Achieving End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility

An evolving logistics landscape demands innovative technological solutions. Here’s how First Call’s recent investments in industry-leading visibility technologies benefit shippers, carriers and customers alike.

Supply Chain Inefficiency Is Costly

In the age of e-commerce, customers have grown to expect near perfection when it comes to efficient shipping times. Even in the wake of global disruptions to both shipping and manufacturing processes, the race for next-day or even same-day delivery continues to be one of the most intricate and important challenges left for logisticians to solve.

Off-schedule deliveries are a mess for shippers. Late shipments can result in fines or penalties, harm relationships with retailers, negatively impact a company’s track record and (perhaps worst of all) lead to goods being rejected at the point of delivery. Driving out inefficiencies in the shipping process has become a central focus within the industry, with innovative tracking tech on the forefront of viable solutions. Successfully constructing a resilient supply chain begins with one clear component: increased visibility.

Visibility Is Essential For Efficient Shipping

Visibility is critical to maintaining the integrity of your supply chain. Without real-time insight into freight storage and shipping, companies can easily find themselves overspending on raw materials or suffering delayed delivery times. Items may even arrive at their destination damaged or spoiled without frequent transparency and communication.

First Call answers the visibility problem with a custom user dashboard to house all communications with its individual partners. This includes shipping updates, urgent messages and invoicing. Through this user portal, partners are granted access to FCL’s industry-leading transportation management system (TMS), which generates quotes, routes deliveries, and provides real-time information regarding freight in transit. First Call’s TMS is also fully integrated with our active warehouse management software and Salesforce for comprehensive freight visibility.

FCL’s strategic investment in user-friendly tracking technology grants our partners complete supply chain visibility while minimizing the risk of communication or coordination errors.

The Last Piece of the Puzzle: EDI and API

Real-time data access is a big deal for companies managing complex supply chains and high-volume orders. First Call’s blend of cloud-based API systems (built specifically for instantaneous data-sharing) and EDI carrier compliance software round out our team’s robust suite of technologies.

EDI is known to be very secure and significantly reduces cases of human error when transmitting information, translating to more accurate real-time data and lower operating costs. Together, these systems process data directly from our carriers to track freight in transit, analyze common routes and optimize LTL freight. This degree of supply chain visibility also helps our logistics experts anticipate potential problems before they arise.

A Resilient Supply Chain Serves Our Customers – And Yours!

Supply chain visibility is the cornerstone of any modern customer-centric business. In today’s logistics landscape, customer centricity includes the hyper-personalization of services. Integrated tools like our TMS and WMS provide our customers with real-time updates on the condition and location of their freight through personalized interfaces, and in turn, ensure a positive experience for the end consumer awaiting delivery of your product.

On-time delivery is one of the most important parts of a customer’s impression of a brand. Even if an order is delivered by a third-party carrier, customers typically associate the shipping experience with the brand from whom they ordered, which is why it pays to have access to a TMS relaying order information and minimizing buyer confusion.

Every move First Call makes to expand its services – be it providing better tech, more centralized warehousing locations or additional asset-based services – is made with our partners and their own customers’ experiences in mind. With years of experience in providing end-to-end supply chain visibility and new investments in best-in-class tech, the FCL team is primed to support our partners’ supply chain needs.