Shipwell, an industry leader in cloud-based shipping and logistics, announced the release of a load optimization feature built directly into the company’s transportation management system (TMS). This feature helps customers significantly reduce the time it takes to plan and route shipments, the costs associated with moving them and the carbon emissions produced by the carriers hauling them.Combining orders into shipments is often a manual process done by an individual or team within the logistics department, who utilize third-party software or spreadsheets outside of their TMS.
“Shippers finding ways to optimally consolidate orders into shipments and route those shipments with the fewest number of trucks required is critical, With the ever-increasing capacity constraints since the start of COVID-19, exacerbated by crunches such as produce season, load optimization is one of the biggest areas of need. Even with rates for truckload dry van and reefer dropping from historic highs, packing multiple customer orders into the most ideal mode allows a greater quantity to be dispatched at once, greatly reducing both the costs for the shipper and the number of miles those shipments need to travel before reaching their destination.”
-Shipwell co-founder and CEO Greg Price
How load optimization works to help shippers
Shipwell’s load optimization feature leverages a proprietary algorithm to assess each individual order’s details, including size, weight, locations, pickup and delivery times. In a matter of seconds, the orders are consolidated into the most cost-efficient routes and modes. By utilizing Shipwell’s integrated pricing intelligence tool, the feature forecasts individual load rates and compares them to optimized routes to provide a clear picture of the potential savings.
The feature eliminates customers’ need to manually import and export data from third-party planning tools while providing shippers with the ability to customize load plans. Whenever an order is manually added or removed from a shipment plan, the algorithm automatically recalculates the cost and most efficient route for the shipment. The tool helps planners save time and money.
We used to spend four to five hours per week manually planning our shipments and looking for multi-stop truckload opportunities that would lower our shipping costs, said Debbie Lombardo, shipping manager at Tarrier Foods, a Columbus-based supplier of candy and nuts. “Shipwell’s load optimization feature has changed how we operate, and has helped us uncover routes we wouldn’t have considered, or realized were an option.
Beta customers who partnered with Shipwell in developing the load optimization tool have realized savings ranging from 20% to 40% through consolidating their orders into full truckload or less-than-truckload shipments, and routing the trucks in the most efficient routes possible — all while ensuring delivery windows are met.
Load optimization makes it easy for me to find consolidation opportunities that save us money and minimize our shipping costs,” said Angela Steele, head of inventory and planning at Crowd Cow, a Seattle-based supplier of sustainably sourced meat and seafood. I had never scheduled freight before, and Shipwell made the process so easy to learn and stay on top of all the moving pieces. After only a month of running freight, I now feel confident in my ability to work with carriers and know that I am getting the best rates.
Efficient routing using the tool also ensures the shippers may reduce the carbon footprint of their shipments. One beta customer was able to reduce more than 10,000 pounds of carbon emissions by slashing the distance driven by more than 2,700 miles for just one shipment batch.
To learn more about the ways that Shipwell enables shippers to efficiently plan and route shipments, request a demo today.
About Shipwell
In a world where shipping expectations and complexity are greater than ever, Shipwell is on a mission to empower supply chain efficiency at scale across every company size, stage, and industry. Supply chain solutions today are highly disconnected, rigid, and difficult to use, but Shipwell is disrupting the status quo. Our solution combines everything our customers need in a comprehensive platform that adapts as the market and business demands change, so they can effectively manage the entire process in one place and never have to rip and replace. Shipwell is proud to be recognized by industry experts as a leader in shipping and logistics, including Gartner Magic Quadrant for TMS, Forbes 2020 Next Billion-Dollar Startup, and was named fourth fastest-growing company in North America on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. To learn more, visit www.shipwell.com.