Billing accuracy: New WMS module allocates costs to individual customers
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 2/20/2008 9:02:00 AM
HighJump Software, a provider of supply chain execution solutions, has unveiled an application that allows third-party logistics providers (3PL) to improve billing accuracy by capturing charges on a client-by-client basis.
HighJump Billing Management gives companies full visibility into actual costs with comparisons to what was invoiced, according to Chad Collins, VP of global strategy, HighJump Software. This replaces the practice of spreading client costs evenly across all accounts, which can result in an oversimplified and incorrect analysis. Client-level costing data enables accurate labor costs, as well as profit and loss analyses and reporting. The solution also supports complex contractual requirements that often exist between a logistics service provider and its clients, including billing based on material handling transactions, storage capacity utilization, and client-specific billing requirements.
HighJump Billing Management creates a single billing platform for all systems. This is possible by accepting data imports from other applications, such as those for transportation management, time and attendance, and parcel manifesting. HighJump Billing Management also integrates with HighJump Warehouse Advantage and many other warehouse management systems (WMS), and can automatically generate the appropriate charges based on warehouse activity. This helps eliminate the need for manual entry of charges.
"Logistics service providers seeking opportunities to grow their operations and become more attractive to current and potential clients will benefit from the HighJump Billing Management solution," said Collins. "The solution enables logistics service providers offer clients better service, more accurate billing, and a larger number of value-added services. In addition, overall revenue opportunities are increased with functionality to expand to a multi-use facility."
Richmond Cold Storage (RCS) has selected the HighJump warehouse management system (WMS) to support nationwide distribution. RCS will implement the solution at 12 facilities in Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama using a centralized deployment model.
The HighJump 3PL billing functionality will allow RCS to further streamline its billing process, strengthening its customer service and improving efficiency.
"We see the adaptability of the HighJump WMS as a huge advantage in our marketplace because we need to be flexible and able to move quickly," said Joe Knausdorf, VP IT, Richmond Cold Storage. “We also see an advantage in the fact that HighJump Software offers a complete suite of supply chain execution solutions. It's nice to know we'll be able to add additional modules as business demands warrant."
