Redwood Logistics drives breakthrough success for TTX with cutting-edge transportation management solutions

Redwood Logistics (Redwood), one of the fastest-growing fourth-party logistics (4PL) providers in North America, today announced the results of their collaboration with TTX Company (TTX), a leading provider of railcars and related freight car management services. This partnership has revolutionized TTX's logistics strategy, leading to enhanced service levels, asset utilization and financial performance.

Since 1955, TTX has been a unique and creative provider to the rail industry. Across North America, the company’s signature yellow cars carry goods and raw materials that consumers and companies rely on. Since 2000, TTX has invested over $13 billion in new railcar purchases. The result is a fleet of more than 175,000 flatcars, boxcars and gondolas.

TTX’s pooled, multi-purpose railcars maximize utilization by reducing empty miles and switching to minimize empty network flows. These cars can be reloaded and routed to any destination by any railroad, eliminating unnecessary costs. However, optimizing routes, loads and capacities across the US, Canada and Mexico represented an enormous logistics challenge. TTX needed an advanced digital transportation management system (TMS) to combine high service levels with strong asset utilization and financial results.

"Redwood added enormous value by specifying, installing, and connecting the advanced solutions TTX needed," said Keith Salette, Director Logistics and Distribution, TTX. "But even the best technology won’t contribute at its maximum level without user training and employee ownership. The Redwood team empowered our users by providing best-in-class training that’s maximized our return on investment. Our employees own these solutions and even know how to perform customizations. That’s been a game-changer,"

Redwood led the implementation of Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) to help digitally orchestrate the complex movements of both TTX’s railcar assets and individual customer shipments. This solution has allowed TTX to optimize its routes, including round trips, as well as build and consolidate loads to maximize capacity for every railcar.

The Redwood team also connected OTM in real-time with Oracle Cloud Fusion and Oracle Financials, enabling TTX planners to see the real impacts of various carrier rates and contracts before assigning shipments. To help optimize TTX’s parcel shipping operations, Redwood also implemented Redwood Parcel Cloud, Redwood’s proprietary parcel services software, allowing TTX to rate, ship, and track all parcels via a single, easy-to-use tool.

"Helping TTX adapt and thrive in an increasingly competitive market is a testament to Redwood's modern 4PL strategy," said Erin Breen, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain Solutions, Redwood. "Our ability to integrate advanced technologies like Oracle TMS and Redwood Parcel Cloud ensures that we provide top-tier logistics solutions that drive real business results."

Thanks to its integrated suite of Oracle solutions, TTX now has real-time visibility of shipments and assets across all transportation modes. TTX logistics planners can proactively negotiate carrier rates and contracts to maximize customer service while minimizing costs. Redwood Parcel Cloud has been especially helpful in making complex decisions between parcel shipping and less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation.