Supply Chain, Transportation and WMS ERP: manage your flows end to end
Sourcing, storing, picking, shipping: the supply chain depends on inventory accuracy and control over transportation. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management brings together warehouse management, planning and transportation management on the same foundation as your purchasing and accounting. FiveForty handles its rollout and integration with your carriers.
What is a supply chain ERP?
A supply chain ERP covers all of a company’s physical flows: procurement, inventory, warehouses, order picking and transportation. Its value does not lie in any single function but in continuity: a receipt updates inventory, which feeds a requirements calculation, which triggers an order, which generates a shipment and its transportation cost.
Three building blocks often confused: ERP, WMS and TMS
The WMS manages execution in the warehouse (locations, picking, mobile devices). The TMS handles transportation (plans, carriers, routes, costs). The ERP orchestrates the whole and carries the financial dimension. Dynamics 365 natively integrates all three dimensions, which avoids having to maintain interfaces between them.
Why transportation is becoming central
Transportation cost has gone from an expense line to a driver of margin. Without linking the actual transportation cost to the order that generated it, profitability by customer or by product remains approximate.
Inventory, between cash and service
Each item is a trade-off between tied-up capital and service level. This trade-off is only sustainable if the inventory shown matches the physical inventory, hence the central role of cycle counts.
Transportation and TMS: plan, ship, control
Transportation management is the area where the gap between planned and actual cost occurs most often.
Shipment planning
Grouping orders into loads, choosing the mode, calculating latest dates, meeting delivery windows. The transportation plan is built from actual orders, not from a weekly spreadsheet.
Carrier selection and pricing
Rate grids by carrier, zone and weight bracket, automatic calculation of the estimated cost and selection of the best balance between lead time and price. The decision becomes traceable and justifiable.
Chartering, parcel shipping and consolidation
Depending on volumes and destinations, a shipment falls under full-load freight, parcel delivery or groupage. Each mode has its own pricing rules and constraints, which must exist in the system.
Routes and optimization
For companies that deliver with their own fleet, route optimization and vehicle assignment reduce empty miles and increase the number of deliveries per route.
Shipment tracking and proof of delivery
Tracking numbers, statuses, proofs of delivery and exception management flow back into the ERP, so customer service can answer without calling the carrier.
Freight invoice matching
Comparing the carrier’s invoice with the calculated estimated cost makes it possible to detect pricing discrepancies, a source of recovery that is often significant and rarely checked.
EDI integration with carriers
Transport orders, shipping notices and tracking information are exchanged automatically. Without this integration, every shipment requires double entry on the carrier’s portal.
“ Transportation is not a cost to put up with: it is margin you either recover or let slip away.”
Warehouse management: the integrated WMS
A well-configured warehouse saves more time than an expanded warehouse.
Location addressing and slotting
Zones, aisles, locations, put-away rules based on turnover: consistent location addressing inherently reduces travel and picking errors.
Receipt and inspection
Matching against the order, quantity and quality checks, immediate dispute logging. A poorly handled receipt contaminates the entire downstream chain.
Picking strategies
By order, by wave, by zone or multi-order: the choice depends on your order profile. An unsuitable strategy costs more than a lack of automation.
Mobile devices and guidance
Operators work on handheld devices, guided step by step, with barcode verification. Picking quality improves, and training a new hire takes a matter of hours.
Cycle counting
Continuous counting on limited scopes keeps inventory accurate all year round, without the business shutdown of a full physical inventory.
Cross-docking and just-in-time flows
For goods that should not be stored, cross-docking routes them directly from receiving to shipping, with traceability maintained.
Inventory, planning and forecasting
This is where the trade-off between tied-up cash and service level is decided.
Requirements calculation and planning
The planning engine compares orders, forecasts, inventory and lead times to suggest the purchase and production orders needed, on the right date.
Safety stock and reorder points
Configured per item according to criticality and lead time variability, they prevent both stockouts and overstock.
Demand forecasting
History adjusted for seasonality and exceptional events clearly improves the quality of procurement suggestions.
Multi-site and internal transfers
Multiple warehouses, remote inventory, inter-site transfers: visibility must be consolidated without losing detail by location.
