National foodservice distributor US Foods Inc. runs a
distribution network that delivers fresh produce and
prepackaged and frozen foods to some 250,000 chefs,
restaurateurs, and foodservice operators across the
U.S. The Rosemont, Ill.-based company, which also
provides its customers with e-commerce, technology,
and business solutions, generates approximately $23
billion in revenue each year.
In a bid to manage its vast network more efficiently
and obtain visibility over goods in transit, US Foods
recently selected the FourKites load tracking platform. The software will give the
distributor access to real-time
location information and the
estimated time of arrival (ETA)
for every truck carrying its products, which will enable its customer service team to manage
exceptions and provide answers
without making calls to dispatchers or drivers, the software
provider says.
In the coming months, US Foods plans to roll out
the FourKites platform beyond logistics to other areas
of the business, including sales, warehouse operations,
and business intelligence. By getting all these internal
teams on one page, the company hopes to streamline
operations and improve its decision-making.
US Foods selected the FourKites system because
it allows it to work with carriers of every size and to
integrate with in-cab ELDs (electronic logging devic-
es) and driver cell phones, the company says. That
precision tracking ability is crucial in an industry
where companies have to collect products from many
different vendors, centralize them in a DC, and then
ship them back out to multiple customers, all on a
strict timetable.
“Food distribution is a pretty tight-margin business,” said FourKites CEO Matt Elenjickal. “And it
runs with tight inventory; you don’t want to buffer
extra inventory in a warehouse when you’re dealing
with perishable products.” Keeping track of all that
inventory can be a serious challenge for a large company like US Foods, which relies
on a diverse array of trucking
companies to move inventory in
and out of DCs and storage facilities across the country.
“They work with a lot of car-
riers, and you can’t expect them
all to have EDI [electronic data
interchange] capabilities, and
you can’t expect them all to have
wireless connectivity because the
smaller ones may not even have IT departments,”
Elenjickal said. “So it’s important [that their software
has the capability] to work with many carriers of
different sizes, onboard them quickly, and then get
information to a centralized portal so you can make
sense of the data.”
So the next time you’re enjoying a meal at your
favorite restaurant, you may want to raise a glass and
toast the supply chain visibility network that made it
possible.
For foodservice distributor US Foods, load tracking software has done away with the
need to call drivers or dispatchers to manage exceptions and check on the whereabouts
of loads.
No more phone calls
the distributor uncover vendor combinations that
resulted in greater freight consolidation and allowed
it to push more orders into repeated cycles matching
those plans. Since it began using the Crossbow system, Ben E. Keith has realized savings of 8 percent on
its inbound freight costs.
Loads are now preplanned, and improved commu-
nication among Ben E. Keith’s logistics and purchas-
ing teams has resulted in better routing. “Our carriers
have more consistency in the loads they carry now,
and our suppliers don’t have to adjust their orders,
which makes it better for us,” said Stull.
Dashboards provide at-a-glance information on
the status of loads, and a monitoring feature suggests
adjustments to optimize inbound freight. “We did
not have that visibility before,” Stull added.
