Despite the supply chain industry investing billions in logistics technology, why do most businesses still struggle with basic shipment visibility and supply chain planning? One major culprit, I believe, is the sorry state of shipping data. Often, this data is scattered across various systems, fragmented, duplicated, incorrect, incomplete, and rarely provides a Single Source of Truth (SSOT). A promising solution to fragmented shipping data is for supply chains to start using a Transport Load ID to unify shipping information. This includes all shipping data from operational, financial, and planning systems.
Without a doubt, a shipper-generated Load ID can bring together all data related to the shipper’s load. Moreover, it is not a tracking number, purchase order, or invoice number that links only parts of shipping data within different functional silos. So in this article, I’ll introduce the concept of a Transport Load ID. Further, I’ll share with you 10 use cases where every organization in the supply chain can benefit from Transport Load IDs. Undeniably, It’s time for supply chains to achieve total shipment visibility and enable informed corporate-level decision-making. As a result, businesses can effectively exploit their investments in emerging data-intensive logistics technologies.
- 1. Supplier Sourcing: Streamline And Optimize Carrier RFP Process Using Shipping Data Load IDs.
- 2. Supply Chain Planning (SCP): Seamless Transportation Planning For Demand Sensing, Capacity, and Asset Management.
- 3. Ecommerce And Order Fulfillment: Increase Visibility Of Order-To-Delivery Operations Using Shipping Data Load IDs.
- 4. Inventory Management: Gain Visibility Of Product Inventory At Rest And In Motion Coupled With Anticipated Demand.
- 5. Fleet Management And Trucking Technology: Optimize Capacity And Minimize Costs.
- 6. Freight Brokering: Increase Real-Time Efficiencies While Reducing Costs And Fraud.
- 7. Visibility And Tracking: Gain Multi-facet Visibility Of Orders And Transportation Across The Supply Chain.
- 8. Freight Bill Auditing And Payment: Streamline Processing, Leverage More FinTech Solutions.
- 9. Decision Intelligence Tech: Optimize Decision Flows Across The Supply Chain.
- 10. Supply Chain Protection: Minimize Fraud And Detect Anomalies Through Better Traceability.
What Is A Shipping Data Load ID and What Is It Not?
The answers to the questions below clears up what a shipment Load ID is and is not.
How Is a Load ID Different from a Tracking Number? A shipment Load ID unifies all shipping data, not just tracking data. Indeed, its purpose is not to just unify shipping data that is linked to the actual movement of goods. A Load ID also links together shipment planning data and post-shipment data such as the financials related to the shipping activity.
How Is a Transport Load ID Generated? Specifically, how it works is that a shipper, or their representative, would generate the Load ID tying it to the goods requiring transport. Thus, the Load ID is not initially linked to any specific carrier.
How Do Transport Load IDs Improve Decision-Making for Planners, Operators, and Finance? Indeed, there is a strong business case to use Transport Load IDs across the supply chain to unify shipping data. In fact, all supply chain organizations can use a Load ID to tie together all shipping data, not just shipping data in their system or department. What’s more, this one shipment Load ID can link together all shipping data from supply chain planning through execution and final payment to spend management. As a result, all parts of the supply chain organization have more comprehensive information, avoiding compartmentalized decision-making and unintended consequences.
For a more detailed discussion on Transport Load IDs and shipping analytics, see my article, Better Shipping Data Analytics Results: Use Of Load IDs To Achieve The Best Efficiency, Visibility, And Financials.
Shipping Data Load IDs: 10 Use Cases To Unleash Shipping Analytics Across The Supply Chain.
Currently each part of the supply chain uses a variety of reference numbers to link shipping data together like tracking numbers, carrier invoice numbers, and customer reference numbers (e.g. purchase orders). However, these reference IDs often fail to coalesce data effectively. In contrast, Transport Load IDs can unify shipping data, enabling supply chains to leverage data-intensive technologies like data analytics, AI, and decision intelligence more effectively. As a result, each part of the supply chain can collaborate more seamlessly, gaining a Single Source Of Truth (SSOT) about their supply chain to make better decisions. To better understand the power of using Transport Load IDs, below are 10 use case examples on how they can improve analytics across the supply chain.
1. Supplier Sourcing: Streamline And Optimize Carrier RFP Process Using Shipping Data Load IDs.
For example, when conducting a Request For Proposal (RFP) to evaluate carriers, shippers can use shipment load IDs to unify their shipping data. Specifically, they can easily anonymize historical shipping data from the original carrier. Also, they can associate shipment characteristics to a shipment load, and then aggregate all shipping activity for RFP analysis. For instance, these shipment load characteristics can include actual weight, dimensions, type of service, origin / destination, date shipped, etc. For more on strategic sourcing and analytics, click here.