Batch and serial number traceability
Depending on the product family, upstream and downstream traceability is a regulatory or contractual obligation, and must be reconstructable within minutes.
Valuation and cost price
Weighted average cost, FIFO, standard cost: the valuation method directly affects the reported margin and must reflect the reality of your business.
Logistics management by sector
Logistics constraints change radically from one business to another.
Luxury logistics
Very high-value pieces, secure transportation, unit-level traceability, management of returns for repair and international channels subject to customs formalities. See our page Luxury ERP.
Retail and omnichannel logistics
Store replenishment, single-unit picking for e-commerce, ship-from-store and heavy return flows. See our page retail ERP.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare logistics
Cold chain, quarantine and release statuses, lot traceability and serialization. See our page Pharma and biotech ERP.
Distribution and wholesale
High volumes, multiple warehouses, multiple packaging units and EDI integration with key accounts. See our page Distribution ERP.
Fashion and textiles
Distant sourcing, size and color matrices, seasonal peaks and very short replenishment cycles. See our page Fashion ERP.
ERP, WMS or TMS: who does what
The question comes up in almost every logistics project.
ERP, WMS and TMS: a comparison
| Criterion | WMS | TMS | ERP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | The warehouse | Transportation | The company |
| Pilot | Picking, locations | Plans, carriers, routes | Inventory, purchasing, finance |
| Users | Operators, team leaders | Transportation operations | Management, purchasing, finance |
| Key indicator | Picking productivity | Cost per shipment | Service level and margin |
| In Dynamics 365 | Integrated module | Integrated transportation management | Common foundation |
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management covers all three dimensions on a single foundation. A specialized transportation solution remains relevant for carriers themselves, and then interfaces with the ERP.
Our Dynamics 365 Supply Chain & Logistics services
FiveForty helps companies optimize their supply chain with solid business expertise and advanced command of Dynamics 365 SCM. We analyze your processes, harmonize your flows and build a solution tailored to your logistics challenges: inventory management, warehousing, procurement, quality, demand planning or transportation. Our approach combines technology, operational understanding and hands-on support to ensure smooth and lasting adoption. You benefit from a high-performing, reliable and scalable system, able to support your current operations and your future ambitions.
- Supply Chain process audit and optimization
- Dynamics 365 SCM & WMS integration
- Configuration of logistics modules
- Team training and change management
- TMA and operational support
- Supply Chain project management
Our approach to logistics projects
We start from your actual physical flows, observed on site, not from a theoretical diagram. The configuration of location addressing, picking strategies and transportation rules determines day-to-day productivity far more than the choice of equipment.
Carrier and partner integration
We connect your carriers, platforms and service providers via APIs and connectors to eliminate double entry on external portals.
Maintenance and enhancements
Our application maintenance supports the opening of new sites, the addition of carriers and changes to your flows.
Our Dynamics 365 modules
A question? An answer.
Frequently asked questions
A supply chain ERP covers the company’s physical flows: procurement, inventory, warehouses, order picking and transportation, all linked to accounting. It provides continuity between a receipt, a requirements calculation, a shipment and its actual cost.
The WMS manages execution in the warehouse, the TMS handles transportation (plans, carriers, routes, costs), and the ERP orchestrates the whole and carries the financial dimension. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management natively integrates all three dimensions.
Yes. Transportation management is part of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management: load planning, rate tables by carrier, carrier selection, shipment tracking and freight invoice reconciliation.
Yes, through EDI exchanges or API connectors: transport orders, shipping notices, tracking numbers and proofs of delivery flow automatically, which eliminates double entry on carrier portals.
By calculating the estimated cost before shipping, consolidating loads, selecting the best lead time/price trade-off and systematically matching the carrier invoice against the expected cost. Pricing discrepancies are often a significant source of savings.
For most warehouses, the integrated Dynamics 365 module meets the need with no interface to maintain. A specialized WMS is justified for highly automated or very high-volume warehouses with specific execution constraints.
Through precise location addressing, data capture at the point of action on mobile devices and regular cycle counts. Accurate inventory is the prerequisite for everything else: planning, service level and valuation.
An inventory and procurement scope can be rolled out in a few months. Adding warehouse management with mobile devices, transportation management and carrier integrations is generally done in stages after an initial go-live.