The prestigious industry research company CB Insights has selected Loadsmart as one of the startups disrupting the supply chain and logistics industry.
In its brief called From Tracking Food To Last-Mile Delivery, 125+ Startups Disrupting The Supply Chain & Logistics Industry, Loadsmart is mentioned in the ‘Trucking Marketplace & Fleet Management’ category.
We couldn’t be here without the hard work of our whole team.
Felipe Capella is Loadsmart’s Co-founder and Chief of Product.
On May 15, 2018, we wrote about the first fully automated intelligent routing guide with dynamic rates in the US. That powerful tool enables shippers to automatically book a truck before the shipment turns into a spot load and has reduced spot volume for Fortune500 Shippers by as much as 50 percent. Loadsmart accepts 100 percent of tenders received from the dynamic routing guide, guaranteeing capacity. This feature helps shippers avoid the same-day/next-day markets, which are known for steep prices and service failures. Given the huge interest and questions we got from the logistics community, we decided to expand and explain the reasoning behind it and how it actually works in a granular way.
At Loadsmart, our mission is to do more with less. That’s why we innovated with a major customer to help them drive down their spot market exposure by 50 percent. We worked with our customer to help them do more with less by pushing market-based truckload rates into their TMS for every load that goes through their routing guide. Simply put, we do three things:
This explains how we went from participating in a daily spot auction via email to a full-fledged integration with our customer to reduce spot volume.
Much like death and taxes, there are two immutable laws in logistics. It will always be a 24/7 industry, and issues will always arise.
For that reason Loadsmart must be able to address any shipment events day and night. At the same time, great service also requires a great team who are performing at their best. This level of performance is not possible if team members can only contribute to exception resolution when they are in front of a computer.
So we built Jarvis – a mobile version of Alice, Loadsmart’s internal TMS. By offering a native mobile version of our TMS we made it possible for anyone in Loadsmart’s Operations Team to respond to issues quickly from anywhere, any time. All responsible parties can jump in to any situation to make sure our customers’ needs are met. This also allows us to keep our team smaller and more nimble, supporting our goal to move more with less.
Loadsmart has been the pioneer on mobile solutions for freight brokerage operations since its inception: from driver apps that track shipment location to apps offering one-click load booking for carriers. This time, by building a mobile version of our TMS, we better service our customers and give more freedom to our team, while keeping the company as efficient as possible.
Jarvis’ interface had to be simple, providing a clear overview of the shipments that are moving through our platform. The contact information of all stakeholders of the shipment are automatically available, in case we need to directly call or message shippers, carriers or warehouses. Each Loadsmart team member can access the app using fingerprint login in their smartphone, ensuring also security of the shipment information.
“By providing a mobile solution to our Load Management team, we are capable of notifying the right person at the right time in case of incidents that need human attention, minimizing response time and offering a better customer support to our clients with the help of technology”, said Gustavo Barbosa, Mobile Lead at Loadsmart.
Loadsmart’s mission is also to make our internal team more efficient, moving more with less.
Loadsmart was invited to speak at the Supply Chain Conference organized by the publication Automotive Logistics in Atlanta. In a panel titled “Clearing the bottlenecks”, Ricardo Salgado, Loadsmart’s CEO, and Ivan Hernandez, Daimler’s Director of Transportation for North America, co-presented a joint project which leveraged Loadsmart’s technology. The project successfully reduced Daimler’s time to execute a spot load from 5 hours to 18 minutes, while increasing Daimler utilization of their carrier customers by 70%.
Aside from Loadsmart and Daimler, the other panelists came from Honda, Toyota, Surgere, and Ryder.
See below a 4-minute excerpt of the presentation outlining the joint project:
Over the last five years, we have been obsessed with introducing new technology to dramatically improve the efficiency of the freight brokerage business. This effort not only includes creating a better experiences for shippers and carriers, but also improving and automating back-office processes.
Every broker receives thousands of documents per month related to ongoing and delivered shipments: Rate Confirmations, BOLs, PODs, Invoices, etc. Identifying, separating, cataloging and uploading each document to the right place takes countless hours, and even the most strict processes result in a non-negligible error rate.
The new feature we just released is a machine learning model that analyzes each email, its attachments, and identifies what documents are contained into a single or multiple PDF files. After automatically scanning and cataloging the content of the files, the system then splits the documents into its component sub-files (e.g. BOLs, Invoices, Rate Confirmations, etc.) and auto-uploads each document to the right shipment folder.
