International Transportation
Managing a Global Enterprise
MercuryGate enterprise TMS is a global, multi-modal TMS used by over 100,000 users in more than 50 countries each day. From multi-currency to virtually unlimited language support, MercuryGate's unique capabilities can be deployed anywhere in the world managing multimodal, multi-leg, cross-border movements from any origin to any destination.
International Capabilities
- Multi-modal, multi-leg, end-to-end optimization and planning
- Quoting, booking and invoicing in a closed-loop process
- Bid procurement and settlements using contracts or spot rates
- End-to-end movement visibility and business intelligence
- Sophisticated cost allocation rules
- Robust data management and partner collaboration
All these capabilities and more can be delivered on-demand or via dedicated servers in our global data centers. If you prefer to host the application in your data center, MercuryGate support that option as well. No matter which delivery method you choose you will achieve a rapid implementation and positive return on investment unlike any other enterprise transportation management solution on the market.
Localization and Personalization
The MercuryGate solution can be localized by configuring different preferences for business units, divisions, or customers. Localization is extended to personalization by allowing authorized administrators to specify different values for field labels, dropdowns and value lists. For example, MercuryGate provides personalization by supporting:
- User-level language preferences - each user can specify a preferred language and date display format. Currently supported languages include:
- ZH - Chinese Simplified
- EN - English
- FR - French
- DE - German
- HU - Hungarian
- IT - Italian
- JA - Japanese
- PL - Polish
- PT - Portuguese
- RU - Russian
- SR - Serbian
- ES - Spanish
- ZF - Traditional Chinese
- UK - Ukrainian
- Customized codes tables - custom import and extract formats can be tied to specific languages by organization
- Customized documents - Import and Export documents can be designed for any UTF-8 supported character set. Character set letters and symbols are embedded within the generated PDF to ensure proper display of the document on any computer.
For customers hosted in our data center facilities, we can utilize a UTF-8-enabled database. In addition to delivering customized screen and document displays, this configuration provides internationalized data storage.
Internationally Enabled
Each day, almost 100,000 unique users in over 50 countries around the world log into the MercuryGate enterprise TMS to manage their multi-mode, multi-leg international transportation. The following chart illustrates the number of logins from countries other than the United States, Canada and Mexico in a recent 24 hour period.
The 73 countries in the graph below represent the non-North American origins and destinations of the freight being managed with the MercuryGate enterprise TMS by the users shown in the graph above in the same 24 hour period.
Managing Multi-leg International Shipments
The process begins with a shipment. The shipment is a request to move goods from an origin point to a destination point. Multiple shipments from multiple shippers and multiple carriers may be consolidated to build a load(s) that may move from:
- Door to Origin Port
- Origin Port to Destination Port
- Destination Port to railhead
- Railhead to railhead
- Railhead to Door
Multiple carriers may perform legs associated with a shipment, each requiring payment of an allocated portion of the charges in their native currency. The costs of all legs are consolidated to provide an accurate fully landed cost calculation. The landed cost can be displayed in any currency.
Figure 1: Screen shot of multiple legs delivering a shipment and container.
Managing International Shipment Activities
MercuryGate's enterprise TMS delivers robust user specific workflow management capabilities. Each of the nodes may require certain activities to be performed. A user may perform an activity by a planned date at a particular location. Each activity may have a specified cost that feeds into the total landed cost of the movement. Activities may include customs clearance, export documentation, 10+2 filing, etc.
- Door to Origin Port
- Create paperwork
- File export documentation
- Supply 10+2 info to US Customs
- Origin Port to Destination Port
- Arrive at customs
- Clear customs
- Destination Port to railhead
- Railhead to railhead
- Railhead to Door
Figure 2: Screen showing workflow activities, responsible parties, planned dates, locations, etc.
Control Tower Visibility
MercuryGate Control Tower Visibility gives top down and bottom up end-to-end shipment visibility of multi-modal, multi-leg shipments from point of origin to destination for all trading partners. The Control Tower captures data operationally from various parties and centralizes management capability while continuously monitoring the status of all the events.
This door-to-door transportation visibility is the MercuryGate Golden Thread concept - where in the transportation chain are the goods located. The Russian doll concept reflects how the goods are packaged. Just like the Russian doll is a doll within a doll, the goods are items placed into boxes stacked on skids located in a container. The Russian doll concept melded with the location of the goods in the golden thread allows users to see the location of detailed SKU's (even serial numbers) and dynamically change routes based on the needs of the business. It is a valuable decision support and operational tool that enables rapid, often automated, real–time response to changes in shipment status and customer demand.
The information gathered throughout this process provides the data necessary for rich analytics and complex sophisticated event management and reporting.
