMS software makes it easy to compare freight and carrier matches to find the best option. It also automates the booking process, replacing time-consuming phone calls with efficient digital booking transfers. The software streamlines, integrates, and automates processes, including order scheduling and payments, removing the risk of manual errors.

Secondly, by automating the vehicle optimisation with rule-based logic, this helps us gain efficiencies and operate at scale. The software helps identify the most cost-effective options, including some that might be missed using a manual process.  

2. Supports decarbonisation objectives

Because Elite™  is integrated with the GPS mapping systems Here and Project 44 tracking by API, it is able to identify the closest vehicle to a load, thereby reducing the number of empty kilometres driven prior to collection.

This includes smart mapping technology that considers actual traffic conditions and weather, rather than just a point-to-point decision. Even if only a partial address is available, the system can intelligently match the lat/long data to find the accurate loading point.

Critical vehicle data is also recorded on the database so that trucks are automatically not matched to a load, for example, if their MOT is due, or they do not have the appropriate ADR equipment for that cargo.

These factors combined mean that costly empty or wasted running is kept to a minimum which significantly reduces CO2 emissions over thousands of freight movements per year, supporting our sustainability objectives.

3. Real-time visibility

TMS software improves visibility of complex logistics processes enabling real-time track and trace. This is especially valuable when long distance and cross border movements can be reliably monitored during multiple modes across road, sea, or air.

Our TMS can also generate optimal routing proposals dynamically, identifying shorter or less congested routes and adapting in real time to unforeseen obstacles.

4. Improved customer service

The ability to meet and exceed customer expectations is essential for any business competing in today’s global marketplace.  

On-time delivery is now a more important consideration than ever. Customers around the world now expect strict adherence to a promised delivery schedule. TMS software provides the visibility that is necessary to identify and address issues that might result in delays, customer frustration, and an erosion of customer loyalty.  

TMS software can also improve the end customer experience by making it easy for them to track delivery progress and by simplifying the billing and payment process. 

Spurred on by the pandemic, more ecommerce and retail companies have joined the ranks of automotive, FMCG, packaging and healthcare companies looking for ways to transport goods quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.  

Elite™ has been designed as forward facing and can integrate with any customer system that is API enabled. As a result, even tenders and complex freight pricing requests can be received and processed quickly, providing more competitive rates and less manual spreadsheet manipulation.

In European transport, the provision of a proof of delivery (POD) is still an important part of the transaction and can lead to a lot of manual work to ensure they are recovered. Our software enables rapid access and visibility of PODs to customers via our portal, saving them time.

5. Improved support for carriers

The Elite TMS system accesses, stores, and compares detailed information about our carrier partners that form the Efret Alliance. It enables the receipt, validation, and storage of all fleet equipment specifications to a high level of detail, meaning that scheduling errors due to vehicle incompatibility are eliminated.

Carriers have access to a simple interface to submit their proof of deliveries and billing processes are automated, speeding up payment.

Conclusion:

The launch of our new Elite TMS will enable Efret to continue the high level of efficiency and service that our customers have come to expect and future proof us for the challenges ahead. It will also improve the productivity, job satisfaction and wellbeing of our talented people. To find out more about our European transportation services, get in touch with our team:

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