With the e-commerce boom and the demand for faster delivery, the need for real-time tracking of shipments, especially of perishable goods, is greater than ever before. Knowing the exact location of your shipment at any given time can help streamline your Transportation Management System (TMS) or Warehouse Management System (WMS). Every trip made offers insights into various parameters of your supply chain, giving organizations an opportunity to lower operating costs, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance overall organizational efficiency. This is where ‘Where is my Shipment’ (WIMS) comes in.
Every aspect of the trip – from the carrier, and retailer, to the time of day, highway, and region – can provide valuable data that, when analyzed, helps improve supply chain efficiency. By monitoring performance for each trip over a period of time, organizations can reap increasingly powerful benefits from the insights they reveal.
While companies typically know a shipment’s scheduled pickup time, do they know exactly when it leaves the facility or its precise estimated time of arrival? What if you could compare planned and actual pickup times, then drill down by carrier to see which ones often arrive late or early? This data can help identify trends, such as which stops or carriers consistently cause delays, making it easier to manage the supply chain proactively.
Sometimes, delays aren’t the carrier’s fault. Imagine knowing not only how long a shipment stands idle at a stop but also the average wait times at each location. With this data, you can choose carriers based on actual performance metrics, improving allocation efficiency and supply chain reliability. You’d be able to spot delays early and take action on issues like extended dwell times, low on-time delivery rates, and bottlenecks at certain stops.
Benefits of the Where is my Shipment solution:
- Improved supply chain visibility: Tracking shipments in real-time provides visibility into location and status, enabling logistics or supply chain teams to make informed decisions about routing, scheduling, and resources. With accurate data on the exact location of each shipment, organizations can reroute shipments to reduce idle time and ensure smooth operations.
- Accurate ETA and operational planning: The WIMS solution provides the most accurate ETA updates for your Distribution Centers (DCs), warehouses, retailers and customers. This allows downstream activities to be planned more efficiently.
- Easy visibility of shipment at all SKU levels: WIMS offers visibility at both the shipment and SKU levels, allowing for pin-point accuracy in tracking deliveries.
- Simplified proof of delivery: WIMS includes features of Electronic Proof of Delivery (EPOD), helping eliminate confusion and aiding in speeding up the billing and invoicing process. With EPOD, misplaced receipts are no longer an issue, making for a smoother administrative process.
Besides these benefits, implementing WIMS can bring further improvements such as better fleet management, increased customer satisfaction, pilferage prevention, enhanced compliance through driver duty tracking, and insurance benefits in some countries. By optimizing routes, WIMS contributes to reducing the carbon footprint – addressing both climate and the business needs.
Additional Information
This solution has been developed by Oracle Consulting and Oracle Global Services Center. For more information on WIMS, visit https://cloudmarketplace.oracle.com/marketplace/en_US/listing/172273770.
