When shipping a range of product sizes and weights, like Riviana does, combining products of varying weights on a truck, rather than filling it with a single product, more efficiently uses the legal weight and space available.
loads starts running low during their shift, the supervisors can generate additional plans. Since implementing Auto02, Riviana has seen about a 3.5% increase in weight per truck. Because freight costs fluctuate, it’s difficult to attribute changes in overall freight expense to the software. However, the increase in weight per truck, “adds up in terms of cost savings,” Dale says. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT The ProvisionAi team has been flexible and open to suggestions that can improve the solution, Phillips says. For instance, ProvisionAi helped Riviana streamline the process of importing Excel files for times when demand might veer from what was expected. This could occur when a special promotion is planned that will drive demand in specific locations, and the Riviana operations planning team needs to manually tell the system where to ship products.
Now, the system will still produce a loading diagram, even though the load has been created manually. “They’re helpful in coming up with solutions for any issues or for improving the system,” Dale says. The ProvisionAi team also has offered suggestions to help Riviana continue to leverage the solution. For instance, the team suggested weighing trucks to understand “weight per load goals.” Because the total legal weight that can be driven on U.S. highways is 80,000 pounds, if a truck weighs 35,000 pounds, as many have, the payload can be 45,000 pounds. WEIGHING THE OPTIONS Over the past several years, trucks have tended to become lighter, as manufacturers try to increase mileage and allow for higher payloads. However, a loader who is used to working with the heavier trucks of the past might assume a truck weighs more than it actually does. “By taking the time to weigh each truck, rather than relying on memory, loaders might learn that some are 32,000 pounds,” Moore says. “This means they can increase payload targets to 48,000 pounds.” Riviana currently has plans to implement Auto02 at its plant in Freeport, Texas, which is the company’s second-largest plant. n
For instance, a requirement might say that Location A needs 200 cases of wild rice. Most of the development used standard SAP functionality, Moore says. Through the connection with Riviana’s supply planning system, Auto02 knows which items are headed to which distribution center. Based on this information, Auto02 can develop truckloads that are both legal and optimized. When Auto02 went live in late 2022, most operators quickly learned how to use the load diagrams, Dale says. The Auto02 solution reduced the learning curve for new loaders by about 80%, Phillips adds. Almost as soon as operators can read load patterns, they’re ready to begin loading; they don’t need to first become experts in the products themselves, as well as which are stackable and which aren’t. Riviana’s supervisors can run the programs to create loads when operators come in each day. If the inventory of
A loader used to working with heavier trucks of the past may assume a truck weighs more than it actually does. By weighing each truck, rather than relying on memory, loaders might learn that some are 32,000 pounds so they can increase payload targets to 48,000 pounds. –Tom Moore Founder & CEO, ProvisionAi
April 2024 • Inbound Logistics 81
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