Good day,
The use of predictive technology has transformed delivery businesses, but now it is starting to revolutionize warehouse operations. The Kraft Heinz Company has put into use a new solution from FourKites that it believes will significantly cut down on dwell time while also lowering detention costs and improving operational performance across its facilities.
Facility Manager links transportation and warehousing systems, providing a real-time look at data that provides predictive estimate time of arrival of vehicles to yards and distribution centers.
“We’re excited to extend FourKites’ real-time visibility of in-transit loads to our facilities’ teams,” said Bill Durbin, vice president of logistics at Kraft Heinz. “FourKites has worked with us to incorporate our direct feedback into a robust new product that gives us the insight we need to keep improving our facility operations.” Kraft Heinz is one of the largest global food and beverage companies, and a long-time customer of FourKites’ real-time freight tracking and monitoring.
Facility Manager takes the machine learning power of FourKites’ DynamicETA product and moves it into warehouse operations. Using the data accumulated through DynamicETA, including shipper, carrier, lane, rest patterns, load, traffic and weather, Facility Manager is better able to estimate the arrival time of vehicles and alert warehouse and distribution staff accordingly.
Facility Manager achieves greater than 90 percent accuracy in predicting arrival times within a one-hour window and 97 percent accuracy predicting arrivals within six hours, FourKites claims.
“The inability to predict ETAs has huge negative repercussions for everyone in the supply chain,” said Priya Rajagopalan, chief product officer at FourKites. “Yard operations, dock and labor management, warehouse picking and packing, carrier schedules, truckers’ sanity – they all suffer. Facility Manager solves all of these issues by combining real-time tracking information with yard and warehouse activities to help customers identify bottlenecks in yard operations and reduce congestion – to the benefit of shippers and carriers alike.”
For facility managers, the solution provides new capabilities, including real-time visibility into freight ETAs, notifications to drivers, digital check-in and check-out and reporting.
Did you know?
In Georgia, a corporate venture called The Ray is working with the Georgia Department of Transportation and Panasonic to test a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) roadway designed to improve safety and reduce congestion. The tech-enabled roadway will provide real-time data to planners and vehicles with the V2X technology.
Quotable:
“At its core, the Games represent all of our collective cultures coming together in what is now Redwood Logistics. It’s a good reminder, especially in a market that can be challenging, to get everyone out of the office and do something for charity and have fun; that it’s bigger than just coming in every day to do transport and logistics.”
– Tim Zelasko, chief operating officer, for Redwood Logistics, on the company’s 2019 Redwood Games, which raised over $130,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
In other news:
Michigan Trucking Association, state face questions over road repairs
The state of Michigan has been funneling millions of dollars designated for road repairs to the Michigan Center for Truck Safety, an arm of the state’s trucking association. (Detroit Free Press)
Kentucky trucking firm expands
TAZ Trucking of Bowling Green, Kentucky, plans to hire 57 people, purchase 30 new trucks and 60 trailers, as part of a $7.3 million investment. (Go By Truck News)
Gordie Howe bridge project moves forward
A project to build the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America is moving forward between Michigan and Canada, just two miles from the Ambassador Bridge. (Michigan Contractor & Builder)
Indiana closing part of I-465 for 15 days
Indiana is closing all lanes of I-465 from I-65 on the south side to I-70 on the east side for 15 days for repairs. (WLFI.com)
On-again, off-again third Chicago airport is back on
The oft-discussed third airport in Chicago is once again being considered after the state included $162 million for road improvements around the proposed site in its latest budget. (Chicago Tribune)
Final Thoughts
Traffic across the Ambassador Bridge connecting Michigan and Canada can be a nightmare at times, especially for freight movements that face critical delivery timeframes. Work on a new bridge, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, named after the famed hockey star, is continuing. The public-private partnership between the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and Bridging North America hopes to build the bridge just two miles from the Ambassador Bridge. Connecting Highway 401 in Windsor, Canada, and Interstate 75 in Detroit, the bridge would ease congestion and improve trade between the countries by taking some of the 7,000 daily trucks from the Ambassador. The $4.4 billion project is slated for completion in 2024.
Hammer down everyone!