BY JAMES A. COOKE, EDITOR AT LARGE
TMS
technologyreview
Planning it forward
It used to be
just about
selecting carriers
and managing
shipments. Now,
transportation
software is
moving into
forward capacity
planning.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, ONE OF THE TRUCKERS IN KIMBERLY-CLARK’S CARRIER
base went out of business. But the personal and health-care products giant wasn’t
caught flat-footed.
Kimberly-Clark (KC) was able to swiftly analyze the ramifications for its distribution network by using special software. “We modeled the impact [of the carrier’s exit,]
including how much incremental capacity we needed to acquire from our other carriers,” says Tim Zoppa, transportation center of excellence manager at Kimberly-Clark.
Kimberly-Clark is a pioneer in the use of a new type of forward-looking transportation software that helps shippers plan for their future truck capacity needs.
Historically, transportation management systems (TMS) have focused on shipment
execution, handling tasks like carrier selection, load tendering, and freight management. But they haven’t been much use in helping shippers project their capacity needs
out into the future.
“TMS applications are very good at optimizing within the order-delivery planning
horizon,” says Gartner analyst Dwight Klappich. “But they are not good at forward
planning—weeks, months, quarters in advance.”
Although companies have tried using other demand forecasting and procurement
applications to determine how many and what type of carriers they’ll need, Klappich
says they haven’t had much success. In his view, so-called “product-centric planning
tools” are not suited to transportation planning because they can’t get down to the
required level of detail. In other words, they can’t look at future capacity needs by lane,
carrier, or piece of equipment.
Gary Girotti, a vice president at the supply chain consulting firm Chainalytics, agrees that traditional demand
planning software isn’t suited for the job of forecasting
transportation needs. “People have tried to apply
forecasting systems from products to transportation, and it just doesn’t work. Demand plans do
not care about modes,” says Girotti. “That’s
why we need special tools.”
