FourKites Adds ‘Predictive’ Load Matching Service
FourKites, a load tracking firm, is tapping a former UberFreight executive to head up a new service offering predictive capacity management to shippers and carriers.
“This is the next big opportunity in supply chain and logistics,” said Matt Elenjickal, founder and CEO of FourKites, in announcing the hiring of Kristopher Glotzbach as vice president and leader of a new business unit to help minimize empty miles by matching shipments with available capacity. It uses data from GPS and electronic logging devices and artificial intelligence.
Elenjickal said traditional freight matching technologies and load boards rely on data that is uploaded by carriers and shippers and may not capture the most current conditions in the market.
In our fifth episode of RoadSigns, we ask: How far can we go in terms of automating freight transactions? Hear a snippet above from Ziad Ismail, chief product officer at digital freight matching firm Convoy, and get the full program by going to RoadSigns.TTNews.com.
By working with a group of large shippers and drawing from a network of more than 4 million GPS/ELD devices, Elenjickal said he believes the company is in a better position to identify capacity based on real-time conditions, including delays at stops, traffic congestion and weather events, and thereby help to match loads with empty trailers and reduce transportation costs.
Among the companies that are using FourKites’ load tracking technology are AB InBev, Conagra Brands, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Perdue Foods, Unilever and Walmart Canada.
“At a time when trucking capacity is at a record low, the search for carriers that make a good fit on certain lanes is increasingly intense,” Elenjickal explained. “We’re enabling shippers to get products to market more quickly at lower overall operating costs.”
Glotzbach said he wants to “help drive the foundational change and collaboration necessary” to help shippers and carriers cope with rising costs.
“The need for smart analytics and smart execution has never been higher,” he said, “as today’s economics work against the goals of both shippers and carriers.”
Glotzbach served as head of enterprise solutions at UberFreight since December 2016. Prior to that, he spent nearly two decades in management at C.H. Robinson Worldwide.
