Inbound transportation planning

Collaborate on inbound transportation with your suppliers

Overview

IBM Sterling Inbound Transportation Planning enables shippers and suppliers to collaborate during the execution of their inbound transportation processes by enhancing visibility into the order and shipment processes.

Typically the inbound transportation process is initiated by the procurement department and managed by the supplier. Enhancing this process requires visibility into the order lifecycle and connectivity between your shippers, carriers, customers and suppliers as they collaborate in the planning and shipping of orders. Some of the benefits can include:

Reduce transportation costs with a single transportation plan for inbound and outbound
Lower inventory levels through improved in-transit shipment visibility
Reduce vendor compliance issues related to tardiness, shipping labels, and routing guides

Product framework

Sterling Transportation Management System - Optimize and transform your supply chain network by automating the planning and execution of your inbound and outbound transportation processes

Sterling Supplier Portal - Enable web-form connectivity for your suppliers who are not technically enabled for EDI/XML, creating a consistent order fulfillment process through configurable business rules.

Sterling Supply Chain Visibility - Optimize your inbound supply and outbound fulfillment processes by providing complete end-to-end visibility of orders, shipments and inventory.

Solution Capabilities

Capability	Description
Load optimization	Plan and control routes based on consolidation of inbound and outbound shipments Presents one consolidated view of orders regardless of the origin Automate the process of notifying the vendor when the shipment will occur and how it will ship
Carrier selection	Select carriers based on highly-flexible routing guide configuration, options include lowest cost, ranking, and volume commitments Ensure carrier and route guide compliance Proactive notification of supply chain disruptions for all supply chain personnel Supports dedicated fleets and common carriers across all transportation mode including truckload (TL), less-than-truckload (LTL), intermodal, rail, ocean, parcel and air freight
Supplier collaboration	Web portal enables non-EDI suppliers to process POs online, request routing, and give ASNs Ensure suppliers follow business rules and complete all required data fields Provide consistent process for small and large suppliers, regardless of their technical expertise
Business intelligence	Personalized and real-time access to carrier performance against benchmarks On premise time analysis Monitor KPI trends and measure performance against network benchmarks Access information to determine the root cause of exceptions and out-of-tolerance performance
Vendor compliance	Ensure suppliers meet vendor compliance guidelines during order fulfillment regarding communication of: Advanced shipment notifications (ASNs) Carton sizes Barcode labeling Shipment routing
Supply chain visibility	View alerts identifying purchase order and sales order status Receive alerts for acceptations when milestones are met: Vendor commitment and ready-to-ship Forward moving inbound inventory Visibility into what goods the vendor has available for the shipment

See how Sterling Transportation Management System can help you achieve these benefits

Data sheet

Sterling Transportation and Management System - Inbound Transportation Planning (499KB)

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Priority code:
101K803W