CEO Newsletter
                          July 2004                             

Observations from Tom Weisz, President & CEO TMW Systems   

Dear Fellow Executive: 

 Now that times are good in the trucking industry, we’re all faced with a new challenge: keeping up with demand while maintaining the customer service and quality that our customers expect. For the first time in a number of years, many of you are facing the opportunity of being offered more loads than you have capacity to handle. I’ve heard from several of you who are using TMWSuite™, TL2000™ and ResultsNow by TMW™ to help evaluate which loads to accept based on profitability. But sometimes considerations other than the profitability of a single load must be considered. What about the really good customer who has the occasional load that doesn’t fit well with your equipment or routes, or the occasional load imbalance on a committed lane or that driver who needs to get home? You want to keep your drivers and customers happy, but a perfect balance is not always possible. That’s where the new Carrier Alliance Network (CAN) developed by TMW can help.

The Carrier Alliance Network is a new integrated exchange service that enables the more than 450 TMW customers to work together to share loads and power when it makes good business sense to do so, in order to maximize profitability and equipment utilization. Contact us for more information.

Our vision for CAN is to build a mutually beneficial business community within TMW’s own client base by virtually linking our client’s transportation management systems. Where load tendering and brokerage arrangements already exist between companies, or as opportunities for developing such business relationships are identified, CAN will enable the nearly seamless exchange of information between business partners. From within their own TMWSuite applications, participants in the Carrier Alliance Network can offer extra loads to alliance partners and make available their temporarily underutilized power to take other assignments. As a result, both companies involved in a transaction improve their operations.

The large number of load exchange services that already exist on the Internet are evidence of a market need to redistribute freight and power dynamically and profitably. The quality of companies posting and accepting those loads can vary considerably, however. Validating carrier capabilities and the exchange and reentry of order information through these services also consumes valuable time and still carries some performance and payment risk. CAN addresses all of these concerns.

A primary benefit for CAN members is the TMW client community itself. Because this is where participants in the Carrier Alliance Network originate, you know that you’re generally dealing with a savvy group of solid and solvent companies that have well-established reputations for service and integrity. You are sure to meet other carriers whose equipment, service regions and business methods are a good fit for some of your business overflow. If you already have some member alliance relationships, we are equipping CAN with tools to limit your load and power offers for viewing by your previously selected partners only.

CAN itself is a Web service that is tightly integrated to TMWSuite. Within the Visual Dispatch module, your dispatchers can easily post a load or available power and set a price and expiration date. CAN is always running in the background, ready to notify participants about new postings or contacts/inquiries about a tendered load or available power. Members can communicate quickly with one another about postings through an integrated instant messaging system. Accepting a load is easy, too. Once the deal with the other carrier is concluded, a screen pops up to facilitate order data exchange. The dispatcher simply sets identification codes to match your accounting needs and the order is imported directly into your TMWSuite system.

During the summer months, TMW is extending membership in CAN at no charge to our current customers. We already have representative carriers in bulk, van, reefers and flatbeds covering both U.S. and Canadian traffic.

We urge you to make the most of your investment in TMWSuite by joining CAN soon. Have your information technology or operations personnel contact us to learn more about getting started. We have talked to many companies over the past several months, and as a result, we have already planned numerous enhancements and extended features that will increase the value of this service for our members. If you have any additional suggestions, please send me an e-mail.

Regards,

Tom Weisz

President & CEO

P.S. If you haven’t already done so, please mark your calendars for TMW User Group 2004. It’ll be held here in Cleveland November 7 through 10 at the InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center. TMW User Group has been tagged “The Industry Event of the Year,” with more than 100 classes, workshops, industry roundtables, and networking events. This is a great chance to meet with more than 400 trucking company executives and professionals while having a good time, too! You can find out more and register online by following this link: www.tmwsystems.com/ug2004/.

 

Press Release Date

July 2004