Innovation was on full display as some of the brightest companies in the logistics industry demonstrated their latest tech during FreightWaves’ first virtual Carrier Summit on Wednesday.
Each company had the opportunity to highlight their products through seven-minute presentations. SeatMyTrucks, Sphere Management and Axele by Optym presented Wednesday morning.
SeatMyTrucks
One of the most challenging aspects of a career in long-haul trucking is being separated from loved ones for extended periods of time. Truckers often find that long stints on the road can hinder relationships back home. That’s why it’s important that drivers and their families receive guidance for managing life on the home front.
Two Chattanooga, Tennessee-based companies, SeatMyTrucks and First Things First, have teamed up to develop MyTruckerLife, an online training resource geared toward drivers and their families. The digital platform incorporates relationship guidance into videos and interactive modules that are easy for both parties to access.
MyTruckerLife addresses hard-hitting topics such as parenting from a distance, preparing your family before leaving and returning home, as well as self-care and marriage advice. SeatMyTruck stated that new content will be released on a regular basis.
Sphere Management
The transportation and logistics industry is all about speed. Gaining a competitive edge in this fast-paced landscape requires analytical analysis and real-time decision-making.
That’s where Sphere Management comes in. The logistics optimization company announced its latest data analytics platform, Elevate. The technology framework leverages data through its configuration with most transportation management systems (TMSes), warehouse management systems and electronic logging devices.
Elevate delivers scenario and operational planning, appointment setting, driver and asset allocation and real-time view of operations among other modules to automate and optimize multiple use cases.
“The Elevate framework is modular and allows for easy customization with a quick time to value metric and a strong return on investment,” the company said. “It allows Sphere to deliver exactly what our customers need, configured specifically for their business.”
With the Scenario Planning tool, users are first asked to set optimization parameters, including modes to consider, which rate tables to draw from, fuel surcharges and stop parameters. Next, shipments can be imported or individually entered to calculate less-than-truckload (LTL) rates from the parameters previously set. Once everything is optimized, the orders are then consolidated into LTL, full truckload and multistop truckload categories, which can then be exported from the Elevate platform.
Axele
Using multiple TMS solutions or worse — spreadsheets — to manage loads and coordinate drivers can be headache-inducing. As digitalization sweeps across the logistics landscape, automation and optimization are key components that every trucking company must embrace.
Enter Axele, the first intelligent TMS for full truckload carriers. Optym presented a walk-through of its latest software at the FreightWaves Carrier Summit.
“Axele is a one-stop shop to help run your business smoothly, automate your day-to-day operations and optimize your load planning to increase profits and grow your business,” it said.
It takes just seconds to start an account on the Aexle website. Once registered, Axele’s automated onboarding system provides informative videos to guide users through the setup process.
Load creation is easy to configure too with the upload tool. After importing data, loads can then be assigned to drivers. Axele presents a detailed control panel showing the driver’s route, potential delays, estimated time of delivery, total miles and drive time. The software even develops trip plans for drivers to follow in accordance with hours of service regulations.
Drivers can receive and keep track of each load through the Axele mobile app. Fleet managers are also able to track drivers and the status of each load in real time as well as pay drivers through the application.
Axele is also connected to load boards. It will find and suggest the best available loads based on the driver’s availability and location.
