ATA Council to Hold First Technology Meeting

The American Trucking Associations' Information Technology & Logistics Council is expected to draw about 300 participants to its first meeting to discuss advances and other technological trends affecting trucking.

The conference, running from June 5 to 9 in Tucson, Ariz., will focus on technologies available to trucking companies. It will also address issues of concern to third-party logistics providers.

Among areas covered in technical sessions are: factors in implementing logistics software; the use of the Internet for freight services; expanding electronic data interchange capabilities; and streamlining administrative workflow with technology.

The meeting is intended to educate motor carriers about technologies their competitors are using and it represents a networking opportunity for the more than 50 vendors expected to be in attendance, said Richard Curtis, the council's executive director.

The purpose of the meeting, and the council in general, is to "make sure that the entire industry, regardless of the size of the operation, is aware of technologies to enhance business processes and make money," he said.

Still, Curtis acknowledged that larger companies are better positioned to profit from information technologies because they can afford to invest in electronic data interchange, an internal system by which carriers track invoices, shipping orders and freight status, among other things.

"Using EDI, carriers can execute 2,000 transactions with 500 customers in a 24-hour period," Curtis said.

The Internet is a more practical means of communicating for smaller firms, but, at this point, it represents little more than an additional telephone line in improving the efficiency of logistics, he said. "A lot of the basis for standardization inherent in EDI does not exist in the Internet," Curtis said. "The Internet is a great information source, but not too many people have turned it into gold yet."

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