At the latest Trimble Insight Conference in New Orleans, Trimble announced the new Trimble TMS, a solution built to address the industry’s need for modernized systems, streamlined workflows, and easier change management. Abby Griffith, Senior Product Manager, and Cindy Witzigman, who has over 30 years of experience in trucking and logistics, provided details on the new product's design philosophy.

The new Trimble TMS is not a rebuild of existing TMS solutions but is reimagined and written on a new data model. This fresh approach allows users to interact with the system in a way that is faster, cleaner, and more intuitive. Cindy Witzigman emphasizes that starting with a clean data model allows everyone to "talk the same language," normalizing terms that might traditionally be called a 'load,' a 'trip,' or an 'order. '

Acknowledging the pain associated with migrating primary operating systems—which one attendee joked can feel worse than getting divorced—the new Trimble TMS is being built in modules. This modular approach gives carriers the ability to implement the system piece by piece, avoiding the "rip and replace" stress of a big bang implementation. As Abby Griffith explains, this strategy allows teams to "feel comfortable with one part and then and then move on," gaining proficiency and confidence before moving to the next module.

A major design priority has been seamless integration and connectivity. The new TMS is intentionally designed to ensure strong connectivity with other systems, featuring open, well-documented APIs to make integration easy for developers. This focus on connectivity is vital because transportation processes rely on interaction between many systems, such as the TMS and the Warehouse Management System (WMS).

Ultimately, the goal is to build a TMS that supports the overall business strategy by providing actionable reporting and KPIs while also building a workforce that is intuitive to train and use.