Your Freight Bills, Your Rates ...
See Them YOUR Way!

Shippers and 3PLs are investigating ways in which new technologies can help them optimize shipments, consolidate loads, and manage intermodal transport more effectively. Many transportation management systems (TMS) options are available that will help you organize and optimize your shipments before they leave your docks.

But ... what happens when the invoices come in? While many transportation management solutions can perform wizardry prior to the shipments hitting the road, it is the analysis and review of the actual invoiced amounts that will demonstrate the true effectiveness of decisions made using these systems. Many TMS developers have left this post-shipment, payment-based data untouched.

This is where Trans-Lucent Markets (TLM) and its suite of one-of-a-kind transportation expense management (TEMS) solutions fits in perfectly. AccuFreight has the capability to take your incoming invoices and bills of lading, acquire every line of rate charges, accessorial charges, and payment data, and to present this data to our clients using a suite of highly valued, easy-to-use, web-based tools.
In other words ... your freight bills, your freight rates ... see them YOUR way!

AccuFreight Freight Intelligence System (FIS): FIS allows clients to view shipping costs by carrier, by distribution centre, by billing period, by invoice ... by almost any criteria required. Recurring, and costly, freight purchase patterns can be identified along with over-billing, double-billing, poor implementation of contracted business rules, and other freight billing discrepancies.

AccuFreight Accounts Payable (AP) Solution: The AP Solution allows clients to easily and quickly trace and track the payment process from the moment that bills of lading appear on the system to the moment a cheque is requisitioned. In addition to being invaluable to clients in monitoring the speed and efficiency of their freight payment processes, this product provides clients with all they need for compliance with Sarbanes/Oxley (US) and with comparable Canadian legislation that will soon be passed in both federal and provincial jurisdictions.

AccuFreight Rate Matrix (ARM): As an alternative to repeated phone calls, faxes and complex spreadsheets, clients can use ARM to find the top four best rates within their own carrier pool. The system can be queried to return results on specific types of shipments, lanes, and modes. Use of ARM can also increase carrier compliance and savings by driving management decisions on best cost carrier selection to the shipping floor. Finally, ARM can be used to internally audit freight billing to ensure accuracy.

Just how valuable are these tools? Take a look at our Case Study - Quantifying ROI on page two of this newsletter.

Before you go to the time-consuming expense of having your own IT department create this functionality, consider drawing on the expertise and experience TLM has already developed and made available to you. To get you started on our systems, all we need is your data ... no software to install, no new internal systems to manage. Everything you need is available to you from any computer with a browser and Internet access.

TLM Case Study: ABC Distributors (Canada)

Quantifying ROI

The evolving story of ABC Distributors (Canada), a Trans-Lucent Markets client, demonstrates five ways in which an investment in TLM's systems results in a quick ROI. ABC Distributors has an annual transportation expense (ATX) of approximately $26M Canadian.

ROI #1 - Auditing the Freight Auditor: ABC Distributors was not happy with the performance of its freight audit firm. Prior to becoming a TLM client, ABC provided TLM with a sampling of its freight data to be analyzed through TLM's Freight Intelligence System (FIS). The results showed that ABC's freight auditor was not only failing to catch and correct a large portion of billing errors, it was double-billing ABC for its own services by a factor of about 20%. The year-over-year cumulative expense of this double-billing totaled in the millions.

ROI #2 - Tightening Up the Freight Audit Function: In the first four months of TLM's client agreement with ABC, 13,873 invoices were processed, representing 14,237 bills of lading (BOLs). TLM is processing between 200 and 250 invoices per day on behalf of this client. Errors have been found in more than 50% of the invoices processed. This number may be conservative. A spot check conducted on June 4, 2007 found that 100% of the 250 invoices processed that day had errors. The majority of errors relate to erroneous fuel surcharges and "new" accessorial charges added to billing without being negotiated and contracted with ABC. Based on the information gathered in these first four months, TLM concludes that it is saving ABC Distributors approximately $8,900 per week in error correction.

ROI #3 - Carrier and DC Performance Analysis: TLM's FIS allows ABC Distributors to analyze and report on a wide range of performance issues, most specifically carrier financial performance and the ability of distribution centres to follow identified business rules. Early estimates suggest that improvements in these areas produces savings in the range of 2-4% ATX per year.

ROI #4 - Controlling the Payment Process: TLM's AP function provides ABC Distributors full control over their payment processes. This allows ABC to capture previously untapped savings in early bill payments to carriers as well as limiting late payment charges on overdue bills. There are additional savings to be found in batching payments more efficiently. Early estimates suggest that these improved payment processes are capturing savings close to 1% ATX per year.

ROI #5 - Improved Freight Negotiations/Selection: TLM's ARM tool allows each individual distribution centre to instantly find their "best rate" carriers, lane-by-lane. Having instant access to this information - rather than having to search through multiple spreadsheets, faxes and e-mails - adds additional leverage to carrier negotiations on future rates while also ensuring that the best rate selection is always immediately available.

Range of Projected Savings for ABC Distributors (Year One of TLM Suite): 7.1% - 10.1% ATX Projected Total Cost of TLM Suite (Year One): 1.15% ATX