Eight innovative logistics companies dropped their latest solutions on the virtual audience of FreightWaves LIVE @HOME. After a year of tight capacity and supply chain panic, these solutions seek to maximize capacity, minimize risk and ensure efficient last-mile deliveries.
As always, the challenge is to keep the engaging demo at seven minutes without using a PowerPoint. Thursday afternoon’s audience watched demonstrations from Axele, SkyBitz, J. J. Keller, Trimble Maps, Optimal Dynamics, Transflo, Cargo Chief and Turvo.
Axele
While carriers have historically faced the tasks of creating and dispatching loads, then paying customers, Axele boasts the first intelligent TMS system for full truckload carriers, which extends to both web and mobile devices.
Ryan Camacho, product director at Axele, calls the platform a “one-stop shop to run your business smoothly, automate your day-to-day operations and optimize your load planning to increase your profits and grow your business.”
At little to no cost for small to medium carriers, users can easily register and begin creating and dispatching loads to drivers, view driver experience and settle up payments. From the driver’s perspective, they can easily view assigned loads and capture images of documents. With hours of service data integrated into the platform, customized travel plans are possible. One unique feature is the platform’s ability to connect the load board and electronic logging device providers, which helps optimize the driver network.
SkyBitz
“One of the challenges our customers face is maximizing their cube,” said Debbie Sackman, senior product manager at SkyBitz.
SkyBitz wants to help fleet managers maximize cube productivity to meet or exceed KPIs. By connecting the SkyBitz SkyCamera solution to the TMS, fleet managers can keep loads at desired capacity. The demo represented a KPI goal of trailers never leaving the distribution center without being 90% full. By using the geofencing map function, managers can flag DCs and set up notifications to be sent to dock supervisors once the door closes on the cube.
“When you increase load capacity, you increase the profits for your organization on each load. The investment in technology really pays off in these scenarios.”
Fleet managers can also use the SkyBitz SkyCamera platform to quickly search for empty trailers and determine their usability.
J. J. Keller
J. J. Keller showcased its standout Safe & Smart Driver Training Program, designed to create more successful drivers. The customizable training material with contemporary teaching methods helps companies avoid costly accidents and hefty fines.
Proper driver training is imperative when considering the $91,000 it costs a carrier when a large truck crashes or the nearly 5,000 people killed in crashes involving large trucks. “J. J. Keller literally wrote the book on FMCSA regulations,” the presentation emphasized.
Course materials for Non-CDL, CDL Class A and Yard Jockeys are included in the program, which considers the wide range of experience levels, generations, cargo types, vehicles and locations. With over 100 veteran instructors in 29 states, previous students of the program noted that the trainers “really care” and that they felt prepared to do their job “safely and effectively.”
Trimble Maps
Focusing on a safe and efficient final mile, Trimble Maps’ platform and copilot app contain rich data on each delivery location, which allows fleets and drivers to gain precise ETAs and updated site intelligence regarding parking and ideal approaches.
“Fleet managers and dispatchers can customize our predefined database of tens of thousands of commercial locations,” said Kelly Loizos, product owner at Trimble Maps.
Inside the platform, Loizos zoomed in on a Sysco distribution center in Indianapolis and the user was able to see a road-level aerial view of the DC, down to the entry and exit gates. Rail crossings surround much of the DC, so a fleet manager might add a comment for drivers to avoid those. Other information about the DC, like its website and operating hours, is integrated into the view and can easily be customized.
Optimal Dynamics
CORE.ai — the decision layer of logistics — is designed to deliver clarity in times of uncertainty. A product of Optimal Dynamics that uses high-dimensional artificial intelligence, the software answers the questions you’ve always had about your truckload network.
“CORE.ai enables you to model every detail about your company, including the uncertainties you deal with in the actual real world,” said Daniel Power, chief executive officer at Optimal Dynamics. “It has saved companies tens of millions of dollars per year.”
The function called True Profit provides an accurate barometer on the true costs of loads and lanes. CORE.ai allows carriers to compare pricing scenarios to see hypothetical improvements of revenue and profitability. Another feature, Future Visibility, allows users to accept loads weeks into the future with 98% accuracy.
CORE.ai offers shippers and carriers a dynamic and intuitive dispatching toolset to model every detail about your company and lighten the burden of taking risks.
Transflo
Transflo has been digitizing the logistics industry’s workflow since 1991 and boasts $84 billion of processed freight bills each year, with over 1.6 million app users. Transflo demonstrates how its product is well positioned to help make players across the industry — including shippers, brokers, carriers and drivers — more efficient.
“As a shipper, what I like about Transflo is it gives me a safer and more efficient way to interact with my carrier partners,” said Mark Cody, director of sales at Transflo. “With an electronic bill of lading (eBOL) and electronic proof of delivery (ePOD), not only has it increased my interaction with drivers and my carriers, but it has also improved our yard workflows and our internal processes.”
Brokers using the Transflo’s Command Center Carrier Portal can book more loads in less time and with less labor. Carriers are able to see all of brokers’ available loads in one central location, and once booked, brokers have real-time visibility to the load’s progress toward delivery.
Drivers using the Transflo mobile platform have access to video and scorecard functionalities to keep drivers informed, safe and successful. The app also allows drivers to scan documents and request the e-BOL and e-POD. The company’s wide-ranging solutions are intended to make users’ workflows simpler and safer through innovative technological adoption.
Cargo Chief
Keeping in mind the common struggle of finding reliable capacity at a good price, Cargo Chief’s C4 carrier sourcing platform provides logistics professionals with practical, unique and current data to make superior business decisions.
Cargo Chief has partnered with over 10 TMS and processing partners to help gather current and anonymous rate data for every lane. The demo shows a broker searching for pricing data for a dry van going from Atlanta to Miami. The platform shows an “all-in” rate, a “per-mile” rate, as well as what others are paying for the same lane, which allows the broker to buy and sell confidently. Brokers can also fill out and view carrier scorecards to make informed decisions.
“This is the most accurate and up-to-date rate engine on the market,” said Omar Singh, chief executive officer of Surge Transportation. “I expect that this will increase our market share by fostering more collaborative relationships.”
Rather than scrolling through countless Excel spreadsheets to search for a truck, C4 makes it easy to find the right carrier every time by offering real-time lane pricing and prioritized load opportunities, among other intuitive features.
Turvo
Historically, the industry has relied on spreadsheets and siloed software, but Turvo envisions the supply chain as a social network that needs its collaborative logistics platform to unite shippers, carriers and brokers.
“Turvo uses collaboration to remove the inefficiencies between companies by creating automation,” said Jeff Dangelo, co-founder of Turvo. “We solve more problems than just tracking a shipment. We go end to end from orders to inventory, appointment scheduling and booking shipments.”
Bringing together all systems of record that historically have been siloed like orders, shipments and inventory provides unprecedented visibility. Shippers with warehouses can publish their schedule on Turvo to create easy opportunities for appointment scheduling.
Customers can also book carriers through the platform, and carriers can post capacity. In addition, Turvo provides carrier recommendations to help shippers make informed decisions.