Global logistics software group, WiseTech Global acquires Australasian land transport solution provider, CMS

14 August 2017 WiseTech Global today announced the acquisition of CMS Transport Systems (CMS), a leading provider of integrated road transport and logistics management systems across Australia and New Zealand.

CMS provides its flagship Transport Management System (TMS), Freight 2020, to over 130 corporations including ABC Transport, SRT Logistics, McColls Transport, Richers Transport, Cahill Transport, Secon Freight Logistics, K&S Group, Greyhound Freight, John L Pierce Transport and many large road and freight transport houses in Australia and New Zealand.

WiseTech Global CEO, Richard White, said: “With the explosion in e-commerce driving exponential growth in ‘fast mile’ transport volumes, speed and complexity, the mounting margin pressures, regulatory burden and demand for land transport logistics services requires deep integration, automation and order-of-magnitude increases in productivity to address the challenges.”

“WiseTech Global has been investing research and development resources into machine learning, natural language processing, robotic process automation and guided decision tools. We will be working with the talented CMS team and our customers as we progress our Land Transport and integrated Telematics development pipeline for the next generation of road and freight solutions.”

CMS Managing Director, Robert Mullins, said: “Joining WiseTech, the market leader with scale and capacity to accelerate innovation, allows us to combine our vision and deliver on a product roadmap utilising CMS’ decades of road freight industry knowledge. Their resources and technology will enable us to take integrated land transport solutions to a new level resulting in a profound and positive impact on our customer base, the Australian road freight industry, and ultimately road freight logistics internationally.”

Remaining under the leadership of Managing Director, Robert Mullins, and General Manager, Grant Walmsley, CMS operations will be integrated within the WiseTech Global group. The CMS team will continue to deliver its flagship product, Freight 2020 in Australia and New Zealand and, over time, WiseTech’s global logistics execution platform, CargoWise One.

WiseTech Global CEO, Richard White said: “As with our targeted acquisitions in Germany, Italy, Brazil and Taiwan earlier this year, and our recent Digerati transaction, bringing CMS into the WiseTech group accelerates our ability to improve the timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of logistics solutions for our customers to better manage complexity, growth, costs and regulatory burden. Each new geography and adjacency we acquire adds a valuable point on our strategic map, accelerates the network effects and makes CargoWise One even more compelling to local and global logistics providers and their customers.”

Across 125 countries, CargoWise One enables the execution of highly complex transactions in areas such as freight forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing, shipping, land transport and cross-border compliance and for logistics service providers to manage their operations on one database across multiple users, functions, countries, languages, and currencies.

About WiseTech Global

WiseTech Global is a leading developer and provider of software solutions to the logistics execution industry globally. Our customers include over 6,000 of the world’s logistics companies across more than 125 countries. Our flagship product, CargoWise One, forms an integral link in the global supply chain and executes over 34 billion data transactions annually. Our breakthrough software solutions are renowned for their powerful productivity, extensive functionality, comprehensive integration, deep compliance capabilities, and truly global reach.

For more information on WiseTech Global and CargoWise One, please visit:

Company website www.wisetechglobal.com
Investor centre www.wisetechglobal.com/investors

Close to 150 transport business owners, managers, administrators, and specialist consultants attended the inaugural Freight2020 Australia and New Zealand user group conference in March 2017. The enthusiastic response from participants confirmed the arrival of Freight2020 VISION as a major annual transport industry technology event.

“This has been a great day,” said Sydney-based Allan Thornley, managing director of Shaw’s Darwin Transport, during the lunch break at Freight2020 VISION. Shaw’s are the market-leading freight carriers operating in and out of Darwin and were long-term users of a competitive transport management system until switching to Freight2020. “It’s enlightened us to some of the greater aspects of the [Freight2020] system and taught us a few things we didn’t know.”

Matthew Richers of Richers Transport, Maryborough-headquartered eastern seaboard carriers with more than 200 employees, said, “There are four of us from the company here today and I guess the most exciting thing for us is reconfirming Freight2020 as the right fit for our business. We use Freight2020 in its entire capacity throughout our operations, repairs and maintenance workshop, accounts… It’s been good for myself and the rest of our team to look at Freight2020 Mobility, which we’re implementing in the coming months, as well as the business analytics [Freight2020 BI360 real-time business analytics dashboard], which will be really great for our financial team and director.”

Peter Evenden, managing director of Prospect Refrigerated Transport, the Sydney-based company which carries temperature-sensitive freight for some of Australia’s iconic grocery brands said, “I’m down here in Melbourne having a great time and learning lots.”

