Princeton TMX Helps Paper Manufacturer Automate its Transportation Operations

The Challenge

For a leading manufacturer of paper and corrugated packaging products, manually managing its transportation network resulted in slow, inefficient operations. The company transports approximately 12,000 shipments per month across multiple divisions. These shipments include large rolls of brown paper that are turned into corrugated boxes and sheets and rolls of uncoated white paper from its paper mills, and finished corrugated boxes distributed from its box plants to customer locations throughout the country. The manufacturer had been working with Transworks since 2006 to automate its transportation, but in 2016, after Princeton TMX purchased the shipper TMS from Transworks, they saw additional opportunities with the new platform. “We evaluated several transportation solutions, but after seeing what Princeton TMX brought to the table, we decided to stay with them,” said the company’s transportation manager.

The manufacturer was utilizing Princeton TMX for their mills but realized the need for an intuitive TMS for their corrugated division. “All of our corrugated facilities were building loads in Excel, which was extremely time-consuming and inefficient. We knew there had to be a better way,” said the manager. “We told Princeton TMX what we were doing and what we’d like to accomplish, and we now have the Load Builder Module that our box plant facilities use today.”

An Automated Approach to Transportation Management

The company began using Princeton TMX’s cloud-based transportation management system (TMS) for its mill shipments before eventually rolling it out for its entire corrugated division. Today, the company is managing truckload shipments at eight mills and 12 box plants with the TMS—and is planning to roll it out to more than 90 box plants in the near future.

They use a wide range of capabilities within the TMS across multiple departments and divisions, including the load builder, appointment scheduler, tender rules, and work queues. Users can log in to the Princeton TMX system and view the load plan, line up equipment, and get the product to the shipping department and out the door on time.

“We’ve seen a lot of efficiencies gained within our facilities,” the manager said. “The load building process, which took four to six hours when doing it manually in Excel is now accomplished in 30 minutes using Princeton TMX.” Building loads went from taking 4 to 6 hours in Excel to 30 minutes using Princeton TMX.

Real Value to the Shipper, Carriers, and End Customers

Not only has the TMS given time back to the company’s shipping department, but it has also improved interactions with carriers. According to the manager, “We’re now giving carriers more accurate, timely data. Instead of giving them a load plan 12 hours in advance, we’re able to do it up to 48 hours in advance. This allows us to better work with our carrier partners and capture capacity that we are potentially missing out on before.” Some plants have utilized the system’s RFQ capabilities to create routing guides with specific tender rules that consider both rate and service. “We deliver to big box retailers, so service is critical,” the manager added. “Setting up specific tender rules that rank carriers based on the combination of service as well as rate allows us to select carriers that best fit our needs. This has helped us become one of the top-ranked suppliers for several key customers.”

The TMS also provides greater visibility into both inbound and outbound shipments, which has enabled them to optimize shipment scheduling to use trucks delivering shipments to plants from the mills for outbound shipments of their finished product. “Plants are able to see how shipments are flowing because they’re able to access detailed information in real- time,” said the manager. “They can see when carriers will be arriving and are then able to utilize that truck if they have something going back toward where our mills are located. They’re taking advantage of that capacity that’s coming into them in a way they weren’t doing in the past.”

Delivering Financial and Operational Improvements

Today, the partnership with Princeton TMX has resulted in significant performance improvement in several key areas:

Improved Process Efficiency: Building loads, which used to take 4 to 6 hours in Excel, is now accomplished in 30 minutes.

Access to More Capacity: Giving load plans to carriers up to 48 hours in advance instead of 12 hours has allowed the company to capture capacity that they were missing out on before.

Significant Freight Savings: By capturing capacity further in advance along with using route guides, the company has been able to secure cheaper capacity.

Better Capacity Utilization: Better visibility into inbound and outbound shipments has enabled the company to better utilize the trucks coming into the plants for return shipments to its mills.

Improved Customer Service: Access to real-time load data has allowed their customer service team to give more timely, detailed delivery information to its customers without having to call carriers for updates.

A True Partner with a Flexible Solution

“We’ve used Princeton for so long, and it’s been such a good experience along the way,” said the transportation manager. “We were half the size we are now when we started partnering with them, and we’ve been able to scale and grow. We’ve never felt handcuffed by their solutions like we have with other software providers.”

He added, “The Princeton TMX platform is really easy to use. It’s also extremely flexible and customizable as you’re able to utilize the system in a way that makes the most sense for your facilities. They don’t have a specific box that they make you fit into to use the software. Instead, they ask, ‘How can we make our software work for you?’ It’s a true partnership—we bring problems to Princeton TMX, and they come up with solutions.”