2003 C.I.P.A. Winners

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Trimac

E-Logistics Lowers Costs and Improves Customer Service

Overview

ERP for bulktruck transportation, integrating dispatch, maintenance, and billing with financial and HR systems to support efficient, large fleet operations, administration and safety. This system is integrated with customer order/fulfillment systems over the Internet.

Objectives

1. Enhance customer service levels to strive for the 'perfect load' (on-time pickup, on-time delivery, no safety incidents, accurate bill) every time and lower overall supply chain costs.
2. Increase Trimac's operational and administrative efficiency and effectiveness to lower costs while supporting excellence in 'service with safety'.
3. Support profitable company growth and the establishment of new business ventures.
4. Implement 'operational excellence' in IT services to supply responsive and reliable services to internal and external customers at competitive costs.

Summary Description

Starting in 1997, Trimac acquired, enhanced and integrated leading-industry technologies to form a unique enterprise resource planning system for bulktruck transportation (ERP/T). Trimac customized TMW's PowerSuite system to meet the dispatch and billing needs of bulktruck transportation, and since then PowerSuite has since become the standard system for the leading bulktruck carriers in North America.

The dispatch system is integrated with PeopleSoft for HR, Pay and Financial functions, and with a maintenance management system for truck/trailer maintenance. While each of the systems uses different databases, the data and data standards are consistent across all systems. This enhances:

• Safety, because driver certification and equipment maintenance must be current and appropriate to the commodity carried for a unit to be dispatched
• Customer service, because communications can be maintained at all times with long distance and dangerous goods drivers, and truck positions known through a GPS link maintained by Cancom. This is of increasing importance with Homeland Security
• Customer service, as Trimac strives for a 'perfect load' every time despite experiencing a 30% change order volume. Despite increased service, costs have been reduced because of systems
• Operational and administrative efficiency to lower costs using trip analysis and process improvement, order optimization to increase asset utilization, and billing accuracy to reduce customer dissatisfaction and outstanding accounts receivable

Using Vitria, Trimac has integrated its systems with the order/fulfillment systems of its customers to increase order visibility, timeliness and accuracy, and provide new customer services (call centre management/inventory management).

The ERP/T has facilitated significant growth by Trimac since completion of implementation in 1999. Recently Trimac has established an independent bulk 3PL company based on the ERP/T.

Through systems simplification and operations automation and service level management Trimac provides high quality IT services on a 24X7 basis at competitive costs.

Innovative Use of Technology

Trimac believes that Bulktrucking is a challenging, low margin business. A large fleet of highly specialized trucks is required and the business is extremely time sensitive. Operational and administrative processes must be very efficient, requiring accurate and timely information over a wide geography. According to Trimac, it is the first bulktruck company in North America to have developed an integrated ERP for bulk transportation in 1999 and is the first bulktruck company in North America to have integrated its dispatch system with the systems of its customers for order entry, status and invoicing over the Internet, using a number of protocols including industry standard EDI and XML. Trimac has been recognized for its aggressive use of information technology to lower costs, enhance customer service and increase asset utilization.

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