Tag: technology

Loadsmart Crowned as Technology Innovator as part of Inaugural Freight.Tech25 Awards

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Loadsmart was recently named to the inaugural FreightWaves Freight.Tech25 awards at MarketWaves18. The award recognizes the most innovative and disruptive companies in freight. The original list of 100 companies was paired down to 25 after being evaluated and ranked on a 1-25 point basis. The panel of judges  – 60 in total – included industry executives, academics and investors.

Felipe Capella, co-founder and chief product officer of Loadsmart, said: “This accolade is a further testament to Loadsmart leading the way in technology for this industry.” Between the award nominations, analyst recognitions, and our most recent funding announcement, it’s fair to say that it’s been an exciting time here at Loadsmart.

Freight.Tech25

freight25

This isn’t the first time Loadsmart has been recognized for innovation in the supply chain industry either. Loadsmart was recognized by CB Insights for supply chain disruption, and by Gartner as a Gartner Cool Vendor.

2018 has been a big year for us, and we’re excited to see what 2019 will bring for us.

TMW upgrades with Dynamic Route Mapping Technology

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Yesterday LoadSmart wrote an article on How to use Technology to Prevent Delays in Holiday Deliveries and this is the technology we were talking about. TMW systems are being upgraded and trucking companies using the TMW software will now be able to use real time mapping software to plan their trucking routes more efficiently. The updated software technology actually comes from ALK technologies which, like TMW, is owned by geo-service giant Trimble.

Benefits of Using Upgraded TMW Technology

Up-to-date rerouting options based on other variable.

Interactive Street-level maps with satellite.

Real-time traffic and speed data.

Hazardous materials routing.

Post-trip analysis.

Data on rerouting percentages.

Review Driver Performance.

For more go to It Jungle>>

How to use Technology to Prevent Delays in Holiday Deliveries

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Last year the boost in demand for holiday shipments was unprecedented. Cyber Monday saw a 20.6% jump in online retail sales and the last weekend before Christmas saw a 37% increase in online sales (compared to the year before). Amazingly, online sales are expected to rise even more this year. FedEx expects an 8.8% increase in holiday shipping and UPS expects an 11% increase. Last year with bad weather and unexpected demand, shippers were unprepared to meet the expected dates of many deliveries leaving many consumers disappointed. Will shippers be prepared this year?

Only time will tell, but technology expected to be used more frequently, and frankly should have been used last year, is real time operation optimization technology. This technology helps companies manage fleets properly in real time. With up to date changes that take in to consideration all variables from bad weather to equipment failures, while also lowering fuel costs and providing excellent customer service. Real Time Operation Optimization shows you how realistic your current goals are and how to maximize your resources to reach your end goal.

For more go to Inbound Logistics>

 

No privacy, DOT preparing for all the data coming in loads

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Lets face it, our lives are very public. All of our lives are collected for data, from what we look for online, our conversations and our location. In the past, location was less of a factor in data but now with means of travel becoming more and more technological (connections with GPS, chevy adding Wi-fi to cars, E-Z pass, and e-logging) connections are bringing in a ridiculous amount of data, and with technology growing exponentially, the growth is insurmountable to past data collection and we are not prepare for it. Quality is more important then quantity and finding the useful data will become harder. To start preparing for it the department of transportation has hired its first chief data officer Dan Morgan who in just three months has already started measuring data quality and building a web data service to access the data easily. The department of transportation, in collaborating with Dan Morgan, is working on giving data collectors (mainly states) the correct tools to gather data in this grand information age. However making people try something new has been a challenge. The next discussion according to the chief data officer is asking the tough questions: What to exchange, how to store it and what does it mean? As well as how to retain that content over long periods of time. FedScoop>>

Need Truckers? How to Optimize the Hiring Process

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American Trucking Association (ATA) statistics have shown that the driver retention rate for the first quarter was 92% for large truckload fleets and 78% for smaller carriers. Finding the right truckers for your fleets can be time consuming and has to be done constantly with those retention rates. Finding the right technological software and data can optimize how quick and who you find to be prospective employees. Using automated recruitment tools can bring in the most qualified drivers with 30-40% less processing time.

Which Workflow Management Tools and Analytics to use

HireRight-

automates trucker recruitment process, has great background screens.

TenStreet-

automates trucker recruitment process, collects application data and has a digitized signature feature.

SHIPS recruitment workflow-

automates trucker recruitment process, this software helps create & streamline the correct recruitment process for specific carrier.

Maverick’s pre-employment driver qualification tool-

automates trucker recruitment process, helpful for just that, qualification assessment. An extra plus, it is also helpful post-hire with education training programs.

McLead Software’s HirePower-

automates trucker recruitment process- clear steps.

TMW- synergize driver recruitment-

automates trucker recruitment process, online application forms stored with all other required document in a secure data warehouse that can be accessed by fleets.

Collecting Data and the importance of behavioral assessments

Trucking companies using these automated recruitment systems also allow the companies to collect data for future recruitments to see what type of truckers last and are safe. Finding better ways to access the right truckers with data is crucial and its been found that it is more crucial to collect data on current truckers and those that have quit.

