How to become Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager in 2024

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager Plan, direct, or coordinate transportation, storage, or distribution activities in accordance with organizational policies and applicable government laws or regulations. Includes logistics managers.

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager is Also Know as

In different settings, Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager is titled as

  • Distribution Center Manager
  • Distribution Manager
  • Fleet Manager
  • Global Transportation Manager
  • Logistics Director
  • Logistics Operations Manager
  • Shipping Manager
  • Supply Chain Logistics Manager
  • Transportation Manager
  • Warehouse Supervisor

Education and Training of Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

Training Required for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager in different industries are

What Do Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager do?

  • Supervise the activities of workers engaged in receiving, storing, testing, and shipping products or materials.
  • Plan, develop, or implement warehouse safety and security programs and activities.
  • Inspect physical conditions of warehouses, vehicle fleets, or equipment and order testing, maintenance, repairs, or replacements.
  • Plan, organize, or manage the work of subordinate staff to ensure that the work is accomplished in a manner consistent with organizational requirements.
  • Collaborate with other departments to integrate logistics with business systems or processes, such as customer sales, order management, accounting, or shipping.
  • Analyze all aspects of corporate logistics to determine the most cost-effective or efficient means of transporting products or supplies.
  • Resolve problems concerning transportation, logistics systems, imports or exports, or customer issues.
  • Develop and document standard and emergency operating procedures for receiving, handling, storing, shipping, or salvaging products or materials.
  • Monitor operations to ensure that staff members comply with administrative policies and procedures, safety rules, union contracts, environmental policies, or government regulations.
  • Analyze the financial impact of proposed logistics changes, such as routing, shipping modes, product volumes or mixes, or carriers.
  • Monitor inventory levels of products or materials in warehouses.
  • Establish or monitor specific supply chain-based performance measurement systems.
  • Prepare and manage departmental budgets.
  • Monitor product import or export processes to ensure compliance with regulatory or legal requirements.
  • Prepare management recommendations, such as proposed fee and tariff increases or schedule changes.
  • Interview, select, and train warehouse and supervisory personnel.
  • Advise sales and billing departments of transportation charges for customers' accounts.
  • Analyze expenditures and other financial information to develop plans, policies, or budgets for increasing profits or improving services.
  • Confer with department heads to coordinate warehouse activities, such as production, sales, records control, or purchasing.
  • Implement specific customer requirements, such as internal reporting or customized transportation metrics.
  • Maintain metrics, reports, process documentation, customer service logs, or training or safety records.
  • Examine invoices and shipping manifests for conformity to tariff and customs regulations.
  • Plan or implement energy saving changes to transportation services, such as reducing routes, optimizing capacities, employing alternate modes of transportation, or minimizing idling.
  • Evaluate contractors or business partners for operational efficiency or safety or environmental performance records.
  • Negotiate with carriers, warehouse operators, or insurance company representatives for services and preferential rates.
  • Develop or implement plans for facility modification or expansion, such as equipment purchase or changes in space allocation or structural design.
  • Direct inbound or outbound operations, such as transportation or warehouse activities, safety performance, and logistics quality management.
  • Plan or implement improvements to internal or external systems or processes.
  • Recommend or authorize capital expenditures for acquisition of new equipment or property to increase efficiency and services.
  • Review invoices, work orders, consumption reports, or demand forecasts to estimate peak performance periods and to issue work assignments.

Qualities of Good Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

  • Barcode scanners
  • Barcoding labels
  • Cell phones
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital cameras
  • Forklifts
  • Global positioning systems GPS
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser facsimile machines
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Pallet jacks
  • Personal computers
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Photocopiers
  • Radio frequency handheld terminals
  • Radio frequency identification RFID devices
  • Radio frequency truck-mounted terminals
  • Wireless communication and satellite positioning tools

Technology Skills required for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager

  • 3PL Central
  • ABOL Manifest Systems
  • Airline global distribution systems GDS software
  • Aljex Inventory
  • ALK Technologies FleetSuite
  • ALK Technologies PC*Miler
  • Amber Road
  • Argos Software ABECAS Insight FMS
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
  • Automated expense reporting system software
  • Bentley MicroStation
  • Bentley Transportation Data Manager
  • Cadre Technologies Accuplus Integrated Distribution Logistics System
  • Cadre Technologies Cadence Transportation Management System
  • Cadre Technologies Cadence Warehouse Management System
  • Catalyst International CatalystConnect
  • CoPilot Truck
  • Database software
  • DSA Foxware Warehouse Management
  • Eaton Fleet Advisor
  • Email software
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • ESRI ArcLogistics
  • FedEx Ship Manager
  • Fleetware software
  • Four Soft 4S eLog
  • Four Soft 4S VisiLog
  • Freight Rail Crew Optimization Scheduling FRCOS software
  • Geometrix
  • Graphics software
  • Hewlett Packard HP-UX
  • HighJump Software Warehouse Advantage
  • IBM i2 Transportation Manager
  • IBM Lotus Notes
  • IBM Notes
  • IBM Power Systems software
  • IMSure Solutions SHIPflex
  • Infor ERP Baan
  • Infosite Technologies Dispatch-Mate
  • Infosite Technologies DM Warehousing
  • Integrated Decision Support Corporation Expert Fuel
  • Integrated Decision Support Corporation Netwise Supply Chain
  • Integrated Decision Support Corporation Route Advice
  • Integrated Decision Support Corporation Swap Advice
  • Integrated Decision Support Match Advice
  • Integrated Decision Support Netwise Enterprise
  • Integrated Decision Support Netwise Frontline
  • IntelliTrack 3PL
  • IntelliTrack Warehouse Management System (WMS)
  • Intergraph GeoMedia Transportation Manager
  • Inventory control software
  • Inventory management systems
  • Iptor Supply Chain
  • Labelmaster Software REG-Trieve
  • Logility Voyager WarehousePRO
  • Logisuite Enterprise
  • Logisuite Forwarder
  • Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
  • Materials resource planning MRP software
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Visio
  • Microsoft Word
  • MRA Technologies MRATrack Warehouse Management System
  • NetSuite ERP
  • Optimization software
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Financials
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Logistics
  • Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
  • Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
  • Presentation software
  • QUALCOMM QTRACS
  • QUALCOMM ViaWeb
  • Quest Erwin Data Modeler
  • Radio Beacon WMS
  • RedPrairie DLx Warehouse
  • SAP Business Objects
  • SAP ERP Operations
  • SAP software
  • Scanlon Associates LogPak
  • Scheduling software
  • Sentai Pinpoint
  • Shipping Solutions
  • Spreadsheet software
  • SSA Global Warehouse Management System WMS
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Summary Systems Fleet Commander
  • Supply chain event management software
  • TECSYS EliteSeries
  • TECSYS PointForce Enterprise
  • TMW PowerSuite
  • Transportation management system TMS software
  • Transtek Compass ERP
  • UPS WorldShip
  • USPS.com
  • Veritas NetBackup
  • Warehouse management system WMS
  • Word processing software
  • WorkForce Software EmpCenter Time and Attendance