• Shipments
    • Savings Analysis

      Even prior to consolidation, savings possiblities can be reviewed.

    • TL Consolidation

      Shipments can be consolidated to make single or multi-stop truckloads.

    • LTL Consolidation

      Combining several shipments into one LTL shipment can result in similar savings to truckload consolidation.

    • Preferred Carrier

      Preferred carriers can be established for specified routes or regions.

    • Customer Preferences

      Customer preferred carriers and do not use lists are used to enforce customer requirements.

    • Master bill

      Multiple shipments from one customer are master-billed with appropriate savings.

    • All Customers

      Both warehouse customers running WDLS, and outside customers can be handled.

  • Consolidation
    • Suggested Loads

      The unplanned shipment pool can be analysed to suggest consolidation opportunities.

    • Head loads

      Seasoned transportation specialist identify "head loads" which become for the anchor for building a consolidated shipment.

    • Route History

      Route histories are stored and used by consolidation logic to identify multi-stop consolidation opportunities.

    • Manual Loads

      Loads can be hand-built without impacting the rest of the consolidation logic.

    • Lowest Cost

      The consolidation logic can be tuned to goal seek for lowest shipping costs.

    • Best Margin

      The consolidation logic can be tuned to goal seek for best margin.

  • Financial
    • Shipment Level Costing

      Freight costs are automatically broken out by individual shipment.

    • Multi-Stop Loads

      For multi-stop shipments, a combination of freight class, weight, and distance are used allocate costs.

    • Fuel Surcharge

      Fuel surcharges can be calculated and included in the costs structures

    • Deficit Weight

      Deficit weight logic insures the best rates even if the weight must be overstated to attain them.

    • Multiple Tariffs

      Multiple tariffs can be used to rate costs and rate shipping charges on the same shipment.

    • Flat Rate

      Flat rates that have been negotiated for specific routes can be accommodated by the rating tables.

    • Spot Rates

      Sometimes opportunities arise for a one-time rate for a shipment.

  • Reporting
    • Shipment Status

      Shipment status listings provide quick reference to active shipments.

    • Freight Accrued

      The freight accrued report provides quick access to freight costs, billed costs, and margins.

    • Current Status

      Current status shows totals for shipments, weight, and cubes, along with invoiced and uninvoiced revenue.

    • Revenue Analysis

      Revenue analysis gives totals by class of shipment for revenue, cost, profit, and profit margin.

    • Revenue By Customer

      Revenue by customer, breaks down revenue and margin for a specific client.

  • Communications
    • 210 Freight Invoice

      The 210 is an electronic freight invoice.

    • 214 Shipment Event

      The 214 is used to communicate various shipment events - appointments, pickup confirmed, delivery confirmed, ...

    • 990 Load Tender Response

      The 990 is the response document for a load tender.

WDLS Traffic

As a 3rd Party Warehouse expands it's customer base, it will inevitably venture into transportation through cost savings that can be achieved by consolidating LTL shipments. As the business expands, the opportunities increase and a separate transportation business evolves. The information needs of this business differ from those required by a warehouse management company. Details about item codes, date codes, and stock conditions are replaced by destination, routings, carrier rates, carrier preferences, and opportunities for consolidations. Non-warehoused shipments may enter into the consolidation mix as can opportunities for backhauling.

WDLS Traffic was designed for this type of business. It provides a transportation focus to pool of shipments as opposed to WDLS which must give an account/item/order based focus. To do this it must exchange a good deal of information with the warehouse management application and provide adequate visibility to service representative in each of the two operations.

Before a traffic group can begin, they need to know what has to be shipped, where it is going, and when it needs to get there. This is all information provided by the warehouse management application. Likewise, during the activities of setting appointments, assigning carriers, and such these activities must be communicated to the various outside parties and back to the warehouse group. This communication can be complex in nature as each scenario is different from the last. There are communications with the consignee, the brokered carrier, the parent warehouse, and the customer. Each one of the parties may have different requests on how they want their information delivered.

The ability to manipulate the shipments determines how successful the transportation company will be. Freight consolidation provides the greatest opportunity for cost savings and thereby the best profit margins. This is also the primary constraining factor on growth. If the consolidation process is run by paper, the most consolidation that can be done is based upon the handling of these papers. Paper based operations are best handled by a single person so they can see the "whole picture" of the options they have in front of them.

Initially, WDLS Traffic will extend the reach of this key consolidator by better organizing the shipment pool and providing improved information to assist in making more informed consolidation choices. Information regarding shipments with hazardous materials, account and consignee rejected carriers and preferred carriers, and rate projections provided by the application give the consolidator better tools. With time, the application will support multiple consolidators that collaborate to achieve maximum opportunities from the shipment pool.

Once the system is up and running, the value of the historical data becomes very valuable. The application was designed to learn from prior consolidations. Routes and prior stop-offs are utilized by the consolidation engine to help identify new opportunities.

A variety of reports and status inquiries are available within the application. Real-time information is available that allows you to review projected revenues and costs, management metrics, load and shipments status, customer revenues, and un-invoiced shipments.

The WDLS Traffic application will track both the costs and revenue for each shipment. Interfaces exist within the application to transfer these to your accounting applications. Costs are distributed appropriately to each shipment that composes a load, including mileage based charges, flat rates, stop-off charges, and any miscellaneous charges. The result is that you have immediate visibility of favorable and unfavorable shipments.