We have a lot of assessments being done in the recruitment process of technical skills but how a trucker performs in accordance with safety and retention rates is really only 20% technical and 80% behavioral. Behavioral assessment are extremely undervalued and can most likely help  your retention rate. A company that works on behavioral assessment is JobBehavior

JoBehavior-

recommends fleets do a behavior assessment at beginning of recruitment (12 minute long survey). The candidate is then scored from 1 to 5 stars.

For more information go to Trucking Info>>

New mode of transportation, Flying Cars? We are closer than you think.

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At the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, the Slovakian company Aeromobil presented their third prototype of what they call “The Most Advanced Flying Car.” Yes, the most advanced meaning that there is more than just one company working on the flying car, some include Terrafugia (based in the US), E-Volo from Germany, and even the EU has a project called MyCopter. This transportation technology is not only advancing its pretty much here. Fun fact, Aeromobil’s flying car only needs 200 meters to take off and 50 to land, no need for airports or long landing strips. The worry, however, are the consequences of over-utilizing this mode of transportation? There are bound to be problems if and when this becomes a popular mode of transportation. However LoadSmart doesn’t believe that the flying car will become too popular too quickly, with a price tag of over a quarter million dollars not many can afford those steep prices. There are still some that can and would invest in this, be prepared to see some flying cars in the near future?

What are your thoughts about the flying car? Also for more information go to Forbes>>

Check out the Aeromobil video>>

With New Technologies in Trucking How Will We Backup our Data?

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With more and more data being collected and digital connections being formed in the trucking industry, we continue to rely on technology in this industry. Therefore, the question LoadSmart and fleet owners are asking is, how to back up our technology in case of technological gliches or failures? Here are the interesting facts on how the IT guys Sungard Availability Service look at it.

-Different trucking technologies need different backup and protection plans. Some technologies like payroll can be down for two days and its fine but if an entire plant is has a delivery failure because of glitch that needs to have “data replication” because certain trucking technologies can’t be down for even hours.

-The two “key metrics” are knowing 1.what the technology does and 2. how often it is used to determine how to back up it’s data. For more information go to Fleet Owner>>

The future of Distribution Centers w/ Robotization

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According to EFT in about ten years, nine out of ten distribution centers will be obsolete. Although SmartLoad does believe in a lot of the technological advances we do not think distribution centers will become irrelevant. Lets discuss the technological advances and the results that EFT believes might cause the dismissal of distribution centers.

Technological advances

Increase demand in e-commerce will change the logistics handling and will require technological and management change for distribution centers. Fun fact in the next ten year the packaging density will increase five to ten.

The technological advances that will disrupt the future of logistics are auto-pilot trucks of the future, TEN-T, and robots in warehouses.

Predictions for distribution centers in the Future

To us, all of these things seem to promote more distribution centers however EFT’s hypothesis is that distribution center’s will be put at strategic points, that they will be larger and that in ten years it will be managed by robots. In the end neither EFT or SmartLoad knows what will come in the future. What do you guys think will come of distribution centers in the future? It is clear that technological will demand better structure of logistics but will there be more distribution centers or will we just start merging? EFT>>

Tesla’s New Car available at end of year has auto-pilot mode

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Okay, so I know SmartLoad’s LoadBook is more focused on trucking and commercial transportation but lets face it, we are all car fans too. This new Tesla is looking beautiful and although I can’t afford it, it’s cool to know the consumer industry is moving into the future which will inevitably leads to advancements in the commercial automotive industry as well.

More about Tesla’s new Car

-Speed- This completely electric car can hit 60mph in 3.2 seconds.
-Autopilot Mode- use radar to keep you in lane, avoid hitting dog, pedestrians etc.
-Autopilot Mode 2- Park and get your car out of parking spots and drive ways without even having you in it.
-Cost- Base model $71,000 High End $121,000

Trucks of the Future. Not completely trucker-free. Safety ?’s

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The New York Times “Wheelies: The Future Truck Edition” gives us the list of all the automotive industries future plans. The Mercedes “Future Truck” would not be trucker free. The trucker would definitely be less hands-on but the trucker would still have to start the truck and merge it on the highway, then the truck would drive itself on the highway.

LoadSmart’s question which was quickly addressed and then dismissed was, if the self-driving trucks like the one Mercedes plans to develop by 2025 are safer or will they actually permit more leniency for truckers to be distracted? What do you guys think about the “self driving” trucks of the future? For other trucks of the future go to New York Times>> 

Attention Shippers and Logistic Service Provider’s, CargoSmart has new planning tools

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CargoSmart is helping improve schedule reliability and growing schedule disruption data for shippers and Logistic Service Providers with multiple tools including their mobile app. They have improved their product, shippers and logistic service providers will now be able to have up-to-date access to the sailing schedule and any changes to said schedule with their mobile app. CargoSmart is improving shipment planning with these three updates.

CargoSmart’s 3 new improvements for Shippers

1. Private Label Sailing Schedule- Forwarders can edit schedule w/ additional info.   2. Schedule Delay Alert- Alerts shippers and Logistics of any changes or delays.       3. SSM+ Mobile App- all access to sailing schedule search for all ports.

For more info go to Street Insider>>