When an invoice is received, the billed amount is electronically compared to the quoted amount in our system. If these amounts are the same, the invoice gets approved and the client is billed based on their individual invoicing agreements with McClain. If the billed amount varies from the quoted amount due to a possible assessorial, reclassification, or reweigh a case is created and the CSR is responsible for resolving these discrepancies prior to the client receiving the invoice. All accessorials, re-weighs, and classes are meticulously tracked for client accounting purposes for yearly negotiations with carriers.

Data collected on carrier compliance, i.e. on time deliveries, damages, and lost product gives companies leverage when negotiating better freight rates. Similarly, vendor compliance data, i.e. late deliveries; defective product; and short ships is tracked and costs incurred from non-compliant shipments is identified. Strengthening vendor compliance encourages vendors to increase their customer service, which is directly passed on to you, the client, and your customers. Implementing lean or JIT philosophies is a priority for most shippers. These philosophies are often not performing at their fullest capacity as many companies must keep excess inventory to reduce risk.

As your 3PL, our goal is to use this stored information to build the largest, most cost-effective shipment by identifying potential opportunities to combine your POs to reduce the number of shipments, subsequently decreasing unit cost. Throughout the life cycle of the order, McClain is proactively monitoring the shipment, making sure it is both ready to ship on time, and once picked up, delivers on time. Arming McClain with this data alleviates the client from the guessing game and pressure to follow up. When these procedures and integrations are in place, McClain can ensure down to each individual line item, that the order is complete and shipped in the most cost and time efficient manner. If an order is not going to make delivery or is short shipped, we will work with both shipper and vendor to appease the issue.
As the shipper reports progress to the McClain these updates will be manifested with all other relevant shipment and order information. At this time clients can log into their portal and see instant updates on their shipment.

Through an integration to your ERP system, we are able to receive an electronic transmission of your SO or CO data. Not only does this store all of your SO/CO information in a centralized location in conjunction with all shipment data, but it reduces time and errors made from manual entry of shipment data. When these processes are in place, your shipping manager is able to search the SO/CO when creating a shipment, decreasing the time spent manually creating the shipment. This integration provides McClain and our clients with visibility of all pending orders.