Want to optimize your Value Added Services and Warehouse Rent?

Do you want to optimize your Value Added Services and Warehouse Rent?

3PL/4PL shippers and bulk and breakbulk terminals often have specific flows that are not found at other logistics companies. Just think of Value Added Services and Warehouse Rent. When developing its Order2Cash tool iTOS, iOnLogistics has thought this through carefully by providing functionalities to efficiently process such flows.

The Order2Cash tool iTOS (TOS stands for Terminal Operating System) from iOnLogistics was designed to streamline complex logistics flows and multidepot activities. It is a cloud and web-based system, so that no investments are required in additional IT infrastructure. Software and advice for innovative future-proof solutions to streamline 3PL/4PL shippers and terminals, that's what iOnLogistics is all about. The company in Temse takes into account the operational functioning of 3PL/4PL shippers and bulk and breakbulk terminals. That is why they developed specific functionalities to efficiently streamline Value Added Services and Warehouse Rent.

Traceability

In addition to the standard storage and transhipment activities, many logistics service providers also offer Value Added Services to their customers. This is about physical activities that create added value to the product. Consider, for example, sand that arrives in bulk and then has to be bagged up in big bags or smaller bags. Or boxes that need to be palletised. Concretely, this business process involves a change of capacity without the good in question going out of stock. Within iTOS you assign a specific Value Added Service operation to this activity, such as bagging. This gives you a perfect overview in one operation of what bulk products have been taken from stock to be bagged and thus returned to stock in a different form. In this way, the traceability of the goods is guaranteed at all times. That is a lot more convenient than most programs, where first a load is made (for the bulk you take from stock) and then an unloading (for the big bags you take into stock). In other words, thanks to iTOS you keep an overview. And this also applies to the 'reverse' operation, where you convert packaged goods to bulk.

Working with recipes

Another typical Value Added Service offered by bulk and breakbulk terminals is the mixing of bulk goods. Consider, for example, the production of fertilizers that are composed according to certain proportions of various substances (calcium, sodium, etc.). The process is similar to baking a loaf of bread. The baker bakes based on a recipe consisting of x% flour, x% salt, x% yeast, etc. Since the proportions are also fixed in the production of fertilizers, it is efficient to define recipes for this as well.

In iTOS you can easily define and pre-configure these recipes. From then on, the software automatically calculates which quantities you need to take from stock in order to achieve the correct result. More automation and less human intervention means a lower burden of errors and more efficiency.

Consumables management

Pallets, big bags, slip sheets, IBCs, etc. that are in your warehouse or at your terminal can also be managed in iTOS. Such consumables often have a high value. In such cases it can be useful to register them at inbound and write them off at outbound. As a logistics service provider, you are always aware of the exact number of consumables in your warehouse or at your terminal.

Automatic calculation of Warehouse Rent

Logistics service providers often offer their customers the option of storing their products in their warehouses or terminals for a period of time. In concrete terms, this means that certain products remain stored at a company until the customer needs them. In such situations, the logistics service provider charges its customer 'Warehouse Rent' for the use of the storage space until the goods are loaded again. In iTOS the Warehouse Rent can be calculated very easily. You configure the correct rates, taking into account the correct parameters. You can then have the Warehouse Rent calculated based on 'stock picture' (a virtual photo of the stock), 'average stock picture', 'started calendar period', 'started sliding period' and 'fixed'. From then on it is very easy to let the software make the calculation automatically every time. Since the stock is always up-to-date, the calculation is always correct. Again more automation and less human intervention, which reduces the burden of errors and increases efficiency.