Transport Management System (TMS)

The 5 challenges of transport management on steel sites

The transport of goods has always been an expensive part of the logistics supply chain. The steel industry is no exception to the rule – quite the opposite, in fact! Indeed, the manufacture of a finished product can require up to 6 manufacturing steps, not all of which are carried out on the same site.

Optimised transport management is a real need if we want to be able to control costs and guarantee efficient management control in a sector that is already highly competitive worldwide.

Nowadays, with the emergence of Industry 4.0, one of the software tools for optimising transport within the supply chain is undoubtedly the use of a Transportation Management System (TMS).

The TMS software facilitates and optimises the many needs involved in transport management such as procurement, carrier management, logistics planning and execution, time slot management. But it also facilitates the tasks of the Controller through a finer control of costs and real-time monitoring for performance evaluation.

Industrials who have invested in this type of software solution are armed to control their costs in a highly complex logistics environment!

How will Fluxx’s TMS module, the logistics suite developed by Synthetis Metals, help meet the 5 challenges of managing transport on steel sites?

Fluxx’s TMS module optimises the movement of your products between your fleets and aims to speed up transfers, choose the best means (train, lorry, pallet, etc.) and make movements more fluid to avoid saturation.

The Fluxx software is designed to manage all types of means of transport, both internal to the site and external (Trains, Trucks, Pallets, Stackers) and allows specific integration of other types of transport, for example boats.

Fluxx also tracks trucks and guides them through the site (car parks, platforms, scales, etc.).

The Fluxx application can also control displays for drivers for orientation, queue management and priority management.

Fluxx optimises the time spent by trucks on site, in particular by anticipating loading and unloading operations on the quay. Example: reconciliation of coils scheduled for shipment.

Finally, Fluxx can also manage the flow of steel products within a site, while optimising internal handling resources such as pallets or trains.

Setting up Fluxx on your entire site is very quickly profitable and meets the 5 challenges of managing your transport:

– Reducing logistics costs : Fluxx chooses the optimal means and avoids empty transports.

– Reduction in working capital requirements (WCR): speeding up the transfer of products reduces the need for safety stock.

– Fewer line stoppages due to unavailable scheduled products or congested line exits.

– Faster customer deliveries thanks to an optimised supply chain.

– Supply chain integration: by the time the products arrive at a dock, they are already known. Faster, less work, fewer errors.