Acronyms are everywhere. People take great pains to ensure that a title becomes an acronym. Lawmakers will settle on a horrible name like Saving the Arctic Toad (START) for a bill. OK, there is no such thing as an arctic toad, but you get the idea; acronyms are everywhere.
The freight market is filled with acronyms, many of which most of us will nod when we hear them and say, “Yeah, I get you,” while having no clue what was just said. Knowing the acronyms matters and could be beneficial to track your freight’s journey.
Let’s turn those letters into words and the words into insights.
What is Shipment Freight Visibility?
Visibility is a relatively recent innovation for freight solutions and is still underused despite being a game changer for shippers. Shipment visibility lets you know where your shipment is, whether it’s OK, when you should see it delivered, and if problems happen along its journey. You’re informed and able to remedy issues immediately or confront them before they happen. A freight visibility solution is essential for cultivating healthy and resilient supply chains, fostering collaboration, transparency, and the ability to make informed decisions.Demystifying Acronyms: What are the Systems and Their Roles in Visibility?
So we know that freight visibility is essential in 2023 and that almost everything has an acronym. Let’s jump into the acronyms regarding freight visibility, figure out what those letters stand for, and how they can help you proactively manage your supply chains.WMS (Warehouse Management System)
A warehouse management system moves beyond the days of pen and paper and manually assesses stock levels and locations. Moving to the latest tech solutions, a WMS provides real-time visibility both internally and for partners, such as vendors and customers. Internally, real-time inventory visibility helps warehouse managers maintain adequate supply levels and prevent stockouts. Additionally, the system provides team monitoring for greater efficiency. When efficient teams have supply chain visibility, they perform their best. Partner visibility extends transparency to other stakeholders, facilitating collaboration and communications. WMS benefits everyone with data standardization that simplifies and ensures the ability of all partners to react as needed. A quality WMS integrates with your others systems, like ERPs, CRMs, and e-commerce platforms. The result is that everyone in the supply chain can adjust and plan as situations arise. When they communicate, it is around shared uniform information.Incoterms
Clauses in global trade, like the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, are in place worldwide but have yet to be globally accepted. However, if agreed upon by all parties, Incoterms can define the responsibilities of buyers and sellers in conducting international transactions. The term itself refers to Incoterms 2020, an International Chamber of Commerce offering. Included in Incoterms are 11 rules that apply to buyer and seller responsibilities, and the rules have payment, documentation, insurance responsibilities, customs clearance, and detailed guidelines for their application.Incoterms 2020 Rules for Any Mode(s) of Transport
- Ex Works (EXW): The seller’s responsibility only extends to having the goods packed and made available at the seller’s premises. The buyer takes on all expenses and risks from there to the destination.
- Free Carrier (FCA): The responsibility of delivering the goods to a named destination is the seller’s. Upon delivery, all expenses and risks transfer to the buyer.
- Carrier Paid To (CPT): The responsibility for arranging and paying for delivery of the goods to a named destination is that of the seller. Upon delivery, the buyer assumes all expenses and risks.
- Carrier and Insurance Paid To (CIP): Along with arranging and paying for the delivery of goods to a named location, the seller is responsible for providing insurance on the goods. After delivery, all expenses and risks transfer to the buyer.
- Delivered at Place (DAP): The responsibility for delivering goods at a named location is the seller’s, including all expenses and risks until the goods are ready to be unloaded.
- Delivered at Place Unloaded (DPU): The seller is responsible for unloading the goods at the destination after they are delivered. The buyer is responsible for the customs formalities.
- Delivered Duty Paid (DDP): The seller assumes all responsibilities for delivering the goods to a named location until they are ready for unloading, including customs formalities.
Incoterms 2020 Rules for Sea and Inland Waterway Transport
- Free Alongside Ship (FAS): The sell is responsible for delivering the goods alongside the vessel at the port, after which all risks and expenses transfer to the buyer.
- Free on Board (FOB): The seller’s responsibility is to deliver the goods to the port and load them on the vessel. At that point, all expenses and risk transfer to the buyer.
- Cost and Freight (CIF): The seller assumes all responsibility, including the costs, and insurance, for delivering the goods to a named port or destination. Once loaded on the vessel, the buyer assumes all risks and expenses for the goods.