2. Supply Chain Planning (SCP): Seamless Transportation Planning For Demand Sensing, Capacity, and Asset Management.
For example, planners can use Transport Load IDs to forecast shipment activity based on expected product demand. Without a shipment load ID, planners currently have to use fragmented or summarized shipment activity that in many cases is not directly tied to the product. For more on supply chain planning and analytics, click here.
3. Ecommerce And Order Fulfillment: Increase Visibility Of Order-To-Delivery Operations Using Shipping Data Load IDs.
For example by using a load ID, it ties together all shipping data to include shipment status, shipment characteristics, and financials. Thus, both operations and finance can better identify systemic issues as well as measure the impact of fixes across their departments. For more on analytics and measuring on-time delivery, click here
4. Inventory Management: Gain Visibility Of Product Inventory At Rest And In Motion Coupled With Anticipated Demand.
For example, inventory managers can use Transport Load IDs to tie in-transit products with both warehouse inventory and expected demand.
5. Fleet Management And Trucking Technology: Optimize Capacity And Minimize Costs.
For instance, fleet managers can use shipping data Load IDs to gain unified visibility over fleet maintenance and shipping activities. Thus armed with this information, they can best prioritize resources and proactively place equipment where it is needed.
6. Freight Brokering: Increase Real-Time Efficiencies While Reducing Costs And Fraud.
For example, freight brokers can leverage Transport Load IDs to eliminate phantom data, reduce double brokering, and improve pricing. Moreover, transportation organizations can better leverage financial technology (FinTech) solutions to increase profitability.
7. Visibility And Tracking: Gain Multi-facet Visibility Of Orders And Transportation Across The Supply Chain.
For instance using Transport Load Ids, supply chain and finance managers can gain on-demand and end-to-end visibility. This includes both expected and actual shipping activity as well as financial impacts. Thus, this increases opportunities to proactively and smartly prevent major issues from developing in terms of both service and costs. For more ideas on increasing shipment visibility using Transport Load IDs, see my article, The Way To Better Supply Chain Analytics: Overcome Data Interoperability With Intelligent Tracking Status.
8. Freight Bill Auditing And Payment: Streamline Processing, Leverage More FinTech Solutions.
For example using a Transport Load ID, payors have more opportunities to streamline invoice processing, quickly approve invoices, and leverage FinTech solutions such as financing options for shippers or carriers. This is because with the use of Load ID financial data is directly linked to shipping activity data. Thus, this streamlines analytics and increases opportunities to automate manual processes.
9. Decision Intelligence Tech: Optimize Decision Flows Across The Supply Chain.
For instance using Load IDs to aggregate shipping data, supply managers have more opportunities to effectively implement decision intelligence solutions. For more information on decision intelligence, see my article, This Is What Decision Intelligence Technology Is And Know What Its Not.
10. Supply Chain Protection: Minimize Fraud And Detect Anomalies Through Better Traceability.
Lastly, supply chains and regulatory organizations can use Transport Load IDs for verification and protection purposes. For example, organizations can use Load IDs for verification of shipments. This includes the verification of legal entities involved, contents of shipment, and shipment characteristics. As a result, this can minimize fraud and irregularities such as double brokering, fraudulent billing, transport of illegal products, shipment hijacking via ID theft, and shipping dock theft.
Conclusion.
In this article, I have shared with you 10 use cases that demonstrate how Transport Load IDs can revolutionize supply chain analytics. Moreover, by using a shipper-generated Load ID, businesses can unify all data related to a shipment, overcoming the limitations of traditional reference numbers. Without a doubt, it’s time for supply chains to leverage this powerful tool to achieve total shipment visibility, make informed decisions, and maximize their investments in data-intensive logistics technologies. By doing so, businesses can unlock new levels of efficiency, collaboration, and competitiveness in the supply chain landscape.
For more insights on how to improve supply chain analytics using Transport Load Ids, see my article, Better Shipping Data Analytics Results: Use Of Load IDs To Achieve The Best Efficiency, Visibility, And Financials.
Need help with an innovative solution to make your supply chain systems work together? I’m Randy McClure, and I’ve spent many years solving data interoperability and visibility problems. As a supply chain tech advisor, I’ve implemented hundreds of successful projects across all transportation modes, working with the data of thousands of shippers, carriers, and 3rd party logistics (3PL) providers. I specialize in proof-of-concept and pilot projects for emerging technologies. If you’re ready to modernize your data infrastructure or if you are a solution provider, let’s talk. To reach me, click here to access my contact form or you can find me on LinkedIn.
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Greetings! As a supply chain tech advisor with 30+ years of hands-on experience, I take great pleasure in providing actionable insights and solutions to industry leaders. My focus is on supply chains leveraging emerging LogTech. I zero in on tech opportunities and those critical issues that are solvable, but not well addressed, offering industry executives clear paths to resolution. I have a wide range of experience to include successfully leading the development of 100s of innovative software solutions across supply chains and delivering business intelligence (BI) solutions to 1,000s of shippers. Click here for more info.