A leading tire importer replaced manual spreadsheets and email coordination with the IMS Destination Cargo Management (DCM) platform — gaining full, systematic visibility of inbound products from origin through delivery.
The subject of this case study is a leading tire importer that sources product from overseas suppliers and relies on ocean freight as its primary mode of transportation. The company began working with IMS in 2016 to bring order to its ocean import process.
Across its network, the importer moves nearly 15,000 containers a year — spanning 5+ origin countries and 15+ origin points, 5+ ocean providers (NVOs and SSLs) with many underlying carriers, and 5+ trucking companies delivering to warehouse locations across the US and Canada.
Prior to working with IMS, managing inbound ocean containers was an overlooked segment of the importer's supply chain. They lacked a systematic way to gather, verify, and organize tracking data on inbound products, containers, and processes — and to connect this segment to the rest of the supply chain.
Coordination across truckers, warehouses, and other service providers was handled manually by the international logistics group in spreadsheets, distributed by email, with follow-up by email and phone. The absence of actionable visibility hurt forecasting and made it hard to allocate capacity and labor efficiently.
After a two-week initial implementation, the IMS DCM platform immediately began providing the importer with full inbound visibility — including both FOB and DDP vendors' imports — and the ability to systematically report at the individual SKU level, PO level, shipper, and group details within any given container.
The platform proved to be far more than container tracking. It became a live collaboration tool used throughout import operations, letting the importer share information seamlessly with mixing-warehouse and drayage operations for planning, and communicate with truckers and schedule appointments directly in the platform.
The operations team relies on a range of reports — including an inbound container forecast (containers due to arrive by site by day/week) and a free-days report (off-port per-diem free time) — among many others.
"IMS' DCM platform has improved efficiency, provides full visibility, facilitates collaboration, connects the import process to the rest of the supply chain, and has proven vital in reducing and avoiding unnecessary costs."
See how the IMS DCM platform can give your team full inbound visibility and a single place to collaborate across your import operation.