Industry: freight/logistics

[abrichr]

How can we enable the freight industry to automate repetitive tasks?

This involves:

1. Identifying specific use cases relevant to the power generation/transmission/distribution industry (i.e. job positions, associated tasks, and relevant software applications)
2. Creating recordings involving one or more relevant applications, and implementing tests for corresponding completions:

• Magnus Technologies
• others?

Relevant links:

https://www.freightquote.com/how-to-ship-freight/bill-of-lading/

Most obvious is order entry. Tens of thousands of people each day enter hundreds of thousands of bills of lading (eg. https://www.freightquote.com/how-to-ship-freight/bill-of-lading/ ) manually into their TMS system (eg. http://magnustech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ordering-Process.png)

There's similar manual work entering carrier quote and invoice documents into their TMS.

[gawnecoding]

There are a few hundred thousand trucking companies with <10 trucks. There is a very long tail of software providers in this space, but the most important piece of software is the (Transportation Management System). The most common is a spreadsheet, but here are some of the top vendors:

• Trucking TMS (https://softwareconnect.com/transportation-management/)
• Brokerage TMS (https://softwareconnect.com/freight-broker/)

Although technology is dramatically improving, small carrier and brokers still can't afford to properly integrate with many of their partners. They have neither the technical expertise in house, nor the financial means to build all of these integrations. As a result they're reliant on their software vendors' roadmap to slowly build out integrations and offer them at a low enough cost.

There are a number of documents that a trucking company needs to consume from shippers/brokers in the lifecycle of an order:

• Rate Confirmation Sheets (see https://images.app.goo.gl/XtZ8VSFfnG7tzQ437): This document is provided by the broker once the carrier agrees to transport a shipment. It includes details such as the agreed rate, pickup and delivery locations, and dates. This information is crucial for the carrier to schedule and track the load in their TMS.
• Bill Of Lading (see https://www.freightquote.com/how-to-ship-freight/bill-of-lading/): While the original is typically generated by the shipper, a copy is given to the carrier at the time of pickup. The BOL serves as a contract between the shipper and carrier and includes crucial details about the shipment like the type of goods, quantity, destination, etc. Information from the BOL is entered into the TMS to track the shipment.
• Load Manifests (see https://images.app.goo.gl/TFM4sLTj3Rq4ofs39): This document details the specifics of the cargo to be transported. It may include information like the weight and nature of the cargo. This information would be useful in the TMS for tracking and planning purposes.
• Freight Bills/Invoices (see https://images.app.goo.gl/DAf5ChtMgsqtVfW8A): After the shipment is delivered, the carrier might receive an invoice from the broker for record-keeping purposes. This would typically need to be entered into the TMS for financial record-keeping and billing purposes.
• Proof Of Delivery (generally same as BOL but signed): After the cargo is delivered, the receiver usually signs a POD. This document is crucial as it confirms the successful completion of a delivery. Information from the POD might be entered into the TMS to confirm the completion of the shipment.

These documents are received in physical form or via email attachment and need to get into the carriers' TMS (and other software). Note that in many cases the shipper/broker will have their own web portal that trucking companies must visit to download these documents or provide track & trace updates on the status of the order.

In lieu of vendors building this capability, it would be helpful for a trucking company if they didn't have to rely on their vendors, they could simply 'teach' OpenAdapt to extract data from document images and enter it into their TMS via the UI. Similarly when working with shipper/broker portals they could love to 'teach' OpenAdapt to copy+paste track and trace information back and forth between systems.

In a world of data silos we should be able to empower the non-technical trucking company to solve their own problems without throwing more labor at the problem.