This new feature is saving hundreds of hours per month in document review, and it has dramatically reduced the error rate in classifying documents.
The more automated and efficient we are, the lower operational costs we have, which in turn has meant we offer more attractive prices for shippers and better margins for carriers.
Felipe Capella is Co-Founder of Loadsmart
Erica E. Phillips, supply chain reporter for WSJ Logistics Report, writes that the hiring binge for logistics and freight companies may only be just beginning. The sector added 18,700 jobs last month, giving transport and logistics operations 73,000 new jobs since the start of the year. Companies are scrambling to keep up with surging shipping demand in what they say is the hottest transportation jobs market in several years.
While positive news, the peak shipping season is not here yet. How can we support manufacturers and retailers, and ensure they can fulfil their supply chain?
The digital supply chain is being hailed as the way forward, yet this comes with its own set of challenges. Virginia Howard, research director, Supply Chain Research Group, Gartner, correctly notes that digital technologies are enabling and promoting changes that have a larger impact, greater unpredictability and increased frequency. And that now, more than ever, high-tech supply chains require digital skills and methods to deliver customer-driven solutions in an on-demand fashion.
If everyone is going to be confronted by disruption in the marketplace, how can manufacturers and retailers choose technologies that will bring real ROI?
On Thursday, June 7 at 11:45 am, Erik Malin, Loadsmart head of operations, will join fellow panel members from BCG Logistics Group, DHL Supply Chain, Kenco Innovation Labs at the 3PL & Supply Chain Summit: Atlanta.
During the logistics technology stream, Erik will discuss how data and technology has empowered manufacturers and retailers alike – and how it is very different from mere automation.
In summary:
Email us if you want to meet the Loadsmart team at the summit or if you want to learn more.
Today, Erik Malin was appointed as our new head of operations. The appointment follows a year of sustained, rapid growth during which thousands of loads for companies like Anheuser-Busch, Safeway and Albertsons were moved over our platform and shippers such as Daimler Trucks North America connected to our API to digitize their spot freight execution.
In his role, Erik will be responsible for running, growing and scaling our operations. He will report into Ricardo Salgado, CEO, who will now mainly focus on company strategy and leadership as the companies continues to experience hyper growth.
“Erik’s industry and technology knowledge combined with his experience in managing and scaling high-growth teams, make him a real asset to team,” said Ricardo Salgado, CEO, Loadsmart. “Empowering people with data and technology is very different from mere automation. Erik recognizes how the use of both can streamline and expedite the traditional brokerage model and have a positive impact on the logistics industry.”
Erik hails from truckload broker AFN where he was responsible for strategy. Prior to that, he ran a boutique strategy consultancy where he advised publicly-traded and hyper-growth private logistics companies on growth opportunities and related change management initiatives.
“Loadsmart has done an excellent job of assembling a team of highly-talented, curious and driven individuals,” said Erik Malin, head of operations, Loadsmart. “New entrants often turn to technology only and disregard important industry intricacies. It’s rare to find a logistics technology company that encapsulates both aspects with the aim to build a better platform for shippers and carriers.”
Loadsmart was the first to introduce a truckload instant pricing/booking algorithm in the US in 2015, followed by the launch of our One-Click load-acceptance app for carriers later that same year. In 2016, we were the first to introduce an instant pricing API for TMS integrations.
Interested in a career at Loadsmart? We’re hiring.
Technology is transforming the automotive and logistics industries. But for many supply chain managers the biggest headaches are still the most familiar ones, such as driver and transport capacity shortages, lost containers, poor forecasting and incomplete visibility. Just this morning, The Wall Street Journal featured how Deere & Co. is raising equipment prices to make up for rising freight transport costs. The equipment maker is a host of U.S. manufacturers reporting rising expenses as a growing U.S. economy drives up prices for materials and shipping.
Loadsmart was the first to launch truckload instant pricing/booking in the US (2015); first to launch One-Click load acceptance app for carriers (2015); first to launch instant pricing API for TMS integrations (2016) and experienced the first fully automated quote-book-source flow in the truckload spot market (2016).
We are now providing a pre-spot solution by fully automating quoting and booking of truckload shipments. By doing this, we make it possible for companies to automatically book a truck before the shipment turns into a spot load, accepting 100% of those tenders and guaranteeing capacity. This helps shippers avoid the same-day/next-day markets, which are known for steep prices and service failures. Here is how it works.
