A large-scale customer survey ranked Transwide as leading communications platform. Based on customer feedback, Transwide is now launching twSlot, a collaborative system where shippers and carriers manage loading and unloading schedules and book time slots.

Dublin, Brussels, September 24, 2003: Transwide announced the launch of its new twSlot solution to enables shippers and carriers to better organise their booking of time slots at loading and un-loading. The solution provides direct and measurable savings by replacing highly time-consuming communications around the coordination of loading and un-loading schedules. It enables shippers to optimise loading or un-loading assets, to reduce demurrage claims and decrease delays created by bottlenecks in factories and warehouses. Carriers gain more flexibility in selecting time slots that better match their operational constraints and journey times, with a positive impact on their capacity to further optimise asset allocation.

The introduction of twSlot follows the completion of a customer satisfaction survey showing that both shippers and carriers are highly satisfied with Transwide’s communication platform, and would like more solutions added to the suite. Overall, Transwide is ranked as the top communications platform by the respondents, who include supply chain managers, commercial and account directors, e-business managers, IT support teams, and daily users of the application. Shippers and carriers were equally represented in the survey.

In total, 94% of shippers agree that Transwide provides a positive return on investment, 92% of all users are “very satisfied” with the functionality offered, and 89% are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with professionalism of Transwide project management teams and their good understanding of the European Road Transport market. The value created by Transwide includes both tangible benefits such as cost savings and intangible benefits such as increased visibility and improved service to end-customers.

In response to customer demand for a solution to improve the time slot booking process at pick-up and delivery, as highlighted by the survey and in numerous follow up interviews, Transwide has developed twSlot. Traditionally, booking and updating of loading and un-loading time slots have been done manually, by telephone and fax, creating a significant administrative burden and allowing errors, or simply has not been managed.

With twSlot, the shipper creates its own time slot schedule templates to match its operational constraints. The shipper can modify the schedule; block, book or remove time slots; define location and schedule parameters and more. The schedule is put online, and carriers access the schedule remotely and select the time slot that best fits their own constraints.

Updates can also be made remotely by the carrier, and different users across the shipper’s organization have a real-time overview of all time slot bookings. Functionalities include email and fax notifications, customizable notifications, and schedule overviews based on different parameters. As all Transwide applications, twSlot can be used independently from other functionalities, but it will be linked to twCall-off to enable users to accept transport orders and book pick-up or delivery slots on one integrated system.

“Collaboration around time slot booking was identified as a concrete operational pain point by many actors of the industry, who asked us to provide a solution,” says Geoffroy Bauer, Operations Director of Transwide. “With twSlot, this pain point can be now addressed right away, as there is virtually no set-up to start, it does not require any IT resource to implement and is free for carriers. As a collaborative solution, twSlot also supports Transwide’s mission to connect the different players in the logistics equation.”

ABOUT TRANSWIDE
Transwide is a pan-European transport execution solution provider and offers a suite of technology solutions to enable the electronic communication and visibility of transport orders, pick-up and delivery time slots, transport documents, waiting times, non-conformity or reservations, real time tracking, and electronic signatures. Transwide has about 100 customers across Europe. Transwide serves carriers and shippers equally and does not have shippers or carriers in its shareholder base.

More information about the company can be found at http://www.transwide.com or contact:
Jérôme van Lidth
Marketing Manager
Tel.: +32 2 722 99 38
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