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Westway Trading
Develop and implement a web-based shipment order and rail management application to compliment Westway's unique businesses.
Within a matter of months, Westway was able to convert all of their orders, tracking, rate, and equipment information into RSInet providing complete shipment visibility to their customers as well as their many shipping locations. RSInet provided automatic EDI services for their shipment eliminating the need to enter shipments into two different systems.
Westway Trading is the primary molasses supplier to the U.S. animal feed trade and distributes molasses throughout Canada and Mexico . Westway accomplishes much of its distribution through its Westway Terminals division which possesses 33 strategically located terminal facilities throughout North America . Westway provides economical and efficient service to both their customers and suppliers as a result of their infrastructure, logistical expertise and marketing knowledge.
With 33 facilities and gross molasses storage capacity of over 400,000 tons, Westway moves a tremendous amount of molasses both into and out of each location. While Westway utilizes ocean tanker and barges, their dependency on rail transportation is significant. In total, Westway maintains a dedicated rail car fleet of 1,000 cars.
To manage their 9,000 annual transactions involved with their rail shipments, Westway had to utilize a combination of several applications to perform rail tracking & tracing, EDI billing (as many as 5 separate solutions), and equipment management in tandem with their legacy system. Desiring to consolidate these activities and to provide additional functionality, Westway contracted with RSI Logistics to implement the RSInet web-based rail management application.
RSInet's customerized web pages allows Westway's customer to log in to enter their new orders. Westway is able to view these orders and select the best shipping location based on the best service and rates available to each destination. Once orders are shipped, Westway's customers can check on any railcar enroute via a customer web page designed just for them. Westway's headquarters and many shipping locations also visibility of their fleet of cars. Once orders are shipped in RSInet by a centrailized Westway location, EDI's are generated to the railroad and acknowledgements are the received for each shipment. Shipment notices also emailed to all interested parties for each shipment making the entire process completely automated. Using RSInet's customer service function, service logs are entered on individual rail cars to indicate mechanical information as well as special expediting information. Westway also uses this feature to request empty and loaded diversions.
Though RSInet is responsible for assisting Westway with their rate information, Westway has full visibility of all requested and active rates. Active rates are tied to shipment information, allowing for full freight accrual reporting, etc. Westway also maintains their fleet of 1,400 leased rail car within RSInet. All rail car lease information is maintained in the web site as well as shop information. When cars are scheduled for shop, reminders are automatically sent to all interested parties.
The data being entered and stored in RSInet is invaluable to Westway. Because all of the data is tied together, we've been able to create many customized reports to help with Westway's unique business such as transit and fleet utilization reports based on their business trends, freight accruals reports, contract reports, etc. The transition to RSInet has allowed Westway to focus on filling their customers orders rather than managing their rail information.
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