Cargo Tracking

With Cargo Tracking from Berling Associates, members of the supply chain have instant access to information on the movement of shipments from their point of origin to the receiving dock. The power and uniqueness of Cargo Tracking is in the depth of visibility it provides into the contents of containers or trailers. This view goes beyond the container number or pro number, past the number of cartons associated with a particular bill of lading, down and into the details of the purchase orders and to the individual line items of the purchase orders in the shipment. This detail view provides the information critical to customer service, purchasing and receiving dock personnel. In addition to this depth of visibility, Cargo Tracking enables supply chain personnel to link invoice data for freight costs to individual shipments. All of this information access is available with the point and a click of a mouse.

Cargo Tracking provides the critical information necessary to improve customer service, reduce transportation costs and lower receiving costs. This is accomplished through Cargo Tracking’s web-based features. The information on shipment movements, which is typically locked away in the desktop of the traffic manager, is shared across the company and available to all supply chain personnel. Customer service personnel now have visibility to the latest shipment status so as to tremendously increase the accuracy of their product availability estimates for customers. This information also allows customer service personnel the visibility they need to continually apprize customers of changes in availability promise dates.

Transportation costs reduced...

Cargo Tracking assists in the continuing effort to reduce transportation costs. With the visibility of the shipment status of individual line items in the purchase orders, logistics personnel can manage inbound shipments knowing when shipments need to be expedited and when not, and when the modality of shipments needs to shift from lower to higher cost alternatives or vice versa. Traditional system information provides only a bill of lading level of information for inbound management. With visibility into the container’s or trailer’s contents, the logistics coordinators have better and more complete information to make cost saving decisions. This visibility is especially important in situations where purchase orders are split across numerous shipments.

Receiving costs reduced...

Receiving costs also can be reduced with the application of the detailed level of information available in Cargo Tracking. Again, this is especially true in those situations when purchase orders are split across numerous containers or trailers. The benefit for the receiving operations is the ability to schedule the receipt of shipments to conform to the needs of either internal or external customers for the particular line items in the shipments. This visibility into the density and handling requirements of the load enable receiving planners to schedule both labor and trucks for optimum delivery, unloading and storing performance.

In addition to the operational aspects of shipment movement, Cargo Tracking also matches freight costs for shipments with the purchase orders in the containers and trailers being moved. This matching within the Cargo Tracking database provides very valuable insight into freight cost trends and the true cost of landing any particular product or raw material. A series of reports are available providing a “natural” cost analysis of shipments. This functionality eliminates the periodic, people intensive general ledger freight account analytical efforts. This functionality also provides point and click access to this information. This means, there are no long and complex queries to write or remember.

Visibility increased...

Cargo Tracking integrates the cargo movement information buried deep in the system data tables. It then gives visibility to this information through intelligent views to the members of the supply chain in customer service, purchasing and receiving. With its secure web-based technology it no longer matters if these supply chain personnel are located across the hall or halfway around the world. While the movement of shipments is tracked efficiently and effectively, Cargo Tracking also monitors supplier performance in the background. Performance statistics for each supplier are counted and measured. Drillable screens of supplier metrics are available to the purchasing and logistics personnel, arming them with the information they need to clearly communicate performance to suppliers.

Cargo Tracking is easy to use, easy to install and easy to customize. For more details, please see our guided tour.