Fueling the LTL shipment lifecycle

Less than truckload transportation is a valuable part of any company’s transportation outlook, but in the grand scheme of the supply chain, LTL only accounts for a small portion of any company’s total transportation spend.

SMC³ covers the entire LTL shipment lifecycle, freeing up transportation management system providers to focus on the remaining cogs in the transportation machine. Alliance Partners like JDA, SAP, Manhattan Associates, Oracle and MercuryGate turn to SMC³ for its LTL expertise. Instead of having to build up their own LTL systems, these TMS providers simply work with SMC³ to provide transformative LTL technology tools to innovative shippers and 3PLs throughout the country.

SMC³ provides these LTL products to its Alliance Partners via the SMC³ Platform. The SMC³ Platform, which is fueled by APIs, is the complete LTL package. By taking advantage of SMC³’s cloud-based platform, alliance partners provide their customers with lightweight, transactional Execution and Visibility APIs as well as high-horsepower, analytical tools like RateWare XL and CarrierConnect XL.

SMC³ takes pride in the reliability, security and stability of its products, but speed is perhaps the platform’s largest market advantage. Analytical APIs can handle anywhere from hundreds to thousands of transactions per second, depending on the customer’s requirements, and are built for heavy-duty analysis. Alliance partners can easily allow their customers to optimize the LTL shipment lifecycle, analyze rates and submit bids with blinding speed.

APIs are the heart of the SMC³ Platform, but the interaction of these myriad APIs is almost more important than the communication tools themselves. Service orchestration is a major lifeblood of the platform; this means that SMC³ automatically monitors each step in freight movement workflow across multiple APIs in a seamless manner.

The Platform does not replace transportation management systems, and it is not intended to duplicate the myriad functions these programs provide. Planning freight movements, managing freight bills and coordinating transportation across a number of different modes is not the purview of the platform. Instead of being everything to everybody, the SMC³ Platform focuses on LTL transportation planning, and that’s why SMC³ tools are invaluable to technology providers. The platform was constructed to empower TMS programs, not replace them.

While truckload, ocean and even air transportation may represent a larger part of a company’s supply-chain worldview, it’s undeniable that LTL is integral to transportation success. However small a part it plays in the grand scheme of a company’s LTL transportation planning, the need for a trusted LTL partner that can adapt new technologies to fit the changing needs of the supply chain is crucial.

To learn more about the SMC³ Platform, visit the Knowledge Hub to learn how SMC³ tailors its offerings for shippers, carriers, 3PLs, technology providers and other supply chain stakeholders. Contact sales@smc3.com to talk to a sales representative about SMC³ products.