RateManager Delivers Tactical Savings and Strategic Advantage
Acuitive’s RateManager is a work-process tool that can reduce costs, save time, create greater transparency, improve stakeholder communications and accountability and increase the speed and accuracy of transportation decisions. RateManager also delivers tactical, strategic and cost variance analyses which can identify and harness best practices.
Tactical value
- A single interface to all modes (Ocean FCL, LCL, Air, Parcel, and Sea-air) saves time
- RateManager’s multi-modal rating engine houses all shipment transaction data, applicable rates, accessorial charges and contract details for application to ad hoc or historical shipments. The process follows defined business rules that can link to multiple rates to reduce data needs.
- The result: a fair, timely and accurate rate and service shopping solution that includes apples-to-apples rate comparisons with updated rates and fees. Updates can be done by a non-technical/administrative employee or Acuitive will manage them for the shipper.
- Specific lane and route rating
- The result: best match for shipment requirements and optimal combination(s) identified and compared in multiple iterations for both single and multi-leg routing
- An easy 3-step process for comparison of air freight rates
- The result: ease of use and visibility of cost per piece, carton or individual shipment
- Unlike other TMS providers Acuitive includes chargeable weight calculation functionality in all its air freight rating to create “best option” scenarios.
- RateManager serves the critical role as a communications hub connecting all stakeholders
- The result: data and information inputs and outputs to all stakeholders move quickly and transparently with minimum errors to ensure process integrity from start to finish.
- All rate analysis automatically accounts for configurable and discountable DIM factors, cubed cost, weight breaks, minimum fees, currency conversions, Inco terms and multiple languages
- The result: data integrity from shipment creation to final invoice
- Simple, point and click query options include data mining by provider, service type, equipment, configurable locations, zones or product/commodity.
- The result: custom reporting and analysis in spreadsheet format that includes capability by lane, route, Base Rates, All-in total, cubic meter, fee detail, transit times, free time and service type. All queries are stored and secured with predetermined “user” rights.
- Multiple leg rate comparisons of ocean and air moves through to final destination
Strategic value in the bid/tender process
- By comparing bid/tenders using real shipment data, RateManager identifies each provider’s strengths and weaknesses. The process includes year-over-year comparisons.
- The result: faster and more accurate identification of lowest cost scenarios.
- As a budgeting tool, RateManager can analyze all aspects of proposed rate packages.
- The result: A large shipper was offered a new rate package that included lower rates with different weight breaks and some fee changes. The new package was presented as a 10% cost reduction for the shipper. RateManager correctly calculated that the new package would actually increase costs by 4.9% saving the shipper $1,000,000.
Cost variance analysis and identification value
- RateManager can identify what factors are driving cost increases by breaking down spend activity into basic activities, controllable and uncontrollable variable costs including “non-freight bill” logistics costs such as forwarding and trans-loading fees and drayage charges.