The COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant disruptions to the supply chain, prompting companies to reevaluate their global supply chain management strategy. One major area of emphasis is supply chain technology adoption.
In our increasingly technology-driven society, it’s more important than ever for supply chain executives and global enterprises to have a tech-focused strategy. This includes collaboration with trusted logistics partners. For example, supply chains focused on digitalization and cost reduction leverage a freight audit and payment provider to optimize processes, gain valuable insights, and reduce transportation costs.
Paving the way to transportation spend maturity, Trax provides the resources and advisory services necessary to keep large enterprises ahead of their competition. The Trax product suite includes everything from freight audit software to a rate management tool and carbon emissions manager.
Global Freight Audit vs. Siloed Freight Audit
The difference between a large enterprise succeeding and failing is integration, specifically when it comes to freight auditing. With multiple regions to manage, complete visibility into supply chain activities is vital for leaders. Further, segregated and disparate data sources are no longer an option.
Rather than manually connecting data sources to get the full picture of an enterprise’s logistics operation, data should flow freely across different levels of the supply chain and departments and be centralized for usability. Ultimately, the goal is to break down silos often holding global enterprises back when working toward end-to-end supply chain optimization.
Global freight audit solutions provide three key benefits.
Increased Efficiency
An effective global freight audit and payment solution leverages supply chain technology adoption and end-to-end data integration to provide real-time visibility into shipments. By tracking shipments throughout various stages of transport, supply chain leaders can proactively identify where delays are repeatedly occurring, which carriers are most reliable at adhering to contracted rates and terms, and other business-critical KPIs.
By implementing and standardizing processes for freight auditing, companies reduce time wasted on administrative tasks and catching human errors–employees can focus on managing the business instead of the freight audit process.
Cost Savings
Global freight audit = complete, end-to-end invoice validation. Auditing carrier invoices across regions and modes ensures accuracy and compliance with agreed-upon rates, contracts, and terms. By identifying and rectifying billing errors before payment, including duplicate charges and incorrect rates, the freight audit process prevents overpayment, increasing cost savings and contributing to positive cash flow across the business.
Actionable Insights
Global freight audit provides insight into the end-to-end supply chain like nothing else. Total visibility allows for examining all freight data so business leaders can identify process inefficiencies and bottlenecks throughout the transportation organization. Implementing corrective actions, such as optimizing shipping routes, reducing transit times, and streamlining documentation, improves supply chain efficiency, leading to shorter lead times, increased customer satisfaction, and lowered costs.
Examples of Global FAP Implementation Success
Want real-world examples of successful global freight audit and payment programs? We have it covered with two case studies below.
Automated Cost Allocation
When a global athletic retailer came to Trax looking for ways to enhance accuracy, reduce labor costs, and monitor freight spend effectively, Trax provided the optimal solution. By identifying enhancements, Trax created a new automated process for the freight auditing solution with a cost allocation accuracy of over 98%.
Additionally, with the complete Trax product suite, the global enterprise created a dynamic and customized coding engine that can quickly and efficiently accommodate any updates necessary. The solution automatically assigns correct codes at the shipment level, reducing the client’s labor costs by 60%.
Working with Trax allows companies to undergo training for our transportation spend management implementation process. Our proprietary Rate Manager, Match Manager, Freight Audit Services, and Carrier Management Services integrate seamlessly with your current GSCM strategy. This results in a robust data-collection and operations optimization process.
Supplier Compliance
In another example of Trax’s success, we served a major US wireless provider. The provider implemented a new vendor compliance process that standardized a data format and pre-approval process, but unfortunately, the business was not equipped for single-point scalability.
Trax stepped in to completely automate the compliance process with a scalable, cross-functional solution. The solution had several components:- Providing a web-based workflow collaboration between all parties involved in the compliance process
- Creating a role-based portal
- Implementing supplier and procurement-side scorecards
The results speak for themselves - 15% cost savings and a 10% reduction in warehouse detention. Trax enhanced the company’s dock scheduling productivity by 10% by replacing manual order processes with real-time interaction.
Choose Trax's Global Freight Audit Solution
When it comes to optimizing the global supply chain, reducing costs, and deriving meaningful insights for further improvement, Trax has the complete product suite to take leading global supply chains to the next level of transportation spend management maturity. By implementing our freight audit and data management system, enterprises improve precision, save time and money, and create value.
Let’s discuss how Trax can empower your business leaders with global, reliable freight audit data.