Visibility Into The Transportation Process Is Now Affordable And Soon To Be Expected By All Chemical Shippers

By Michael Skinner Vice President, ChemLogix Technologies
With the increased use of technology to follow shipments in transit, it is no longer a novelty for orders to be tracked from placement through to delivery. In fact, customers might be surprised when this level of visibility is not available. However, many industries, especially chemicals, do not have this kind of visibility into the transportation process. Not even for most shipments of hazardous materials—now more than six years after 9-11.

While there are countless stories about technology implementations taking forever and costing twice budget expectations while delivering half the expected functionality, current TMS technology is changing this scenario. While my first TMS implementation ten years ago involved 12 people (five full time and seven part time) and took nine months to complete, a recently completed TMS implementation that delivered twice the functionality required only five part-time people 90 days to complete.

Because newer TMS applications require less intense focus on the technical details of integration and configuration, more time can be spent with the people who are using the technology to improve the way they do their jobs. With a more intuitive, user-friendly system, transportation planners will be able to quickly grasp the benefits of the technology, as well as how they can use it to make their jobs more effective. After all, isn't that the whole point?