Another Sydney-based delegate was Emerson Pierce from John L Pierce Transport (“JLP”), the bulk tanker specialists with 150 trucks and more than 330 employees. “It’s been a very interesting day, learned a lot,” said Emerson. “We’ve taken away a fair bit, so really happy to be here.”

“This is a very exciting time for us”

Siobhan Clifford, one of a team representing the Victorian-based bulk haulage specialists Mount Noorat Freighters at VISION said, “We’ve had a great day today at the first Freight2020 conference. We’re looking forward to using Freight2020 Mobility in the near future.”

With Freight2020 now one of the fastest-growing Progress OpenEdge-based ERP solutions in the APJ (Australia, Pacific, Japan) region, many delegates attending VISION on behalf of their respective companies were relatively new to the system. Mark Battersby of PK Logistics said, “We are just about to go live with Freight2020 so this is a very exciting time for us. It gives us lots of new opportunities to explore with compliance and safety, possibly mobility, and also our warehouse and transport is going to be integrated, which is very important for us.”

More than 130 transport and logistics companies based in Australia and New Zealand are now using Freight2020 to drive their businesses more efficiently and competitively, a good number of these being represented by delegates making the journey to attend Freight2020 VISION 2017.

Peter Evenden, Emerson Pierce, Allan Thornley, Matthew Richers, Siobhan Clifford, and Mark Battersby were interviewed at Freight2020 VISION for the 2-minute “Freight2020 VISION 2017 Delegate Reviews” video which is now available for viewing on YouTube.

Keynote speaker at Freight2020 VISION 2017, Tim Suffield, Associate Director, ANZ, the expert transport industry analyst and commentator, presented a picture of business performance so compelling that delegates rushed to request a takeaway copy of his presentation before he left for another important engagement. How does your company compare?

The mood in the plenary conference room at Rydges Melbourne was buoyant while Tim reported on how the Australian economy remains robust in light of the slowdown in mining, and that growth in demand for trucking services would remain strong. According to Tim’s report, road transport still dominates with 52% share of the national transportation segment, worth approximately $40bn/year.

It wasn’t long before one sobering question was verbalised by Tim, and left momentarily hanging…

“So, why aren’t we making more money?”

Clarity was soon delivered in what Tim called a ‘deep-dive’ – the summary of results found by ANZ through detailed analysis of a sample of 30 Australian trucking companies generating combined sales over $11bn, representing approximately 27% of the industry.

For meaningful comparison, companies in the sample group were categorised by ANZ along the following lines:

And the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ are…

Concentrated competition is hurting revenue and returns across the industry with increasing price competition causing revenue and margin compression, according to Tim’s presentation, “The Road Once Travelled”, the title implying the changing landscape described by Tim from the lectern.

For more of the ANZ detail on how specialised freight carriers are tending to outperform general freight carriers; how general freight carriers have seen a drop in margins and returns; how in general, businesses that largely employ sub-contractors are beginning to increase market share by undercutting the market; why worrying trends will drive further separation between successful companies and stragglers; and why ANZ analysis indicates the trucking industry will be needing more than $3.5bn over the coming 5 years to meet expected demand – get your own free PDF copy of Tim’s “The Road Once Travelled” presentation by clicking the button below.

DOWNLOAD ANZ PRESENTATION FROM FREIGHT2020 VISION 2017

New Freight2020 BI360 set to revolutionise the management of business performance

“With 36 years of experience developing solutions for the road freight transport and logistics industry, our company has seen our customers through changing economic conditions, and trends which come and go,” said Grant Walmsley, general manager of CMS Transport Systems, Australian developers of the Freight2020 transport management system, at Freight2020 VISION 2017.

“What never changes is the need for managers to see the key performance indicators of the business in real-time. Where margins are tight and the profitability of assets and human resources essential to business growth and survival, our new Freight2020 BI360 business intelligence dashboard allows managers to make prudent decisions for the business based on actual information that is easy to interpret and totally up-to-date,” Grant said.

“It’s not just data from Freight2020 that we can pull into the BI360 dashboard. The system can also draw relevant data from external sources. Whatever the essential KPI information that’s needed by managers of the business, financial or operations-related, it’s all displayed in colourful, easy-to-read graphical formats with customisable styling and branding.”

For more information about Freight2020 BI360 click below to book a demonstration. Current users of Freight2020 can enquire via the HelpDesk.

Mark Armstrong of Progress, newly appointed as the vice-president and managing director of international operations for the APJ region, in addition to EMEA, wowed delegates at the Freight2020 VISION 2017 AU/NZ user group conference in Melbourne by contextualising the impact of revolutionary developments in technology for the Australian road freight transport industry.

