Business Situation

The implementation of the new supply chain strategy with Transnova contributed to CIMERWA becoming the market leader in Rwanda supplying cement to over 500 customers in the East Africa region. This strategy was supported by Transnova-managed operations that were both proven and dependable using Transnova’s proven design and implementation methodology developed through its wealth of supply chain and management consulting experience and internationally-sourced and in-house systems. Innovative operational procedures, such as the virtual warehouse concept, also contributed to CIMERWA’s expanding reach into the Great Lakes area cement market.

Transnova's Role

The transition of CIMERWA’s route-to-market strategy from a distributer model to a delivery model introduced the new a new requirement for a robust transportation management operation, which included:

• Basic order management tasks, such as resolving order entry integration errors
• Sourcing and confirming vehicles for the transportation of stock for orders
• Transporter relationship management and negotiation of transport service rates
• Expediting and tracking the transportation of stock for orders
• Managing the payable rate and load data required to maintain audit-quality carrier payable data and generate reports needed for the financial processes used to settle CIMERWA’s payment of carrier’s for transport that is provided
• Detailed, real-time reporting on actionable logistics intelligence
• Providing and maintaining I.T. systems used to fulfil the above tasks

Why This Case Study Is Relevant

The design and implementation of the transportation management system demonstrated Transnova’s capability to deliver excellent planning, execution, settlement and reporting teams and platforms. This capability is highlighted by the following:

• The TMS platform facilitated a new dynamic between transporters and CIMERWA, allowing the planning team to drive down costs while maintaining a healthy pool of service providers that can meet demand for transport
• The TMS is integrated with CIMERWA’s SAP B1 ERP, facilitating the accurate and timely exchange of order data for transport planning, load plan data for purchase request creation, accrual reporting and security, load status data for real-time execution management and payable rate data for purchase order creation
• The integration of the TMS with SAP B1 introduced a new level of on-site order validation for order collection which increased security
• The TMS WebSettle process introduced a new level of control over the settlement of transportation services provided to CIMERWA for the delivery of its cement products, including a variety of system-enforced checks and balances and automated upload of finalized rates to SAP B1 for payment processing
• The Transnova reporting infrastructure delivers real-time, interactive reports to CIMERWA