BY BEN AMES, SENIOR EDITOR
TMS
SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE HAS HISTORIcally been split into discrete chunks, which meant
users had to turn to a transportation management
system (TMS) to solve one problem, a warehouse
management system (WMS) for another, and an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) program for
an overview of it all.
These distinctions worked fine for years as
the tradition-bound trucking, warehousing, and
material handling industries caught up to the
technology wave sweeping corporate America.
But as the digital marketplace re-orders supply chain operations, it’s evident that the siloed
model is no longer up to the task.
TMS vendors have responded by tearing down
the fences that used to separate trucking soft-
ware from other logistics solutions. Today’s TMS
programs share overlapping databases with ERP,
WMS, and warehouse execution systems as well
as with fulfillment planning, order management,
business intelligence, data analytics, and other
specialized applications. Linking these isolated
data fields can trim waste and create new profit,
whether the user is a shipper, third-party logistics
service provider (3PL), broker, truckload carrier,
The merger between TMS and its software sib-
lings has been made possible by recent advances
in two particular fields—cloud-based computing
that allows for shared interoperable databases,
and mobile application development that sup-
ports native apps built to take advantage of the
unique capabilities of devices like tablets and
smartphones.
OMNICHANNEL DISTRIBUTION CHANGES
THE GAME
One of the main forces driving the change in
transportation management systems is omni-
channel retailing, which is pushing users to
demand higher performance from their trans-
portation management systems and increasing
the execution pressure on fulfillment operations,
said Fab Brasca, vice president for global solution
strategy and intelligent fulfillment at Scottsdale,
Ariz.-based developer JDA Software Group Inc.
In response, developers are moving away from
treating those diverse software applications as
independent silos of information because the
isolated data can lead to bottlenecks and latency
technologyreview
It used to be that
your TMS handled
one task, while
your WMS took
care of another.
Now, the walls are
a-tumbling down.
www.dcvelocity.com SEPTEMBER 2015 DC VELOCITY 47
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