Introduced by Rob Mullins, managing director of CMS Transport Systems, who spoke of the long-established partnership between CMS and Progress as the global giant behind Freight2020’s OpenEdge development environment, the charismatic and articulate Mark Armstrong soon filled the room with a sense of excitement as the future of everyday technology in the transport industry was revealed through Mark’s presentation.

Concepts like artificial intelligence are no longer far-fetched with technology developing at an ever-increasing rate. The explosion of user interactivity with billions of smart devices being used around the world, massive increases in computing power and the amount of data being generated, rapidly-escalating cloud adoption, digital automation, connectivity, and the dawning reality of what is now called the “Internet of Things” (IoT) – such was the mind-stretching sweep of topics that were explained and put into day-to-day business context for the owners and managers of transport and logistics businesses in Australia and New Zealand who were present at VISION.

Progress is known as a breakthrough technology company and with the recent acquisition of DataRPM, which focuses on predictive maintenance solutions for the industrial IoT, Progress has added to its technology arsenal the capability to apply “machine learning” – delivering improved prediction quality and accuracy in significantly less time.

Example: moving beyond preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance

“CMS Transport Systems will be able to apply this technology to the growing amount of data collected by sensors so their customers can move beyond preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance. That involves using machine learning to reveal early signs of impending failure so repairs can be made before a breakdown,” said Mark during a recent interview with Stephen Withers for an article published in ITWire magazine.

“In the transport industry, that can make the difference between replacing a part before a vehicle sets out on a long trip, and a breakdown on the road, which makes on-time delivery less likely, and in some cases can result in the loss of a perishable load,” Mark told ITWire.

Strength of partnership between CMS Transport Systems and Progress

While Freight2020 VISION conference delegates were absorbing the profound implications of SciFi-type advancements which would impact their businesses sooner rather than later, Rob Mullins reflected on the strength and longevity of the partnership between CMS Transport Systems and Progress.

“I couldn’t be happier with our original decision to partner with Progress by developing Freight2020 in Progress OpenEdge. Progress invests at the leading edge of technology on a global scale, which enables CMS to empower Freight2020 users with capabilities and efficiencies that only the very largest companies could previously afford. For smaller companies, such as the typical mid-sized transport business, Progress helps us to help them equalise the playing field and contend along with their larger competitors,” Rob said.

CLICK IMAGES TO ZOOM: sample slides from the presentation at Freight2020 VISION 2017 by Mark Armstrong, Progress

Progress was the principal partner in the Freight2020 VISION 2017 event

If you weren’t able to make it to the Freight2020 VISION 2017 user group conference, anyone who was there will tell you it was jam-packed with interesting, relevant, and worthwhile content. Here’s a brief roundup of just a few of the highlights from plenary and breakout sessions…

Courtesy of Progress, the global technology partner of CMS Transport Systems, delegates arriving in Melbourne to attend the Freight2020 VISION 2017 conference were treated to pre-event welcome drinks and canapés at Rydges Melbourne, followed by a teppanyaki dinner banquet just a short stroll away in Melbourne’s Chinatown.

With scores of company delegates attending Freight2020 VISION from all corners of mainland Australia, across Bass Strait (Tasmania) and the Tasman (New Zealand), as well as some guest speakers and specialists visiting from the UK and USA, the Progress-sponsored hospitality provided a relaxed opportunity for transport industry executives to network with peers and meet some of the people behind the Freight2020 system which powers their businesses.

“We had our video producer flying into Melbourne directly from another assignment, in plenty of time for the conference the next day. Our intention was for one camera to capture the pre-event teppanyaki function. It turned out that some flights into Melbourne that evening were delayed due to bad weather in other regions, which meant our crew couldn’t arrive early enough for the informal activities,” said Melanie Williamson, the external manager of marketing and engagement for CMS Transport Systems responsible for the overall production and promotion of the Freight2020 VISION 2017 event. “I hadn’t brought my pro-camera along but decided to improvise with my iPhone. There were so many entertaining vignettes while the visiting delegates were unwinding from long flights or road-trips in preparation for what would be a very big day work-wise tomorrow.”

“Playing paparazzi gave me an excuse to get around the whole room and see how everyone was getting along over dinner, without being overly intrusive. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves and finding common ground in a social setting, thanks to the generosity of Progress.”

“As a NASDAQ-listed enterprise with a predominantly global focus, Progress demonstrates its commitment to developer-partners like CMS Transport Systems in Australia and New Zealand by sending their international executives to spend time with end-users at events like Freight2020 VISION 2017. It makes it easier for Progress to disseminate important information about forthcoming developments, and it helps keep the organisation on-pulse with the needs and experiences of each industry sector in each global region,” said Mel.