Visibility has been a main priority of supply chains for a long time now.
When we first started integrating our APIs with carriers, 3PLs, TMS providers, shippers, and more, one of our main focuses became improving the tracking data of Less than Truckload shipments. In fact, one of the industry pain points that inspired project44 was the latency in tracking data across all modes. LTL tracking presented a particular challenge, thanks to the way tracking numbers are generated and added to different systems.
The further we’ve developed these solutions, the more we’ve been able to fine tune the way LTL tracking is done. One of the first things we noticed was that PRO#s can be an issue, as they don’t always match BOL numbers. Also, when a shipment is picked up, the driver usually has to return to the facility in order for us to receive the PRO#. That’s a little late in the process for accurate, up to date tracking.
Tracking Progress
Now that we’ve integrated carriers with our tracking methods, we’re able to track shipments with far more accuracy. We have a lot more data to leverage from our side, which in turn means that we can provide our supply chain partners with much better data. We’ve been able to reduce update time from three hours to 15 minutes. UTS in particular saw a market improvement, now getting out-for-delivery notifications on around 80% of their shipments.
With our solutions, we are able to start tracking a shipment as soon it is picked up. Our technology fully automates the retrieval of PRO#s so the customer starts receiving tracking updates in real-time as they are available from carrier. The time from dispatch to tracking has been drastically reduced, resulting in a much more efficient tracking process, with more information when you need it.
The process behind all of this leads to scaling our infrastructure to be able to check data faster, and provide higher quality end-to-end visibility data. This holds true for other LTL APIs as well, like Retail APIs, eCommerce APIs, and Manufacturing APIs.