Soberana Drives Its Logistics Transformation with UNIGIS TMS, Implemented by Cerca Technology
Four decades in the market. Twelve locations across Colombia. Three distinct logistics operations running simultaneously. Soberana had tried other TMS providers before. What they hadn’t found was a platform that could centralize all three operations in one place — and a partner willing to stay through the full execution, not just the go-live.
Why food distribution companies need a TMS now
Distributing food at national scale in Colombia was already a demanding operation. Then SICE-TAC came into effect — Colombia’s mandatory freight cost floor system — and the equation changed. Companies generating cargo can no longer pay below the legally established freight rate. That raised operating costs across the entire industry, with no workaround.
The response isn’t to cut routes or reduce service. It’s to plan better: consolidate loads per trip, eliminate duplicate routes, and make decisions with real-time information. That’s precisely what a well-implemented TMS does.
For Soberana, a Colombian food company with more than 40 years in the market, the decision point arrived with a clear diagnosis: their internal tools had reached their limit, and the cost of not acting was higher than the cost of transforming.
Three logistics operations, one visibility gap
Soberana produces corn flour at its plant in Cereté, Córdoba, and runs its administrative headquarters from Itagüí, Antioquia. Its distribution network reaches clients and retail chains through 12 locations nationwide. Its best-known products include Soberana corn flour, canned fish — tuna and sardines — and grains such as beans and lentils.
What makes the operation complex isn’t just volume. It’s the diversity of transport flows running at the same time, each with its own variables, risks, and traceability requirements.
National distribution: Customer orders from wholesalers and retail chains come in with a 48-hour delivery commitment. That means vehicle sourcing, load preparation, and route scheduling must happen fast and in coordination. 90% of that cargo moves through El Roble, Soberana’s own transport company. The remaining 10% goes through an internal load marketplace — a system where partner carriers see available loads, accept trips with available capacity, and get assigned in the platform.
Raw material imports: The corn that supplies the Cereté plant arrives at the port of Tolú from overseas. Each operation moves between 8,000 and 10,000 metric tons. Every hour of delay at port generates demurrage costs. Knowing whether the delay was caused by weather, port operations, or the carrier isn’t a detail — it’s what determines whether that cost is absorbed or recovered.
Exports (Comex): When Soberana exports finished products internationally, it needs traceability from the plant to the port of departure, in an environment where container movement has become increasingly unpredictable. Meeting international commitments depends on having that visibility.
The operational pain behind the numbers
The internal load marketplace worked as an assignment mechanism. But the real problem wasn’t the tool — it was the complete freight management process between carriers and Soberana as cargo generator. The operation faced recurring inconsistencies in trip assignment, rate validation, and service reconciliation.
Reverse logistics was another blind spot. When a customer returned a shipment, determining whether that return generated additional cost, why it happened, and whether that customer was a repeat offender required manual, imprecise work. Without centralized data, information arrived late or incomplete.
«Real-time traceability is critical for decision-making. Reverse logistics is a complex process: a shipment may not be completed, leading to a return and generating cost impacts. Having visibility into these events allows us to analyze the operation comprehensively and optimize logistical efficiency.» — Edison López Gómez, TMS Project Manager, Soberana
And then there was SICE-TAC: without route optimization, any duplicate stop at a client translates directly into a cost that can’t be recovered. Planning stopped being an operational matter and became a financial one.
The day-to-day reality for the traffic team, as Edison describes it: copy, paste, transcribe, and build templates. Repetitive manual processes that generated no analytical value — and where a single human error could trigger a real operational problem.
Why they chose UNIGIS TMS and Cerca Technology
Soberana hadn’t come to Cerca Technology without exploring alternatives first. They had evaluated other TMS providers. None of them addressed the full complexity of the operation.
What they needed wasn’t just a route optimizer. It was a platform that integrated the internal load marketplace, freight management, real-time traceability, a mobile app for drivers, and communication portals for clients and carriers — all in one place, from the moment an order is created to the moment delivery is confirmed.
They also needed a solution capable of optimizing planning under real Colombian market conditions: validating rates against SICE-TAC and eliminating inefficient routes that were directly impacting transport costs.
UNIGIS TMS covers that full cycle — route planning and optimization, real-time traceability, fleet management, freight administration, mobile, and B2B/B2C portals — through a modular architecture that integrates with Soberana’s existing systems without forcing a full replacement that would disrupt operations.
«When we came to Cerca, we found everything we needed. Integrating all the functions we have today in the company — from the moment an order is created to the final delivery — with all that traceability in one single place.» — Edison López Gómez, Project Manager, Soberana
The second reason was Cerca Technology’s working model. In an implementation of this scope — involving logistics, accounting, commercial, operational excellence, and audit — technology alone doesn’t guarantee results. The differentiator is the accompaniment: it’s what ensures cross-functional adoption and real operational impact.
«An operation with the flow diversity of Soberana — national distribution, bulk imports, and exports — requires a partner who understands the business before configuring the system. That’s our starting point in every implementation.» — Francisco Simbaqueva, TMS Professional Services Manager, Cerca Technology
A corporate project that goes well beyond logistics
The project scope spans at least five areas: logistics, accounting, operational excellence and audit, commercial, and human resources — the last of which has a specific role in managing the adoption process with coordinators, logistics leads, and the full operational team. Soberana understands that implementing a TMS is not just installing software. It’s an organizational change management process that aligns people, processes, and technology around a new way of operating.
The KPIs are concrete. OTIF — On Time In Full — is a central metric. Cost-to-serve, what it costs the company to fulfill each order, carries the most financial weight. Edison identifies it as the most critical variable for determining whether the operation is within budget or drifting. The system’s dashboards, both predefined and configurable, will make that full picture visible in one place.
The commercial team gains something equally tangible: for the first time, sales representatives will be able to tell clients in real time that their load is in transit and when it’s expected to arrive. A concrete service improvement that strengthens the company’s relationship with its customers.
From order creation to final delivery
Soberana’s story with UNIGIS TMS and Cerca Technology is one of a company that moved from reactive transport management to operations driven by visibility, control, and data. With three active logistics flows — national distribution, raw material imports, and finished product exports — centralizing that complexity in a single platform is not just a technology challenge. It’s an operational and organizational one.
That’s where the real differentiator sits. Implementing the system is the beginning, not the end. What turns technology into results is the adoption work that happens before, during, and after go-live.
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