on the road, reducing costs and improving sustainability.
Last-mile delivery provider Jitsu has found a sweet spot of providing two to three delivery noti cations to the customer per shipment: letting the customer know it’s on the way and when the truck is nearing the drop-off location. “Customers love the information,” says Raj Ramanan, CEO of Jitsu. “And shippers love it because their support teams don’t have to answer the ‘where’s my order?’ questions.” Dynamic Information Network Delivery status noti cations are only part of the technology revolutionizing last- mile delivery services. Underlying many technological advances is the tectonic shift from a static, batch-processing model to a real- time dynamic network model. Instead of sending and receiving information once or twice a day, information must be available to all supply chain parties at the same time, all at once. In a network environment, companies can see all the data through various internet-connected applications without having to move it from point to point. “The network mimics what happens in the physical world, and because of the growth in the last-mile delivery network, shippers and their customers need information that is real time,” says Guru Rao, CEO of nuVizz. Network-based technology enables a holistic overview rather than a siloed assortment of solutions, such as separate customer relationship management, or order and eet management. “Shippers want one platform where they can see all of their shipping activities and manage any breakdowns in the system,” Tejani says. “It’s not just about technology; it’s more about how businesses are evolving.” Optimizing for Real Optimization is a common buzzword in supply chain and logistics, but it means more than making operations slightly better. Tech is driving real routing and load management optimization, so more work gets done with fewer resources. Over time, it can result in fewer trucks
Third-party logistics provider Hub Group is moving from standard slot- based routing to intelligent software that recognizes the best loading and routing for a truck carrying, say, a kayak and a refrigerator in a geographic area. While fully utilizing the truck for the cargo is important, the types of services required add another layer of complexity. “The delivery provider has to know if they are making a basic threshold delivery or a complex installation,” says Scott Robider, executive vice president for nal mile at Hub Group. “The provider not only tries to factor the various pieces onto a truck but also tries to understand the time required for each of those services.” AI to the Rescue Once a route needs 15-20 stops, it becomes dif cult to manage all the options. Arti cial intelligence (AI) can take into account multiple variables— such as delivery windows at speci c destinations and order cutoff times—to dynamically optimize on the go. Because it’s fast and accurate, AI enables trucks and drivers to react on the
y to address changes, pick-up requests, or anything else that comes up during the route. “The technology helps delivery providers gure out solutions so they don’t have to send another truck and driver. That’s a huge savings day in and day out,” notes Poberschin. While 100% asset utilization is a goal, it is not realistic. Instead, providers can create a plan based on the 80% of demand that’s static and be prepared to handle 20% of the demand that’s dynamic, Rao suggests. Final-mile delivery can take many forms—from a company’s eet to parcel carriers, LTL networks, and gig economy workers. It’s critical for shippers to have the same visibility and transparency regardless of mode. The reality is, it can be dif cult
Third-party logistics providers such as Hub Group o er flexible final-mile delivery solutions tailored to individual customers.
140 Inbound Logistics • July 2024
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