Client
A manufacturer of chemical products selling worldwide.
Challenge
The customer was producing products at eight separate factories in the United States, much of which was marketed for export. The factories were spread across the country, complicating their freight management among several carriers, locations, and providers. These complications often led to an underutilization of contracts and shipment delays, as there was no central way for the shipment teams at all the factories to manage their freight concurrently.
Solution
J.M. Rodgers created a single unified platform for all the customer’s plants in one custom-built website, allowing all locations to create, view, and track shipments. The customer relied on several direct contracts with carriers, the terms of which were programmed into the website and then linked with an ordering system. This allowed for a single interface where employees could log into the website and book a shipment for their specific site. This order would trigger a pickup from the trucker and space made available from the carrier. Once booked, the containers could be tracked directly from this website. The data feeds for live updates from the carriers were implemented directly into the tracking site as updates were available. Reports of shipments and confirmations on deliveries for payment purposes could be easily pulled from the sites.
Results
The customer could save considerably on their freight costs because they could maximize their direct contracts with carriers, avoiding the more costly freight forwarder market. They could also save time by having only one platform to manage all their shipments across the country and had increased visibility and ease of shipments due to the consolidation.
