Home > Resource Center > Glossary > Transportation Sourcing/Procurement & Logistics Management

Glossary: Transportation Sourcing/Procurement & Logistics Management

Logistics Management – The overall management of the flow of goods and services across the supply chain, involving transportation, warehousing, inventory, packaging, material handling, security, pricing/cost analysis, suppliers/shippers, and staffing.

Transportation Management System (TMS) – A technology solution that provides functionality to help manage an organization’s distribution and shipping functions, by automating various transportation processes that may include load planning, pickup/delivery scheduling, creation of bills of lading or shipping manifests, communicating with transportation carriers to schedule freight services, shipment tracking, and managing freight invoices and payment. Also referred to as TMS software or TMS application. [Refer to: Complementing a Transportation Management System with CombineNet Sourcing.]

Transportation Procurement – The process of sourcing transportation services from carriers for the shipment of goods. Transportation procurement may involve any or all modes of transportation, including ground transportation (truckload, less-than-truckload, rail); ocean or water-based transport; air freight; or inter-modal which includes any combination of those. Transportation procurement is often considered one of the more complex spend areas to source, due to the numerous price and non-price requirements from the shipping company, such as gas and diesel price volatility, lanes and routes, material handling (i.e. hazardous materials), capacity, service level agreements, certifications, inter-state and international shipping regulations, and more. [Refer to: White Paper – Strategic Transportation Sourcing.]

<< Back to Glossary