A long held tenant of supply chain management has been to maximize the amount of direct plant shipping (DPS). Production and shipping directly from the plant in full truckload quantities can minimize costs. Achieving DPS is a challenge. Detecting a single SKU order that can be redirected to ship from the plant may be an easy task, but if the order has 2, 3, 4, 5 or even 20 SKU's, it can be much harder to determine if it is ok to do DPS. Missing these opportunities to do DPS is ineffective supply chain management and can be very costly.
Old software would not allow anything but a complete order to be shipped. Sending out an incomplete order became a very difficult task. Too difficult for most companies, so they give up, which inhibits their ability to make up current market share. Introduce AutoScheduler - sophisticated software - which solves these problems and makes handling incomplete orders (to difficult to handle) easier and allows you more options.
This is why companies like Procter & Gamble use a sophisticated supply chain management program - DMS (distribution master scheduling) - called AutoScheduler from Transportation l Warehouse Optimization to optimize direct shipping by:
A. Pre-position inventory which will maximize DPS; B. Allows you to consider the best place to ship from; C. Checks to make sure the shipment is complete - you do this by re-deploying the inventory; D. Establish dock/staff schedule to achieve customer service goals
Effective supply chain management requires more timely decisions. Because many order management systems subscribe to the KISS principle, the creation of optimized rules to determine where orders should ship from is often determined by a strategic location analysis. This analysis, done every few years, looks at average shipments to determine, for example, that Denver is best served from Salt Lake City. However, not all orders are average. What if the order is far from average with the majority of the product being manufactured in Chicago? The stock would travel 530 miles past Denver, only to travel 530 miles back to the customer.
It is imperative that capacity balanced optimization which performs the sourcing analysis in near and real-time, would define that the order should ship from the Chicago plant. While tools exist for distributed order processing, they work best for catalog shippers. The ones needed to do the heavy lifting for the transportation industry are custom made. However, AutoSPA [Automatic Ship Point Assignment] is also available from Transportation l Warehouse Optimization. This system looks at the total cost of delivery.
At the same time, AutoSPA can limit the number of shipments that can be made from any site. For example, if there are 200 shipments to be made in the South East, there is no sense in overbooking the Miami DC when Atlanta is idle. Rather, Miami should work to its capacity leaving some volume for Atlanta.
Savings here are significant for ship-point assignment, up to nearly twice as much as DPS alone. This is huge in supply chain management - well worth doing.
When you consider a transportation consultant, Transportation | Warehouse Optimization have been working with some of the top companies in America, finding practical solutions that have resulted in saving millions of dollars. They take a long-term view and keep the client as top priority. Contact them at www.Transportation Optimization.com for transportation cost reductions or solutions to warehouse challenges. While visiting their website, sign up for their exclusive free Truck Loading Manual that can SAVE YOU MONEY and offer you the perfect Operator Manual for truck operators. Transportation l Warehouse Optimization - Solutions that work. Solutions that save. - 15433
Old software would not allow anything but a complete order to be shipped. Sending out an incomplete order became a very difficult task. Too difficult for most companies, so they give up, which inhibits their ability to make up current market share. Introduce AutoScheduler - sophisticated software - which solves these problems and makes handling incomplete orders (to difficult to handle) easier and allows you more options.
This is why companies like Procter & Gamble use a sophisticated supply chain management program - DMS (distribution master scheduling) - called AutoScheduler from Transportation l Warehouse Optimization to optimize direct shipping by:
A. Pre-position inventory which will maximize DPS; B. Allows you to consider the best place to ship from; C. Checks to make sure the shipment is complete - you do this by re-deploying the inventory; D. Establish dock/staff schedule to achieve customer service goals
Effective supply chain management requires more timely decisions. Because many order management systems subscribe to the KISS principle, the creation of optimized rules to determine where orders should ship from is often determined by a strategic location analysis. This analysis, done every few years, looks at average shipments to determine, for example, that Denver is best served from Salt Lake City. However, not all orders are average. What if the order is far from average with the majority of the product being manufactured in Chicago? The stock would travel 530 miles past Denver, only to travel 530 miles back to the customer.
It is imperative that capacity balanced optimization which performs the sourcing analysis in near and real-time, would define that the order should ship from the Chicago plant. While tools exist for distributed order processing, they work best for catalog shippers. The ones needed to do the heavy lifting for the transportation industry are custom made. However, AutoSPA [Automatic Ship Point Assignment] is also available from Transportation l Warehouse Optimization. This system looks at the total cost of delivery.
At the same time, AutoSPA can limit the number of shipments that can be made from any site. For example, if there are 200 shipments to be made in the South East, there is no sense in overbooking the Miami DC when Atlanta is idle. Rather, Miami should work to its capacity leaving some volume for Atlanta.
Savings here are significant for ship-point assignment, up to nearly twice as much as DPS alone. This is huge in supply chain management - well worth doing.
When you consider a transportation consultant, Transportation | Warehouse Optimization have been working with some of the top companies in America, finding practical solutions that have resulted in saving millions of dollars. They take a long-term view and keep the client as top priority. Contact them at www.Transportation Optimization.com for transportation cost reductions or solutions to warehouse challenges. While visiting their website, sign up for their exclusive free Truck Loading Manual that can SAVE YOU MONEY and offer you the perfect Operator Manual for truck operators. Transportation l Warehouse Optimization - Solutions that work. Solutions that save. - 15433
About the Author:
Tom Moore and his Associates at Transportation l Warehouse Optimization will help you maximize Supply Chain Management and save you money. Sign up for a exclusive free truck loading Manual that can SAVE YOU MONEY and offer you the perfect Operator Manual for Truck Operators. Transportation l Warehouse Optimization - Solutions that work. Solutions that save.