1 – Semi-Automated Pre-Spot
We integrate with the Shipper’s transportation management system (TMS) via API to access data about all shipments that need to be moved. Loadsmart runs each shipment through our machine learning pricing algorithm and returns a live, bookable rate directly to the Shipper’s TMS.
This allows the shipper to compare the prices from other carriers and brokers, which are logged in their static rate tree, with Loadsmart’s bookable rate. Because it is given real-time, the rate is always live and can be booked with one click. No emails; no phone calls.
That means that when the primary carrier fails, the load planner can execute the shipment right away. Not only does this provide price protection at above-standard service levels, it also creates internal efficiencies for the shipper by saving time for the planners. It goes without saying that this also allows Loadsmart to operate much more efficiently, generating further savings that can be passed along to the customer.
2- Fully Automated Pre-Spot
In a fully-automated flow, instead of the shipper’s load planner manually comparing our pre-spot dynamic prices with static rates from their routing guide, this is done automatically on a server.
There are two steps to the automated process of price discovery and comparison. First, an algorithm evaluates the acceptance rates of carriers and brokers whose static rates are in the route guide. If they have rarely or never agreed to move the load at their routing guide (or annual bid) rate, then the algorithm skips them to save time.
Second, the algorithm requests a real-time rate from the Loadsmart pricing API. It then moves down the routing guide from least expensive to most expensive rate, contacting only carriers who the shipper has reason to believe will respond. It keeps doing this until the next lowest rate is Loadsmart’s instantly bookable rate. At that point, the algorithm automatically tenders the load to Loadsmart via API.
This allows for a full automation experience that in practice reduces the time to identify and secure truckload capacity by as much as several days, increasing on-time delivery and decreasing cost of hire. Further efficiencies accrue to the shipper as either very limited or indeed no manual work is necessary, decreasing errors and human capital costs while optimizing decisions.
We have implemented both semi- and fully-automated pricing and booking with Fortune 500 companies across the US. Pre-Spot Automation has dramatically accelerated the quoting and booking process (check Daimler’s case), slashing the time required to secure capacity, reducing rates by adding liquidity and reducing dependency on same-day spot markets, and minimizing the risk of human error.
Want to integrate with our system? Let us know.
Felipe Capella, Co-founder
Hunter Yaw, Senior Product Manager
As we’re approaching the Retail Supply Chain Summit: New York and I’m preparing for my panel conversation with supply chain managers from large retailers/manufacturers, a recent Deloitte study – Embracing a Digital Future – caught my eye.
According to the study, 79 percent of companies with high-performing supply chains achieve above average revenue growth. Yet, very few companies include supply chain managers in their boardrooms. Businesses that have applied big data analytics to their supply chain functions have seen a reduction in costs, improved risk management, shorter cycle times, more accurate forecasting, and an overall improvement when it comes to making informed decisions.
Loadsmart was the gold sponsor of Python South conference in Florianopolis, Brazil. Promoting Python as a programming language, the conference brings together the various communities in South Brazil.
As the region rapidly expands its reputation as a technology hub with a strong local Python community, our team joined in and shared its knowledge.
Klaus Laube, Loadsmart software engineer, presented Loadsmart’s case in the lecture API First Design, explaining how Loadsmart leverages APIs to distribute its pricing for truckload shipping in the US. His take-away: while an API First Design is a popular approach that provides best practices across industries and companies that prioritize a better developer experience, it’s also of strategic importance to the business.
Recently, our co-founder and head of product, Felipe Capella spoke with Kevin Horek, host of Building the Future, who interviews founders at startups, entrepreneurs, investors and others helping to make the world a better place. During their conversation, Felipe discusses the evolution of Loadsmart, how an awesome team is revolutionizing the logistics industry as well as life leading up to Loadsmart. To listen to the podcast, click here.
Loadsmart has teamed up with Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) to improve its carrier customers experience by digitizing and redesigning the distribution, notification and acceptance of targeted loads. This includes an entire new experience for DTNA carrier customers to get notified and accept loads online, via Loadsmart’s web and mobile applications. The partnership also involves Loadsmart managing Daimler’s loads in the spot market as a freight broker.
