Inbound Shipment Management Services (ISMS)
Get control of runaway inbound logistics and slash transportation costs at the same time.
The Agistix Inbound Shipment Management Service (ISMS) is a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use, turnkey, outsourced and affordable solution that solves visibility and control challenges of inbound logistics. It’s simply the easiest way to eliminate inefficient, redundant and costly inbound shipment processes with:
Instant visibility and control of supplier-generated shipments
What’s it cost to move inbound shipments from suppliers? It adds up to 40 to 80% of most firms’ annual transportation expenditures. Imagine what you could save and how much more competitive your operation could be if you eliminated inbound shipment problems and cut costs at the same time. Sounds simple enough, right? Except for one thing, you can’t “get there from here” with any other inbound shipment management service except Agistix ISMS.
No other supply chain and transportation management system solution is up to the challenge of handling “many-to-one” inbound shipment networks. Only Agistix ISMS gives you control over your carrier and service level selection plus visibility on goods in transit.
Stay in charge every step of the way
Agistix ISMS resources, experts and comprehensive services give you total visibility and control throughout the logistics process. Buyers can confirm all goods in transit. Materials planners can more accurately schedule internal work and supply chain fulfillment for customers to enhance service. Receiving locations have complete visibility to all in-transit shipments, regardless of carrier and mode, for greatly improved resource scheduling. It all comes down to our powerful and easy-to-use 4-step process:
| • | Supplier provides the Agistix Service Center (ASC) with shipment details. |
| • | The ASC enters the data into the Agistix system. |
| • | The completed shipment data identifies the appropriate carrier and service level, notifying the carrier and completing the shipping documents. |
| • | Completed shipping documents are emailed to the supplier. |
Improved management that lowers freight costs
Maverick transportation spending can be an expensive headache that could inflate by 15-30% your transportation expenses. The cause is a lack of formal controls. Agistix ISMS gives you the tools you need to reign in maverick spending and curtail the use of unauthorized carriers and service levels. The immediate benefit is a dramatic reduction of both direct and indirect costs by eliminating inflated, non-negotiated freight rates and surcharges. An added payback is the productivity boost you’ll see when you also eliminate processing of unauthorized carrier invoices and documents.
Increased control of adherence to company routing guidelines
Agistix ISMS gives you practical and effective ways to internally enforce routing requests. What’s more, you can also enforce non-compliance with carrier and service level guidelines. Increased control adds up to lower cost and greater productivity. ISMS makes it easy to utilize automated carrier and service level selections to substantially reduce the number of maverick freight shipments. You can also standardize enforcement of company routing guidelines to fulfill commitments with preferred carriers.
Actionable real-time information and reports
With Agistix ISMS, you’ll have access to real-time reports in a centralized data repository that’s automatically maintained by the Agistix platform. Any authorized user can drill-down on relational data to the shipment detail level through the easy-to-use, carrier-neutral data repository. You can get reports in multiple export formats compatible with your system, including:
| • | Rich Text Format (RTF) |
| • | Microsoft Word (RTF) |
| • | Adobe Acrobat (PDF) |
| • | Microsoft Excel (XLS) |
The tools you need to solve complex challenges
Agistix takes a complex process and makes it easy as 1-2-3:
| 1. | To cost-effectively route a shipment, just type “Agistix” as the “Ship To” party on all Purchase Orders. Your supplier then contacts Agistix and we do the rest. |
| 2. | Our logistics professionals enter the basic shipment data into our system, which automatically selects and identifies the correct carrier and service level for that specific shipment, based on up to 50 unique shipment attributes, and notifies the appropriate carrier with the details. |
| 3. | An email is sent to the supplier with a copy of the carrier’s bill of lading, tracking number, and service level. |
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That’s all there is to it. Your company acquires instant visibility for all inbound supplier shipments. You can immediately reduce the number of maverick freight shipments and immediately see a dramatic drop in direct freight costs.