FSNtracks Improves Operational Efficiencies“FSN has improved my company’s relations with its carriers by taking all the guesswork out of it,” says a distribution manager at a major multinational manufacturer. “When dealing with anyone throughout the supply chain, we are communicating factual information we have confirmed ourselves by tracking our cargo.” ___________________________ “If the truck is 100 miles out and we know he is making good time, I can receive that truck at 9am (for 1pm arrival) and go ahead and commit to customer orders,” says a manager at a multinational manufacturer. “We’re processing customer orders from early in the morning. We can go ahead and receive product in the system and let our order services people promise that product to our customers for delivery the next day.”
Covert cargo tracking is useful mainly for securing freight in transit…right? Actually, some of our largest clients say our FSN technology has only been used a handful of times for theft recovery while it is used up to 100 times a day as an inventory management tool. What FSN technology does is put our clients in total control of their own supply and distribution chains. Because our clients can track the location of cargo as it travels from the distribution center to its destination, they can accurately predict the estimated time of arrival of shipments—without relying on the trucking company for this information. The net effect is that employees at third-party carriers can no longer hide problems during deliveries, or stall clients by providing false ETAs that they know they cannot meet. FSN clients are able to keep close watch on all in-transit deliveries. At the start of the business day—and even earlier from home offices—staff can log into FSN and locate all trucks in transit for the day. If something is not moving when it should, they can immediately notify the trucking company and resolve issues to prevent delays. Tracking staff can also make sure freight is moving in the right direction. Sometimes a driver might accidentally hook up to the wrong trailer at a distribution facility. Because FSN tracks the cargo, the staff knows what direction each shipment should be traveling, and can correct drivers before noticeable delays are caused. Bad weather and traffic congestion can delay delivery, at no fault of the trucking company. But delays to a shipment’s delivery costs companies because receiving warehouses have staff waiting around for the delivery needlessly. With FSN, companies can more accurately predict ETAs, saving in costs related to human resources. One client estimated a cost savings in the millions just because accurate ETAs saved them employee time at receiving warehouses. An unexpected benefit of using FSN is the ability to speed customer sales. Because our clients have accurate ETAs for shipments, they have the confidence to receive inventory to a destination warehouse prior to the shipment’s physical arrival to expedite fulfillment of customer orders. This prevents lost sales opportunities that were previously caused by the warehouse’s inability to accurately predict a shipment’s ETA; the warehouse would not be able to post inventory until the truck actually arrived, many times delaying posting until late afternoon and preventing customer orders from being filled. |