We are a southern German company in the transport and logistics industry and are looking for our own freight forwarding software - preferably web-based - to help us meet our daily challenges. We have our own fleet of 40 vehicles, ranging from Caddy vans to semi-trucks. We operate warehouses (storage and retrieval with partial shipping via our own connections to systems) and are partners with various delivery systems.
Reasons for the search
- The expansion of the company and connection to additional systems presents us with major challenges.
- Individual employees work with different systems with which we collaborate.
- Employees are each responsible for individual vehicles = overview of where which vehicles are and who has what to do and can take on which tasks. This is difficult for individual employees to keep track of.
- The more we connect to other systems at the request of customers, the greater our challenges in terms of different software processing.
- Different contact persons for customer inquiries, different entry forms for individual systems.
- The biggest challenges are the individual shipping routes of the system and purchase costs. The more systems are connected, the more difficult it becomes for employees in their day-to-day business to find the right route with the lowest purchase costs. This, in conjunction with different transport options, sizes, and delivery date options, leads to incorrect shipping with excessive purchase costs and thus a loss of margin.
- Accounting is becoming increasingly difficult due to the individual areas, systems, and files = making it difficult to easily bill all transports by customer = leads to a significant amount of time and errors in billing
- Keeping storage and retrieval in the warehouse business, shipping routes, storage costs, and inventory under control must become significantly easier for all employees
What do we want to achieve with your software?
- Simpler handling of all tasks and systems through one solution
- Significant reduction in sources of error and duplication of work, and significant relief for employees
- More time for everyone in day-to-day business and expansion of orders
We have the following requirements for the software we are looking for:
- Online entry for our customers for all systems and our own transports until connection to TIMOCOM
- Shipment entry (which automatically determines the system through which the shipment should be sent based on the pre-set carrier costs) provides customers with the label for the correct system and also offers them shipment tracking for that system. Optionally, they can view their sales costs (provided they have been entered). Shipments that we are to transport within their own ZIP code areas are printed for the customer with their own label and barcode solution. Transport requests enable the shipment of a package (from small parcels to bulky deliveries) with various delivery options, ranging from direct routes to partial or full truckloads. Our employee should then review the request based on the customer’s input to view the various purchasing options within the systems and available transport options, as well as sales proposals for each system. Send the quote back to the customer. Optionally, the request can be forwarded to “TIMOCOM ACCESS XXX LOGISTICS” for outsourcing. After confirmation by the customer, it should be accepted as an order and labels printed for shipments. Alternatively, deliveries within our own delivery/pickup area - for direct, partial, or full loads - should appear in the software dispatch system for our own vehicles as transport orders or pickup orders. The same-day shipping data for partners must then be transferable via interface for each system, including the shipping data from our partners’ pickup orders in their systems. Enable procurement orders and cross-traffic to be sent directly to the correct system and partner after entry by the customer, as well as an additional written option via email. Import options for our customers’ data from various programs, such as via .csv file
- Scheduling of individual shipments for delivery and pickup for all systems and our own deliveries
- Own dispatch, where shipments from all systems can be managed via interface up to pickup orders – this must also allow entry and transmission for interface for delivery date
- Simple web view of individual transports from own (from shipments to transport orders, direct trips to partial/full loads) and shipments from systems must be possible
- This must enable the assignment of routes and sorting of the sequence
- Enable additional recording of information on transports or shipments
- It must be possible to transfer shipment-related shipment numbers from the interfaces of partners or shipment numbers of own customer transports to a connected app for warehouse staff and drivers
- In addition, a simple roll card or transport delivery note for drivers in paper form must be provided
- It must be possible to record additional own transports.
- A single view of the shipments/deliveries/transports must be possible with all information such as sender, size, dimensions, telephone number data for the recipient, etc.
- Tracking of individual vehicles via GPS.
- Warehouse management
- Overview of the various warehouses or storage areas with an overview of the goods in stock.
- Simple storage and retrieval of various customers and goods with a scanning solution.
- Simple transfer of goods to shipments or deliveries, label printing for shipments (according to the cheapest purchase price), and even the possibility of processing by employees via a scanning solution during order picking.
- Easy inventory option including scanning solution and detection of discrepancies in warehouse management
- Own scanning solution for warehouse and drivers in one app with different scanning areas
- The app should allow for warehouse entry and exit with different barcodes
- All data from Dispo must show the assignment of the barcode to the respective tours when scanned
- All barcode scans in different scan areas should then report the correct scan status back to the systems – required are: incoming scan, warehouse scan of remaining deliveries per package barcode, outgoing scan of shipped packages to the individual systems = correct feedback for shipment tracking of the individual systems for each scan area for all systems
- Driver scan = loaded, delivered with POD management, status setting for clarification cases such as customer not found, acceptance refused, etc. = in clarification cases, the order depot and receiving depot should be notified by email for each system with all information about the shipment
- Return of POD delivery data and clarification status to the correct system
- Accounting
- Employees should be able to see the individual transports for a period of time by customer number with purchase and sales prices in order to be able to bill the customer in an invoice
- Including warehousing, storage and retrieval, direct trips, partial and full loads, for shipments with delivery data, which system, dimensions, kg, from, to, sales price, etc. Possible as PDF, .csv file, etc.
- Optional CRM
- Customer acquisition
- Evaluations of own customers in all areas from warehousing to transport
- Optional vehicle fleet/employees
- Vehicle management
- Transport to order per vehicle = sales determination
- Overview of employees - vacation - times - expense reports - availability, etc.
- For employees, simple internal notification tool for various information for processing
- Own customers
- Simple overview of their storage with us
- Tracking of their shipments via us, perhaps - if possible - with driver tracking via GPS
In summary:
- Own online recording for software for our customers
- Own dispatching for all systems, own shipments, pick-up orders
- Warehouse management, storage and retrieval, and inventory overview
- Own app scanning solution for all systems, delivery and pick-ups, as well as own shipments, orders, deliveries, right through to warehouse entry and exit
- Billing of all customer orders, regardless of the area (warehouse, shipping, transport)
- Optional CRM solution, sales options via software
- Optional fleet management
- Simple shipment tracking/processing of all systems in one software package, including complete claims processing
Approximately six software workstations are planned.