Terra Technology, a provider of supply chain solutions has announced the introduction of Transportation Forecasting to link transportation planning with sales and operations planning. with this addition Terra says it is giving transportation and warehouse planners lane-level visibility of promotions and other demand, enabling planners to proactively reserve capacity rather than scrambling to find carriers for orders already on hand.
Typically, transportation managers rely on the orders they have in hand to plan shipments, says the company. Because they do not have systematic, lane-level visibility into when a promotion is planned, they cannot schedule for the spike in demand. This increases transportation costs significantly and results in emergency shipments rushing around the country to meet demand.
According to Robert Byrne, CEO, Terra Technology, “Transportation planning is the next big savings opportunity for consumer products companies. Terra’s Transportation Forecasting brings the visibility and rigour of finished goods planning to transportation planning, providing visibility into promotions and capacity issues and enabling manufacturers to create a proactive transportation plan rather than solely reacting to orders. Planning rather than reacting improves efficiency and lowers costs.”
Adrian Gonzalez, Director, Logistics Viewpoints for ARC Advisory Group, said, “Innovation in logistics is about addressing the white spaces that currently exist in business processes and software solutions. One of these white spaces is the disconnect that exists between demand planning and transportation and warehousing processes. Transportation procurement, mode selection and labour planning are all constrained by not having visibility into actual and forecast demand. This is especially true when promotions are involved. The net result is missed opportunities for cost savings and productivity improvements. The new Transportation Forecasting solution from Terra Technology addresses this white space and complements existing TMS and WMS solutions.”
