No matter what kind of business you run, you’re almost certainly dealing with cargo in some shape or form. You’re likely receiving inventory from suppliers and holding it in your store or storing it in a warehouse until it’s needed. If your business has a website, which is a practical necessity these days, then you’re shipping items out each time a customer makes an online purchase. You know that good supply chain management is critical to keep an efficient workflow and get cargo where it needs to go.
With a reliable cargo management system, you’ll be able to keep your cargo secure and free from dangers like debris. Many models can be deployed in practically any truck bed, making them the ultimate ingredient when it comes to convenience and versatility. A cargo management system is an important part of an overall transportation management system that can help boost business efficiency, improve your services, and much more. Here are just five ways cargo management can improve your business.
1. Protected Cargo
Whether you’re receiving items from a supplier or shipping them to a customer, fragile items need to be protected properly. You could be running a store that sells accessories and luxury timepieces, like stainless steel Rolex models. A deep dive on the Rolex Explorer 114270 reveals a stainless steel smooth bezel and a black dial with engraved rehaut. The Rolex Explorer also features minute markers on the outer dial and an oyster bracelet that will fit up to a seven-inch wrist.
Naturally, you don’t want a Rolex watch as valuable as an Explorer to become damaged during shipping. A cargo management system ensures that your Rolex timepieces won’t shift in a truck bed, and it snaps them securely in place for the duration of the ride.
2. Better Inventory Management
Speaking of your cargo, transportation management makes keeping track of inventory a breeze. You’ll be able to track the progress of each order and even receive real-time updates at each step of the process. Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), asset tracking is easier than ever, and you can even track serial numbers of individual items rather than entire shipments. You can also track your own trucks in the supply chain, thanks to GPS-capable devices, to give you a better idea of when inventory will arrive and how you can improve your routes.
3. Improved Warehouse Efficiency
You’re no doubt aware that an inefficient or disorganized warehouse can be a huge drain on money. With good cargo and transportation management systems, you can spend less time trying to maximize warehouse efficiency and more time on the core aspects of your business. Particularly if your transportation management software is integrated with other systems, such as an enterprise resource planning solution, you can automate the data entry process and eliminate errors caused by manual entry.
4. Maximized Cost Saving
Once your cargo and transportation management systems are linked, you’ll have an easy time keeping track of all your suppliers and carriers, their rates, and how many transactions you’ll need to complete with each one to qualify for their best deals. This gives you all the information you need to remove carriers who aren’t offering you the best benefits and focus on the ones who help you reduce costs and improve your business.
5. Superior Customer Service
Ultimately, customers are the greatest resource for any business and offering them exceptional service is the best way to boost customer retention and inspire loyalty. It’s much easier to retain an existing customer than to bring on a new one, after all, so it’s crucial that you invest in your service.
Aside from the obvious benefit of delivering products in good condition, a cargo and transportation management system will let you track which carriers make deliveries on time and how often. Naturally, if you find that a carrier is only making timely deliveries a small percentage of the time, you’ll need to work with a different one to ensure customers are satisfied. Even if a carrier that always delivers on time is more expensive, it’ll be worth it if they increase your sales.
