Leonard’s Express Eyes Planning Boost With Optimal Dynamics
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Leonard’s Express will begin deploying Optimal Dynamics’ load planning and dispatch software starting in August, executives said July 16.
Farmington, N.Y.-based Leonard’s Express ranks No. 85 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America, No. 7 on the refrigerated carriers list and No. 46 on the truckload haulers list.
Leonard’s aim is for Optimal’s artificial decision intelligence software to enhance its load acceptance and balancing along with dispatch decision execution as the carrier seeks to harmonize its asset and brokerage operations, the two companies said.
“Our planners have to assemble 1,000-piece puzzles, but those pieces are upside down and changing shape. Optimal Dynamics’ product will allow us to right-size those pieces,” Leonard’s Express Executive Vice President of Operations Michael McGovern told Transport Topics.
(Leonard's Express)
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“The lean market forces us to operate at our highest level all of the time and this takes out a lot of the guesswork,” McGovern said. “It removes the assumptions. It removes the guesswork. There are so many decisions for planners to make each day. We make thousands of decisions each day.”
Leonard’s Express spent the last 12 months looking to simplify its planning business model so that its staff can focus effort on outliers rather than the run-of-the-mill operations, added Leonard’s Express Vice President of Information Technology Christopher DeMillo. Over the past several months, the company has sought to centralize its business, McGovern added.
While staff may fear that their jobs are being replaced with technology, the focus here is on the execution of crucial items, McGovern said. The company stressed that it was transparent with drivers, explaining how easily mistakes can be made in planning.
McGovern
“There’s certainly a burnout fear with our staff, and there’s so much more work to do than there was five years ago,” he said.
The company is beginning the integration of its data into Optimal Dynamics’ software in July.
Leonard’s Express is the second TT for-hire Top 100 member to bring Optimal Dynamics’ product on board in recent weeks.
In late June, CRST The Transportation Solution’s use of the software became fully operational.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based CRST ranks No. 25 on TT Top 100 for-hire carriers list, No. 9 on the truckload carriers list, No. 12 on the flatbed haulers list and No. 4 on the list of the largest household goods, commercial delivery carriers.
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