16 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
FourKites launches “dynamic” load-matching platform
Logistics software developer FourKites Inc. unveiled new
product features designed to minimize “deadhead” trucking miles by sharing unused capacity across private networks of compatible shippers and carriers, and said it had
hired a former Uber Freight executive to head the initiative.
Calling the launch its next “big bet,” Chicago-based
FourKites said its “Zero Deadhead” initiative will dynamically match shipments with capacity, allowing users to
reduce costs by running its
Predictive Capacity Management
(PCM) platform on top of their
own transportation management
system (TMS) software.
To support that approach, the
company hired Uber Freight
executive Kristopher Glotzbach
to be vice president and general manager of a new business
division, FourKites founder and
CEO Matt Elenjickal said in an interview.
By running as an optimization engine on top of users’
current TMS systems, the FourKites software will allow
shippers to create their own private networks of complementary fleets, such as groups of tier-one automotive
suppliers, grocery wholesalers, or soft drink retailers and
bottlers, Elenjickal said. The system will identify unused
capacity by aligning those shippers’ geographies, appointment times, pickup and delivery locations, and other variables, then applying “guard rails” to exclude inappropriate
matches, such as competing retailers or products with contrasting environmental needs.
“What we’re all about is eliminating waste for carriers,
third parties, and shippers,” Glotzbach said in an interview.
“Right now, the average driver is actually moving freight
just seven hours out of his 11-hour work day—because
he’s deadheading, driving a couple hundred miles to pick
up another load, or is detained at a facility—so we want to
make that more productive and more utilized.”
FourKites launches the product at a time when trucking
capacity shortages are driving up freight costs for shippers,
even though nearly 40 percent of trucks on the road are
empty at any given time, the firm
says. It claims its new capability
can reduce overall shipping costs
by 15 to 20 percent by allowing
shippers and carriers to access
that unused truck capacity via
private networks.
Elenjickal acknowledges that
the digital freight-matching sector is hot right now, with startups
like Convoy, Uber Freight, and
“This is the next big opportunity in supply chain and
logistics,” Elenjickal said in a statement. “At a time when
trucking capacity is at a record low, the search for carriers
that make a good fit on certain lanes is increasingly intense.
We’re enabling shippers to get products to market more
quickly at lower overall operating costs.”
Harting, a Germany-based manufacturer of products
for the connector industry, is expanding its facility in
Elgin, Ill., to include a lab and showroom at its on-site
warehouse and distribution center. The project’s tar-
get completion date is January 2019. … American Tire
Distributors Inc. has announced the opening of its
“Pocono mixing warehouse” in Blakeslee, Pa. The 1
million-square-foot facility will receive and ship more
than 2. 5 million tires per year, along with wheels,
tools, and other automotive supplies. … Regional pack-
age delivery company OnTrac has broken ground on
a new 185,000-square-foot facility in Reno, Nev. …
International express services provider DHL has opened
a 39,000-square-foot service center in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
to serve the shipping needs of startups and global
technology companies in the region. … Third-party
logistics service provider and freight forwarder King
Solutions has broken ground on a 101,000-square-foot
temperature-controlled warehouse in Dayton, Minn.
… PIDC, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit public-private
economic development corporation, has partnered with
JLL and Ridge Development to break ground on a
207,500-square-foot logistics facility in the northeast
section of the city.
ground breakers
