Freight-pricing software firm SMC3 Inc. has acquired Transportation Costing Group Inc. (TCG), a Rockville, Md.-based firm that provides truckload and less-than-truckload motor carrier customers with cost-modeling software, the companies announced Thursday.
SMC3, of Peachtree City, Ga., plans to use TCG's suite of profitability-management tools to offer an increased menu of software products to its current LTL members and to attract new customers in the truckload segment.
In addition to gaining a new suite of technology products in the merger, SMC3 will also add business expertise, hiring TCG chief Ken Manning to help integrate the two software platforms. Finally, SMC3 will absorb a strong customer base, including eight of the top 10 domestic LTL freight carriers, who all use TCG's cost-information-system software.
"There are numerous synergies between SMC3 and TCG," Jack Middleton, SMC3's CEO, said in a statement. "Adding the industry-leading carrier-costing software to our current portfolio of pricing and transit-time products will allow SMC3 to continue its path of sustainable growth."
In turn, the acquisition gives TCG a chance to find a broad new customer base for its software in the transportation industry, Manning said in a statement. TCG's "Cost Information System" (CIS) helps truckload and LTL carriers operate more profitably by using a customized, activity-based costing model instead of optimization and cost-averaging systems, the company says.
Current customers and business partners of TCG should see little change in the wake of the purchase, SMC3 said.
"We are very pleased that the acquisition of TCG has closed. The transition process is already well underway as we look forward welcoming TCG's employees and customers into the SMC3 organization," Middleton said in a statement. "TCG will continue to provide outstanding solutions and service while operating out of its Rockville, Md., offices for the foreseeable future."
The merger could affect shippers, carriers, logistics service providers, and freight-payment companies throughout North America. SMC3 products include "CzarLite," "Bid$ense," and "RateWare," which combine to support end-to-end predictability in shipper/3PL-carrier relationships, the company says.
In addition to its role as a technology provider, SMC3 also serves as an industry association, tracking the trucking industry's evolving role in international supply chains.
