- What you save -- the labor of your people, whose time is freed to devote to your clients.
The forwarders using Ex Works find that, on average, they redeploy the labor of about one employee per station.
How? These routine tasks, which tie up the time of so many station employees every day, are eliminated:
- PODs
- Data entry of PODs (the trucker does it)
- Chasing truckers (if a trucker doesn't enter the POD, they can't invoice)
- Invoices
- Checking and correcting file numbers (all file numbers are valid)
- Auditing the charge (the trucker's charges are automatically audited against the tariff)
- Data entry of the trucker's invoice (done by trucker)
- Filing paper invoices
- When forwarders use Ex Works, there is only one administrative task for station employees -- approving, or rejecting,
billing exceptions.
- What you save -- using your trucking network more intelligently reduces your transportation cost.
- For the first time, desk-level employees have simple tools that provide clear answers. This changes everything.
 | Who is the best qualified trucker to pickup up 2,750 lbs of haz mat from Flint Michigan, and what is the | |
| best linehaul deal to get it to Miami? In about 10 seconds, your staff will see the rates based on your private tariffs with every qualified trucker for each of these routes -- and be able to review their fleet, driver roster, haz mat certification, insurance certificates, etc. | ||
| How can I make this work: we've got five deliveries to one consignee -- three other deliveries in the | |
| same industrial park -- and an 8.000 lb. pickup from a shipper on the way back to the airport? It's simple. Call the tucker and negotiate a flat rate for an exclusive with five stops. Use Ex Works to combine the nine transactions into a single load for the trucker. Ex Works provides the documentation -- a manifest listing each stop and a separate delivery document for each stop with details. The trucker provides the POD data for each stop in Ex Works, and enters his single billing for the entire load. And Ex Works moves the POD data back into your tracking system for each file -- and sends the audited invoice to your A/P system, prorated automatically against each of the nine files. |
What it costs -- about the same as the service that vacuums the floors and empties the trash in each station
In general, using Ex Works costs forwarders between seven and ten thousand dollars per station, per year -- significantly
less than the cost of the labor it replaces. Ex Works is entirely free to your truckers.
Station operations -- no training, no manuals
Teaching your station employees to use Ex Works is easiest of all -- the screens are simple and intuitive. We simply
walk them through the system by phone -- it only takes a few minutes. There is no travel needed, no "train the trainer"
sessions, no printed manuals and no expense.
Computer integration -- easier than you might expect
The integration required is surprisingly straight-forward. You can either data enter shipments, or send us electronic flat
files based on information you already have in your operational systems. We send back to you the POD data and the
invoice data, ready to load into your tracking and accounting systems, either electronically or, if you prefer ready for data
entry. Every transaction we send to you is properly coded against your unique file number, pre-audited and meets all your
criteria and business rules.
- We will work with the data transmission process that works best for you: XML, EDI, FTP... whichever process is easiest
and most familiar to your IT staff.
- Corporate operations -- tell us which truckers you use, and we take it from there
Simply gathering a list of the truckers with whom each station does business is the first step to implementing Ex Works.
Many or most of those truckers will already be utilizing Ex Works (see list) and will simply need to be informed of your
participation; they will enter their private rates, accessorials and fuel surcharge for your company, and on the appointed
day begin processing your transactions as they already do for other forwarders. If some of your truckers are not yet using
Ex Works, you will need to send them a letter informing them -- and we take it from there. We set up their passwords,
train them in the system and handle any on-going questions about how the system works. Most importantly,it works for
every trucker (see why).
- Change management -- central oversight is important
Using Ex Works does change the business process within your company, and any business process change has to be
managed. Forwarders with a network of offices should probably expect to have the equivalent of one half-time person
overseeing the transition for a period of three to nine months.
