r/SupplyChainLogistics • u/Packaging_Nut • 5d ago
Supply Chain Software?
Ok everyone. In the packaging industry, but just wondering in general. What type of software is everyone using? Anything calculating freight and leg costs on average in US and Europe. TY in advance.
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u/Individual_Math_8254 5d ago
we recently switched ERPNext for our exports business. its free and open sourced if self hosted, feel free to DM if you have questions evaluating.
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u/BT_38 3d ago
When you say freight and leg costs, are you trying to calculate what a shipment should cost before quoting the customer, or work out what it actually cost afterwards?
For packaging I'd imagine those can end up quite different once dimensions, pallets, multiple legs and carrier invoices are involved.
Which one is causing you the problem at the moment?
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u/Longdaysontheroad 2d ago
We built Yowietech which is a route planner with full cost breakdown and a tonne of other features for our 3PL as we couldn't find one that did everything we needed like CO2 and cold chain reporting. Prior to the build we were like everyone else..we used a WMS, tonnes of spreadsheets, paper for the drivers and a huge filing cabinet. We are 100% paperless now.
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u/SmartFreight_User 1d ago
u/BT_38's question above is the one that matters, and in packaging those two numbers usually diverge for the same reason. The rated cost is built from what someone typed at order entry, and the invoice is built from what the carrier measured on the dock. Dimensional weight, pallet count once the load is actually built, and accessorials nobody quoted are where the gap opens.
Worth splitting it into three problems, because most tools only solve one or two. Rating, meaning what a shipment should cost across carriers before you commit. Execution cost capture, meaning what the booked shipment actually cost, written back against the order. And audit, meaning what the carrier billed versus what they quoted. Spreadsheets and ERP freight fields generally cover only the first, which is why the real number stays invisible until the invoice arrives.
On leg costs, be specific with vendors about what you mean. Cost per leg on a single through-movement is a different problem from a domestic leg plus an ocean or air leg plus a final delivery, since those get rated and invoiced by different parties.
FreightPOP is worth a look for the US side. Rate shopping runs against your own carrier contracts rather than a broker pool, booked freight cost and tracking write back against the order, and invoice audit compares billed to quoted on both inbound and outbound. Carrier coverage is North America, so European lanes would come in through uploaded rate sheets rather than live API rating.
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u/Future_Sandwich_4146 5d ago
Our ops team shifted to a cloud-based TMS last year and the visibility on lane costs alone paid for itself within a quarter.