Capital Logistics, a rapidly-growing third party logistics provider (3PL), implemented Descartes Aljex™ transportation management system (TMS), fully integrated with real-time freight visibility solution Descartes MacroPoint™, to drive its aggressive growth strategy. By automating processes and ensuring end-to-end supply chain visibility, the integrated Descartes solution increased efficiency, productivity, and revenue while satisfying rising customer expectations.
The Challenge: Hone Customer Satisfaction While Increasing Freight Volumes
Specializing in refrigerated freight, Capital Logistics had experienced sizeable year-over-year growth since its launch in 2009 but seemed to hit a plateau of approximately $25 million in annual revenues in 2016. To help accelerate revenue growth, the logistics provider sought greater depth of expertise in its management team, coupled with a technology solution that would boost efficiency and minimize costs. With growing customer demands for improved shipment visibility, Capital Logistics required an automated logistics solution that could deliver real-time freight visibility, increase on-time delivery performance, and strengthen customer and carrier relationships.
Our competitive strategy is simple: deliver unmatched customer service, handle greater volumes of freight with fewer people. With the efficiencies we have realized with the combined Descartes Aljex and Descartes MacroPoint solution, we’ve been able to boost profitability by scaling our transportation logistics practice without increasing headcount. And most importantly, our customers are happy.
– Michael Feig, COO, Capital Logistics
The Solution: Optimizing Performance for Growth
With the goal of galvanizing revenue growth, Capital Logistics implemented the highly-efficient, integrated solution of scalable, cloud-based Descartes Aljex TMS and freight visibility tool Descartes MacroPoint. Seamless integration facilitates detailed supply chain visibility, enabling the 3PL to improve coordination, communication, and performance for carriers and customers alike.
“After hitting a plateau, we knew we needed to find a way to be more efficient to break through to the next level of success. In addition to tapping the expertise of industry veterans, we implemented the combined Descartes solution to inject efficiencies and cost-effectiveness into our transportation logistics process. And now we’re poised to double our revenue growth to $100 million in 2020,” said Capital Logistics’ CEO Jeff Gerson.
Michael Feig, COO at Capital Logistics, added, “We’ve been able to automate more clerical tasks, and collaborate with customers and carriers through portals, enabling our team to focus on growth. Plus, we’re able to be more proactive and strategic in serving our customers; with real-time shipment visibility, we can truly manage by exception while minimizing cumbersome manual track and trace efforts.”
Bringing the most commonly-used functions into a single dashboard, Descartes Aljex streamlines and automates daily activities for Capital Logistics—lane rate comparison, rate confirmation, carrier acceptance, dispatching and EDI—to increase productivity and accuracy. Tight integration with Descartes MacroPoint provides real-time visibility to help Capital Logistics save time, resources, and money by eliminating the need for manual check calls.
The Results
Operational Efficiency
The integration of Descartes Aljex and Descartes MacroPoint provides real-time freight visibility, automated communication, and advanced configurable rules to automatically track loads and minimize time-consuming manual track and trace efforts.
Strengthened Carrier Relationships
The Descartes solution automates carriers’ daily activities, replacing manual driver check calls with real-time freight visibility and enabling carriers to bid on and accept shipments, submit proof of delivery, and self-invoice from a single carrier portal.
Explosive Growth
With greater efficiency, increased productivity, and reduced costs, Capital Logistics covers more loads with fewer people. As a result, the company is on track to break through its sales plateau, predicting revenues of $100 million in 2020.
Superior Customer Service
The Descartes solution automates and streamlines business processes for increased efficiency and enables on-time performance monitoring; with the online portal, customers can see exactly where their shipments are at all times.
Success Story
Capital Logistics
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INDUSTRY WHITE PAPER
The ROI Behind Real-time Freight Visibility
Visibility is so much more than just knowing the location of your freight. It includes knowing in advance that the freight will be late and being able to offer predictive ETAs, plus analyzing the network to identify customers that may need help streamlining their supply chain. Download the eBook to learn more about the value of visibility.
SOLUTION HIGHLIGHT
Descartes MacroPoint™ for Freight Visibility
We want to help you meet your customers’ visibility demands and simplify your workflow. By eliminating check calls through real-time tracking and automated alerts, Descartes MacroPoint enables you to make the best use of your time while maintaining top-quality service for your customers.
Descartes Aljex™ Transportation Management System (TMS)
The Descartes Aljex™ TMS software platform provides a dashboard of tools that helps automate daily tasks and provides full visibility throughout the entire supply chain. Descartes Aljex is a scalable cloud-based TMS that hosts a sizable network of brokers, 3PLs, shippers, and intermodal users who do billions of dollars in transactional revenue annually, across the North American logistics supply chain.