Simacan and TransFollow formalize European partnership
First steps towards paperless and contactless transport in finely meshed retail replenishment.
Simacan, the open and vendor-neutral cloud platform for digital collaboration in transport & logistics, and TransFollow, the independent eCMR platform that connects the digital systems of shippers, carriers, freight forwarders and customers, have today announced that they are formalizing their partnership by interconnecting their European logistics platforms for transport execution. The companies hope that this strategic partnership will enable them to realize simple and best-in-class platform implementations for companies that are involved in activities such as finely meshed retail replenishment.
The two companies are united in their mission to improve supply chain efficiency and sustainability by providing users with more accurate and detailed information about their logistics processes. They both expect this partnership to considerably shorten the implementation time for joint customer projects. In concrete terms, Simacan will be integrating the TransFollow eCMR on the Simacan platform, and Simacan’s smart estimated times of arrival (ETAs) will be visible in the TransFollow environment.
From dispatch to receipt: better information on delivery status and arrival time
The collaborative partnership further improves the companies’ ability to combine detailed information about the contents of a shipment with accurate updates about the transport status and arrival time. After all trips have been scheduled, Simacan’s and Transfollow’s common interface ensures that the eCMR, the trip status and any additional details about each shipment are linked to the scheduled trip. Transport planners can then use the Simacan platform to manage the trip execution in real time based on the combined information.
From now on, in addition to the alerts about deviations from the planning, the eCMR status will also make it possible to see at a glance which trips require extra attention. This combination of management by exception based on both shipment information and arrival-time information adds value throughout the entire logistics chain, from dispatch to goods receipt.
First steps towards contactless and paperless transport
Eric Mulders, Partner Manager at Simacan, comments: “The strategic partnership with TransFollow is important for Simacan in many respects, which is why we are delighted to welcome them into our partner ecosystem. The recent developments in relation to the coronavirus outbreak have forced logistics companies to be very responsive, plus there is a strong desire to reduce the amount of physical contact in the chain. This has been a trigger for many retail and e-commerce companies to accelerate their digital shift in terms of transport information. Together, TransFollow and Simacan are boosting this shift by digitalizing processes – both within specific transport operations and between separate ones – that up until now have entailed a lot of paperwork and/or physical contact. I firmly believe that this European partnership adds a lot of value for current and future customers.”
Data offers added value
Hans Lip, COO of TransFollow, states: “We’re very excited about the collaborative partnership with Simacan. It will enable us to further improve the support we offer our TransFollow users – both now and in the future – as they digitalize their transport processes. The eCMR data gives users better visibility of their transport processes. Now that we can combine that data with things like the ETA information from the Simacan platform, it will add a huge amount of value for our mutual customers.”
In Europe, TransFollow offers its eCMR services through a network of distributors. Simacan works with one of them – Beurtvaartadres – for eCMR implementations in the Netherlands.
The first results of the collaborative partnership will be announced in the near future.