HEIDLER freight cost management: Control invoices – optimise costs.
Every good intended for transport is freight that has to find its way to its destination in the main leg of the journey. However, it is not only the pure transport costs that are decisive, but also other ancillary costs such as for goods handling, toll surcharges or customs clearance, etc. The resulting freight costs are a central cost factor across all industries, influencing margins and other key performance indicators.
How can freight costs be collected and optimised? This question affects several areas of the company, but is easily manageable through the use of modern software.
HEIDLER shows you how savings can be realised with the help of freight cost management software and how processes can be optimised.
(german video, please activate subtitles)
Basically: What is important in freight cost management?
For a long time, companies have focused primarily on operational aspects. Here it was a matter of reorganising the supply chain, using loading areas more efficiently or planning delivery processes better. By using modern systems (warehouse management, merchandise management) it is possible to manage a highly efficient warehouse. But the operational measures are of course preceded by administrative processes that also influence central KPIs.
For example, all the processes involved in dealing with the transport service provider (carrier) take up a lot of time and human resources. Aberdeen Group estimates that optimisations in this area alone can result in cost savings of up to 8.8%. And this without any qualitative impact on the transport service as such. Instead of a manual invoice check, it is possible, for example, to compare carrier invoices and to obtain a credit note or complaint in the case of incorrect calculations. This leaves more time for other tasks.
With the HFMS (“Heidler Freight Cost Management System”), HEIDLER offers an efficient tool with which you can maintain control and minimise classic sources of error or costs. We explain exactly how this works in the next paragraph.
Freight cost management rethought: check invoices, simplify processes, reduce costs
Whether you are an industrial or a commercial enterprise, the organisational effort required for sound handling with the transport service provider is equally high. This process not only ties up time and personnel, but possibly also increases the coordination effort between the teams involved. With the HFMS, HEIDLER has developed a programme with which digital carrier invoices can be matched with the items entered via the shipping system. Evaluations have shown that on average eight per cent of all freight invoices are incorrect.
This makes an automated check of freight costs possible – other functions are also derived from this.
The point is: we have designed our HFMS in such a way that you can integrate specific applications via the Heidler Freight Cost Manager in order to optimise your logistics processes. And this is also independent of the respective shipping system. You can link these, but HFMS can also be used entirely without a shipping system, for example for certain functions. We will show you exactly how in the following.
Check Carrier Invoices
Incoming freight invoices are automated controlled and tested. The system highlights deviations and signals where incorrect billing has taken place.
Create invoice evaluations
The data generated in this way can also be compiled into regular invoice evaluations (monitoring) and collected statistically to make developments traceable.
Simplify processes and reduce costs through best price determination
Best Price Determination:
Easily and quickly determine the optimal shipping method in terms of consignment characteristics and embedded prices.
Interactive use in the web interface:
In the web interface, you can use an interactive display to run through individual scenarios (best-price request) in order to select the cheapest shipping option. Regularly test the tariffs you have entered yourself and effectively reduce transport costs.
Traceability of the decision:
All decisions made by the best-price calculation are displayed transparently on a separate web interface.
Example:
You have four carriers in the system and send a best price request from the ERP/WMS system to HFMS. In it, you provide information about the weight, the dimensions of the pallet or parcel, and the destination address. The tool then compares which carrier offers the best price and reports the result back to the upstream system. In addition, special requests can be taken into account, such as a delivery on the next day by 12:00 a.m. – accordingly via the limitation by the Shipment Policy Manager (SPM) function.
Freight cost estimation (simulation) for new carrier deployments
Use the shipments already processed or calculated as a data basis. In this way, the system enables a simulation with a different tariff to create a before/after comparison. This allows you to compare the freight costs for the last year with the expected freight costs for the new carrier. This gives you a basis for decision-making for a possible change. Alternatively, you can take future price increases into account and calculate freight costs on the basis of the previous year’s values.
Shippingcost reduction made easy: With HEIDLER and our freight cost management tool.
Dealing with carriers, especially when there is cooperation with many individual ones, is often cumbersome. This is due to the fact that conditions and specifications sometimes differ greatly. Those who keep an overview here can make sound decisions and significantly improve their business basis. This is particularly evident when looking at the small print, where tariff tables and calculation bases are concerned. One transport service provider converts the volume into a weight, another offers individually agreed special conditions.
To explain: The small print and the tariff tables, the bases for calculating transport costs, can be easily integrated into our Freight Cost Manager. It is important to observe them, as otherwise the displayed price will be distorted – precisely because of the different calculation schemes shown above. HFMS takes into account all common calculation bases (volume weight, volume conversion, minimum weight, individual special conditions, etc.).
Reduce the manual effort to a minimum, create transparency and clarity to make solid decisions. With HFMS, the tool for holistic freight cost management from HEIDLER, you leave nothing to chance.
Any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact our customer service. We will be happy to help you and clarify any open questions in a personal conversation.