Rising costs, increased time pressure, the best possible utilization of capacity, and compliance with the law remain of concern to motor carriers. To help DTNA’s customers succeed commercially, the partnership enables carriers to permanently reduce operating costs as Loadsmart technology sends the most relevant business to each carrier based on advanced matching algorithms. A new, reimagined and redesigned user experience for Daimler partner carriers facilitates the interaction with the system and load-acceptance flow, with a one-click load-acceptance experience.
Loadsmart is also managing a substantial part of Daimler’s spot shipment needs. By leveraging Loadsmart’s instant pricing/booking capabilities, Daimler itself has improved its productivity, efficiency and security across the spot load value chain from start to finish.
The Loadsmart platform leverages data and machine learning technology to provide shippers an instant pricing/ instant booking experience in which truckload shipments can be booked in a few seconds. It also analyzes thousands of data points to identify which carriers are best positioned to move each load, allowing them to accept targeted loads with one-click.
“To manufacture trucks, we need carriers to deliver components and parts to our plants,” said Lori Heino-Royer, director of business innovation at Daimler Trucks North America. “Offering a customized app to our contracted carriers gives them first access to our spot business and improves critical points in our supply chain.”
In addition, Felipe Capella, Co-founder, Loadsmart, explained, “Carriers and shippers are equally vital to our success. This partnership enables Daimler to support is customers post-truck sale by providing targeted business in a digitalized, easy-to-use platform. And as a shipper itself, Daimler takes advantage of our instant pricing/booking capabilities to move spot loads with ease and efficiency.”
DTNA reports that the beta test of the Loadsmart app resulted in dramatic improvements in the time to execute a spot shipment – going from five hours to just 18 minutes on average – and in load acceptance rates which increased over 50 percent. In addition, the beta period demonstrated that carriers received payments in two days instead of 30 days.
Loadsmart CEO Ricardo Salgado summarized the project results, “We saw Daimler Trucks North America’s participating fleet customers increased their average number of spot loads moved by more than 50 percent and improved their average time to accept, process and deliver a spot shipment by over 90 percent. Partnering with the largest truck OEM is core to Loadsmart’s vision on building the future of logistics by interconnecting all players in a powerful platform.”
The DTNA pilot program began in October 2017 and is currently available to the company’s select customers in the United States with plans for the company to expand it to Canada and Mexico later this year.
Access full DTNA’s Press Release here.
New York, NY, January 16, 2018 – Loadsmart, the logistics technology company specializing in full-truckload shipping, today announced that Joao Bosco is joining the company as chief technology officer. Bosco’s primary focus will be to further the platform’s AI capability.
Loadsmart relies on machine learning processes to enable shippers to instantly book a truck nationwide, and complex algorithms to, after shipper booking, identify the best truck positioned to move each load. As more data becomes available and volume increases, deep neural networks will positively impact the success of the right pricing and sourcing computational processes. They will also enhance Loadsmart’s internal computer generated tasks without the need for task-specific programming. Identifying potential issues before they actually happen, or are known, will be of great value in the logistics industry.
“The opportunity is enormous,” said Joao Bosco, chief technology officer, Loadsmart. “The size of the transportation and logistics industry, and fragmentation on both sides – shippers and carriers – create a huge potential for disruption with neural networks and other machine learning technologies. I am proud of joining the dream team.”
Felipe Capella, co-founder and chief product officer, Loadsmart, said, “Bosco is one of a kind. He is a successful entrepreneur, having built his company from scratch to a successful exit, and a talented manager, growing a tech team with the right culture. His many years of experience in big data and predictive AI attest to his tech capability. While his know-how will help Loadsmart improve its software development processes, he will also contribute significantly to our artificial intelligence and predictive models such as our Instant Pricing and Automated Sourcing features.”
Prior to Loadsmart, Bosco co-founded Chaordic Systems, a company focused on big data and predictive analytics counting some of Latin America’s biggest e-commerce companies as its customers. Acting as the company’s CTO, he grew the company’s tech team from zero to more than 100 developers and data scientists, earning Chaordic Systems the Best Place to Work award several times. He eventually sold the company to Linx, a public software management company out of Sao Paulo.
Bosco has a bachelor and Masters in Computer Science. He was featured in several articles, including the cover of the leading Brazilian business magazine Revista Exame.
Following on from an amazing 2017, Felipe Capella, Chief Product Officer and Loadsmart’s Co-founder, mentions the top 4 technology trends that will be the kings of 2018 in the brokerage of truckload shipping:
Do you agree? What trends do you see for 2018?
