Testimonial 6 min
The benefits of connecting your TMS and FMS
A transport plan that is automatically updated with current data from the fleet: surely every transport entrepreneur wants that? Bernard Duivenvoorde explains what it looks like in practice.
Why connect them?
A transport plan that is automatically updated with current data from the fleet: surely every transport entrepreneur wants that? That is exactly what Bernard Duivenvoorde thought too! As the owner of Duivenvoorde Transport, he prefers to tackle business processes as efficiently as possible. Because why do work manually if it can be done automatically? That is why, a few years ago, he asked us to connect our Transport Management System (TMS) with the Fleet Management System (FMS) he uses. He is happy to tell you what this looks like in practice!
No unnecessary manual work
We previously spoke with Bernard at length about his family business, founded in 1937, and why he chose our OpenTMS. But what about the FMS he works with? Bernard: ‘We have been using an FMS with great pleasure for years. This allows us to easily monitor our entire fleet. And with the forty trucks we now have, that is no unnecessary luxury. But even if you only have, say, four vehicles on the road, this is still a smart way of working. I can really recommend it to every transport entrepreneur. Some people see Excel as something magical, with literally all transport data processed in it. I am a fan of the program too, but not of a lot of manual work. And that is often what it comes down to. I think many transport companies either find automation daunting or do not know exactly what is possible. And how incredibly much it ultimately delivers.’
Practically no chance of errors
Bernard explains that he and his colleagues are of course not IT specialists, so automation is often unfamiliar territory. ‘But it is simply a matter of taking the first step. You should not put a time limit on it, just get started. Digitise and automate step by step, without too much time pressure. In the transport industry, for example, a lot is settled on the basis of hours. We used to record those hours with worksheets and timesheets. Everything was kept and processed manually in the invoicing. Thanks to smart integrations, this now all happens automatically. Driving times are automatically recorded and processed in the invoicing and payroll administration. This saves us an enormous amount of manual work. With a small office team, we still get a lot of administration done. And on top of that, the chance of errors is practically nil.’
Everything recorded digitally
‘We talked with Filogic and our FMS supplier about a possible connection between the TMS and FMS. I am incredibly glad this was possible. Filogic’s TMS is plug-and-play, so it connects easily with other systems. As a result, all the data around our vehicles has since been sent to our transport planning. Think of fuel consumption, driving times, location data, loading and unloading times and weight. Any waiting times are automatically processed in our invoicing. And the route can be followed in real time. This way you can not only tell clients the expected arrival time, but they can also follow the vehicle live themselves. On top of that, everything we do is demonstrable. Our drivers also take photos via the app as proof of delivery, for example. Literally everything is recorded digitally.’
Nicely transparent, no discussions afterwards
‘Thanks to the connection, everything we do is visible. Nicely transparent, and I like that. Some entrepreneurs find sharing data daunting; I do not at all. The more you share, the more transparent you can be in conversations. If you can simply demonstrate how long your driver was on the road, and why, there is no longer any need for discussion about possible extra costs. Of course, sharing data does have to happen in a safe way. Fortunately, Filogic safeguards this. I trust that it is done correctly. Internally, we keep nothing on a hard drive at all, for instance. We deliberately chose a TMS in the cloud: nicely flexible and easy to connect to other systems. I also find the new, free statistical-office integration very interesting. Completing the annual transport survey is such a time-consuming job, which sometimes comes at the expense of accuracy. And the statistical office is of course best served by the right information, so this is a nice win-win. By the way, I am also considering a connection with our Warehouse Management System (WMS), but that is a nice project for a while from now!’
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