Who is Trimble?
Trimble Transportation enhances your transportation business through innovative solutions, expert support, and industry-leading software. With a focus on efficiency and growth, they offer adaptable, configurable tools that provide end-to-end visibility and control.
Their mission centers on streamlining operations, catering to challenges from sales growth to cost control and driver turnover. Their success is measured in concrete metrics, ensuring improvements in areas like revenue per mile, fuel spend, and on-time delivery. Serving a broad spectrum of transportation sectors, Trimble stands out for its consistent, tangible enhancements across various industry segments.
Trimble TMW.Suite TMS FAQs
Before exploring the advantages and disadvantages of using Trimble's TMW.Suite TMS, let's address some commonly asked questions to help you understand more about the system.
How does the Trimble TMW.Suite TMS work?
Scalable to fleets with assets ranging from 20 and up, TMW.Suite stands alone in helping customers streamline every step of the transportation lifecycle — from soliciting business and booking orders, to billing and settlements. Here are some of the features that make this possible.
- Back-office tools & automation: TMW.Suite integrates complex functions into a single, highly streamlined ecosystem. Employees can eliminate hours of manual data entry, along with potential re-keying errors. These efficiency gains can improve your cash cycle and grow your business without adding staff.
- Real-time operational decision-making: Combining critical planning tools with real-time visibility, TMW.Suite manages many aspects of order entry, load planning and tracking, customer service, and driver management for you. It combines location data, statuses, ETAs, load details, and driver updates to help you operate more effectively.
- Improved communications: The TMS integrates with a variety of mobile devices to facilitate status updates, communicate loading instructions, or even support shipment track-and-trace capabilities.
- Electronic document management: This feature converts trip paperwork, invoices, forms and documentation into electronic files that are accessible at any time. Scan and store everything you need.
- Dispatch advisor: TMW.Suite's dispatch tools empower load planners to select the best match the first time, for every load tendered. Even the unique needs of fuel haulers and petroleum marketers are deftly handled via the embedded Fuel Dispatch module.
- Customer-facing web portals: Fleets, brokers and 3PLs can extend the value of TMW.Suite to customers through web portals that promote enhanced, on-demand communication and self service. This includes entering loads, tracking shipments and obtaining rates.
- Optimization opportunities: Trimble's extensive decision support tools are designed to help you increase revenue and reduce costs. Use them to find more revenue in every loaded mile.
- Seamless integrations: TMW.Suite integrates seamlessly with other Trimble technologies, including Instinct Telematics & Fleet Management, PC*Miler rating and routing, TMT fleet maintenance, and more. It also works elegantly with an extensive list of fuel cards, document management, payroll, and BI solutions.
Armed with deeper insights, you are ideally positioned to make better informed, more strategic business decisions.
What's the difference between TMW.Suite and Trimble's other TMS products?
Trimble currently offers three different kinds of TMS products. Think of these products like specialized tools for different jobs in the transportation world. Trimble's TMW.Suite TMS is designed for bigger trucking companies that handle larger loads. It's all about improving how things move, avoiding costly mistakes, and making sure everything in the system works together smoothly.
On the other hand, TruckMate TMS focuses specifically on managing businesses that handle smaller less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments. It helps save time managing fleets and money matters, and it's great for finding new ways to grow your business and team up with other partners.
And Trimble's Innovative TMS is like an all-in-one tool that handles everything from taking orders to getting paid. It works well for both small and large transportation companies and comes with built-in accounting and safety features.
What additional services does Trimble offer?
Trimble's suite of products presents an opportunity to further optimize your fleet in several ways. Some of their additional offerings include:
Combining innovative TMS solutions like TMW.Suite with other state-of-the-art Trimble tools empowers carriers, brokers, and shippers to easily streamline operations and grow their businesses.
Cost
The exact pricing for Trimble’s TMW.Suite transportation management system is not publicly listed, and varies depending on the scale and complexity of each implementation, and whether the customer is looking for a cloud-based or on-premise solution.
That said, TMW.Suite customers can choose from three tiered pricing plans based on the specific applications and modules deployed, number of licensed users, and data integration requirements. Additional charges may apply for custom development needs, extensive integration work, and ongoing support fees. Keep in mind that upfront costs and ongoing investments are aligned to the value delivered.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fully integrated solution: TMW.Suite integrates tightly with other enterprise systems, like 3PL, ERP, and financial software, to cover transportation management needs — from planning through settlement.
- Highly flexible: Customizable workflows and rules automation enable scaling to fit the complex business processes of very large, multinational operations.
- Tracking & event management: Real-time visibility across the supply chain complemented by strong reporting, analytics, and data mining capabilities.
- Operational optimization: Improves the efficiency of load building, routing, and dispatch; increases equipment utilization.
- Feature-rich apps: The TMS extends mobile system access to drivers and field personnel.
- Equipped to meet unique needs of fuel suppliers: Embedded business logic specific to the fuel supply industry streamlines common tasks, improves order and billing accuracy and offers improved visibility for operations, management and customer service.
Cons
- Focused on large enterprises: TMW.Suite is not ideally suited for small to mid-sized trucking companies with simpler needs.
- High learning curve: Like many comprehensive systems, initial setup and training might require time and effort to fully utilize its capabilities. Trimble does offer video guides for new clients as well as weekly classes you can join to lessen the learning curve.
- Requires a quote: Pricing isn’t available on Trimble’s site.