Premier Logistics Solutions gives CarLo thumbs-up

December 15, 2022

A transport management system (TMS) can make or break any logistics company, and Premier Logistics Solutions appears to have found the ideal system in the form of Soloplan’s CarLo.

Premier Logistics Solutions is a South African transport company with its head office in Gauteng, operating some 300 prime mover trucks on a national and regional basis. The company employs around 450 people and is operational out of four primary locations: Meyerton, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town. The company has defined areas of focus categorised by the customer products and requirements of containerised cargo, steel and steel products, tyres, beverages, and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Premier Logistics Solutions initially used a system from another software provider, but the product was unable to cope with the growth of the company and the customer requirements when it came to statistical data and cargo information. After it had even contracted the services of a programmer to develop its own internal product, the company finally discovered and implemented Soloplan’s TMS, CarLo.

Although Soloplan’s software solution was different from those previously used, Premier Logistics Solutions’ staff were quickly able to adapt to the user-friendly TMS. The changeover was supported by targeted training and individual workshops run by Soloplan.

The introduction resulted in the streamlining and simplification of daily business processes for this proudly South African company. Above all, it was important to always take customer requirements into account. “Due to the adaptability of CarLo, it was possible to respond perfectly to their needs in this area,” explains a Soloplan spokesperson.

Another advantage provided by CarLo is the system’s ability to export statistics and reports to derive important key information and data. This enables control and general company management, with the system also providing a quick overview.

Mark Egerton, financial manager at Premier Logistics Solutions, tells FOCUS that the company is very satisfied with the implementation of CarLo. “Load planning based on origins and destinations allowed for accurate billing of customers and reduced the number of corrections that had to be processed on a monthly basis. This key issue alone reduced the number of credits or journal entries that needed to be passed,” says Egerton.

“The available interface features, the data uploads, and the ability to customise reports to meet the requirements or parameters set by our customers have greatly reduced the time spent on compiling daily, weekly, and monthly reports,” he adds.

“Furthermore, the ability to extract meaningful information from the system is essential to both the requirements of our customers and the effective management of our own business.”

Premier Logistics Solutions has been a Soloplan customer since 2019, when it was one of the first South African companies to contract the services of CarLo. In the future, the company plans to introduce other Soloplan add-ons as the need arises, either internally or externally.