How a Digital Freight Network Brings Supply Chain Visibility

As consumer expectations rise and the market is increasingly volatile, it should come as no surprise that supply chain visibility is on the top of many shippers’ minds. The ability to leverage supply chain technology to lower transportation costs, reduce waste, and uncover hidden inefficiencies has become a requirement for shippers to stay competitive.

A growing number of leading shippers are leaning on Convoy’s digital freight network to meet that requirement.

Supply chain visibility and digital freight networks

Supply chain visibility consists of two elements: real-time tracking of your loads once they leave your docks, and identifying patterns and anomalies in the infrastructure that supports your supply chain.

At Convoy, both are supported through our digital freight network.

Because digital freight networks use technology to automate the brokering process and track shipment progress from start to finish, they collect an enormous amount of operational data that can be shared with shippers to help them understand potential inefficiencies in their supply chain, and benchmark how their supply chain operations compare with others in their industry.

This data is provided to shippers in a handful of ways. Individual shipment tracking can be surfaced through your transportation management system (TMS). Convoy integrates with leading TMSes like BluJay, Oracle, and MercuryGate as well as custom, homegrown TMSes.  By pairing your TMS with Convoy’s digital freight network, you can either get point-in-time updates about shipment progress through the use of EDI messaging, or if you’re using a dedicated supply chain visibility platform like FourKites, Project44, or 10-4, you can get continually updated, real-time updates on shipment progress.

In addition, Convoy’s online shipper products also provide real-time tracking of all your Convoy shipments. Our online shipper platform provides the easiest way to book and track spot loads with Convoy.

For a deeper dive into your supply chain trends and anomalies over time, Convoy delivers standardized monthly reports, an online reporting dashboard, and unique insights analytics through our custom insights consulting. All of these reports and analytics are based on gathering and analyzing massive amounts of data using machine learning.

The benefits of machine learning in modern supply chains

Machine learning is how computer algorithms learn and adapt through experience without human intervention. It’s typically used when the dataset is so large or complex that humans aren’t able to draw conclusions in a reasonable amount of time. As Convoy collects more than 1,000 points of data about every shipment and pairs them with nearly one million facility ratings on over 25,000 facilities, it’s an ideal fit for a machine learning model.

Convoy is able to parse that massive amount of data, compare it to specific data from your facilities and lanes, and pinpoint outliers and inefficiencies in your supply chain.

These insights are then passed along to you in the form of monthly reports and customizable dashboards. Our most successful clients have also partnered with us to do an in-depth analysis of their supply chains and provide recommendations for improvements. This custom consulting comes as part of Convoy’s full truckload services.

Using these services, shippers have leveraged Convoy’s digital freight network to do everything from diagnosing the root cause of increased incidentals to reducing detention to cutting CO2 emissions.

The human side of supply chain visibility

Working hand-in-hand with our technology is our team of data scientists and account managers. Together, they work collaboratively with you to identify the anomalies in your data, understand the root causes, and then strategize on changes and optimizations that can improve your supply chain’s efficiency and ultimately drive down your total cost to ship.If you’re interested in leveraging Convoy’s digital freight network to increase your supply chain visibility, reach out to us here and a member of our team will contact you to learn about your specific needs.