Mode Global, Transporeon Automate Spot Freight Procurement
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PHOENIX — Third-party logistics provider Mode Global has been collaborating with transportation management software platform Transporeon to automate spot and dedicated freight procurement, the companies said in a joint announcement.
Together, the businesses have deployed Transporeon’s Autonomous Procurement product within the Mode Global Marketplace to automatically secure spot capacity, resulting in improved efficiency and reduced transportation costs.
Transporeon, a business unit of Trimble Transportation, uses artificial intelligence and data science to calculate dynamic spot freight offers for the carriers invited to participate in this digital marketplace.
With this automated buying capability, the system determines which approved carriers to make offers to at what price, and how to respond to counter bids. The carriers in this freight network can instantly accept loads with immediately bookable rates attached to them.
This automated procurement process is measured in minutes, compared with the hours it can take to cover shipments via manual procedures, the companies said at an April 10 press briefing at the Transportation Intermediaries Association’s 2024 Capital Ideas Conference.
“We’ve been continually building toward this digital transformation,” said Jason Roberts, Mode Global’s senior vice president of digital enablement. “We wanted to automate what we could and enhance operational efficiencies.”
For the select carriers utilizing this digital marketplace, the experience is akin to a “self-service portal” for freight, Roberts said, adding that this streamlined access to freight opportunities is especially valuable for carriers in today’s challenging freight market.
Mode, meanwhile, has realized both cost and time savings since first deploying this automated process in 2021, he said.
Currently, about 4,000 “touchless” loads are flowing through the system per month, Roberts said, but Mode intends to continue expanding its automated freight operations in the future.
Day Two Recap of #TIA2024Con pic.twitter.com/P7fk2ac3vj — TIA - Transportation Intermediaries Association (@tianetdotorg) April 12, 2024
“There will certainly be a larger commercial strategy that goes out as we start to do more than soft-open this up to our carrier network,” he added.
Rather than eliminating freight broker jobs, the automation enables staff to focus more of their time on high-value activities such as exception management and building relationships with carriers and customers.
“We want to free our people up to do those things,” Roberts said.
Mode Global, based in Dallas, ranks No. 32 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America. The company’s brands include Avenger Logistics, Mode Transportation and SunteckTTS.
Transporeon, headquartered in Ulm, Germany, operates 18 offices globally with more than 1,400 employees in 27 countries. Trimble acquired Transporeon for 1.88 billion euros in April 2023.
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