Transforming logistics operations:

For shippers and carriers, resources are finite. Employee bottlenecks, delays in the yard, external influences on route planning and a lack of transparency often force everyone along the supply chain to replan at short notice. But a cloud-based, neutral transport management platform could provide a solution for this volatility.

Around the world, pressure on supply chains remains high. Geopolitical conflicts, environmental disasters, strikes, staff shortages, traffic jams on the roads and at the ramps regularly push businesses to reorient their daily plans and operations with little notice. Uncertainty is now part of the norm, and acting in a state of emergency is now the order of the day.  However, when supply chain disruptions occur, it may be necessary to analyze data across various modes of transportation and in different time zones, which adds extra work and costs and wastes precious time.

The key to solving supply chain disruption lies in digitalization, offering real-time visibility of all shipments across every mode of transportation. But isolated solutions still dominate in today's modern supply chain, meaning that in a fragmented system, achieving end-to-end transparency or driving efficiency gains remains out of reach.

The more systems in the network have to work with each other, the more difficult it is to exchange information between participants. Large heterogeneous networks therefore require standards that can be recognized, interpreted and processed by different systems - a real challenge, because freight transport is an untamed jungle of data. Take telematics systems, for example: there are dozens of providers of such solutions. Each tool produces a large amount of data sets. And when different shippers or carriers work with one another, systems for analyzing different data sources must be integrated.

A resilient, scalable and forward-thinking solution lies in a cloud-based transportation management platform. A smart unified platform can bridge shippers, carriers, forwarders and retailers, allowing them to connect across many channels. It analyzes incoming data from various sources, converts it to a unified standard, and creates a shared pool of data in a standardized format.

By incorporating interoperability, data analysis, and AI and machine learning (ML) into their solutions, companies can make the most efficient use of their resources, all while staying mindful of sustainability. Real-time insights help spot inefficiencies, so companies can reduce empty miles, train employees in eco-friendly driving and combine transportation resources in smarter ways to cut down on emissions. The magic happens when this is done collectively and carriers can find loads for return trips within the transport management platform, reducing those empty trips. 

AI and ML can also play an important role in procurement and offer creation. While a lot of time was previously spent on manual research and creating offers, the offer process in the spot area can now be automated.

The Transporeon Autonomous Quotation tool, for example, enables transportation and logistics service providers to prioritize inbound transportation requests and serve customers with accurate spot truck transportation pricing based on forecast market prices. The offers are created based on the users' individual offer strategies: criteria such as margin requirements, transport type or equipment, distance, destination, as well as pickup and delivery windows, can all be defined. The module is based on a trained forecasting model and supported by data science and ML  algorithms. These incorporate the offer results obtained and thus become.

From freight purchasing and transport processing to dock and yard management as well as payment and audit processes, sophisticated, data-driven solutions and tools are ready to tackle a wide range of logistics challenges. Data hubs on neutral platforms like Transporeon provide valuable insights into logistics processes, market developments and CO2 emissions, while visibility tools ensure transparency in supply chains.