OMS (Order Management System)
Essential to visibility along the supply chain, an order management system provides internal and external transparency with information consistency for all stakeholders. Management sees a clear picture of where items are at any time, inventory levels in the warehouse, on the trucks, due to arrive, in stores, and held for shipment for collaboration at all supply chain steps.YMS (Yard Management System)
Yard management systems are another crucial aspect of real-time visibility of asset locations and operational status, leveraging RFID technology for accuracy. This system allows shippers to accelerate operations by seeing the supply chain status and enabling advanced planning, like instantly identifying trailers to accommodate their outbound loads. The yard visibility from YMS gives real-time information on trailer locations in the yard, allowing for moving trailers more efficiently across staging and docks.DSS (Dock Scheduling System)
Like a YMS, a dock scheduling system works for yard management, providing gate management, statistical analysis and streamlining, dock control, alerts, task administration, and asset visibility. The visibility of a DSS is across the yard, providing improved efficiency internally and allowing for external planning and adjustments. External parties can use this information for cost-cutting, carrier evaluations, and process flow improvements. The result is streamlined processes, scheduling of yard appointments, and cross-dock scheduling. The visibility provided by a DSS results in tremendous time and cost savings for shippers due to the streamlining of processes.TMS (Transportation Management System)
The hub of all visibility systems is the TMS. Every movement of the shipper’s freight across supply chains becomes visible. Beyond blue dots on a map, visibility for other process components is also possible, including inventory, carrier relationships, orders, and shipments. All communications among stakeholders exist in one platform that maximizes the total value of the tech stack. Overhead is reduced, customer satisfaction needs are met, and freight and logistics management are optimized. In a time of massive supply chain disruption, a TMS is the game changer for shippers, providing actionable insights and streamlined collaboration. Turvo’s modern TMS manages the variability of unhealthy supply chains, providing an exponential ROI improvement for all supply chain players; shippers, logistics service providers, freight brokers, and carriers.It Takes a Partner Ecosystem To Realize End-To-end Shipment and Freight Visibility
The end-to-end visibility of Turvo’s visibility and collaboration solutions results in optimized communication and visibility among all stakeholders, including the shippers, LSPs, freight brokers, and carriers/drivers. The final results are dramatic efficiency improvements, exception management, cost savings, and advanced planning.Premium EDI and API integration
In partnership with bitfreighter, Turvo brings premium EDI and API integration to the table for supply chain stakeholders allowing for the scaling of EDI operations while realizing cost savings working with a team that provides a white-glove approach for a seamless information flow.Enhanced trading partner connections
Youredi data connectivity allows Turvo TMS users to connect with their trading partners while automating processes through combined ecosystems and ready message formats. It comes without the drawbacks of high costs, long deployment times, and rigid product roadmaps.Cross border functionality
Turvo also works cross-border, bringing visibility to supply lines between Mexico and the U.S. The international transportation of goods is complex and needs to be carefully choreographed, requiring a solution for its smooth execution.Next level collaboration
Collaboration soars to the next level with the strategic and technical partnership between Turvo and project44. Visibility and productivity dramatically increase with a holistic view of the entire ecosystem, providing unprecedented insight into a shipper’s supply chain.Predictive insights
Essential components of a premiere TMS are predictive insights and risk analytics, which promote faster, more innovative, sustainable, and leaner supply chains. The ability to predict market shifts and potential risks provides even more freight savings, increased on-time performance, and reduced time to identify the potential of disruptive events—Turvo partners with industry leaders, like Everstream, to offer predictive analytics that looks months out.Total fleet visibility
Fleet visibility advances fleet management with simplified, reliable ELD compliance that results in logs and inspection reports completed faster, HOS violations avoidance, and aced roadside inspections. Automated compliance moves freight faster with automated trip-and-driver matching. Real-time email alerts notify parties of driver exceptions, and the system can check on drivers instantly. Turvo’s partnerships with Motive and Samsara result in total fleet visibility.Acronyms are Everywhere in Logistics
The entire supply chain is an acronym haven and can sometimes get confusing. Forget remembering all of them. You needn’t do so by using the one acronym that matters – TMS. A complete visibility solution working across the entire supply chain manages for exceptions, offers efficiency gains, reduces costs, and ups your customer service game. Turvo’s industry-leading TMS sets the visibility bar very high. Schedule a demo today and see for yourself.
