Challenges in Modern Shipping
Shippers today are faced with all sorts of logistics challenges. Lost shipments, damaged freight, reweigh charges and size reclassifications to name a few. “Most of our Shipper customers have experienced all sorts of issues, which is why we decided to craft a great documentation solution to work hand in hand with our popular FS 5000 Pallet Dimensioners. When a piece of freight goes missing, often the Carrier wants proof it was picked up. If it was damaged, they wanted pictures of how it was tendered. As if that wasn’t enough, the size and weight reclassifications were costing them real dollars that were unrecoverable,” said Michael Eichenberg, Chief Executive Officer at FreightSnap.
FreightSnap’s Comprehensive Solution
The FreightSnap solution covered all three of these contingencies. The FS 5000 Pallet Dimensioner provides seamless automated NTEP Certified measurements and weight which can be utilized for getting accurate rates or to dispute reweigh and size reclassifications. At the same time, four images are taken of the freight and stored in the FreightSnap cloud to be shared with any partner along the supply chain.
That helped prove the weight, dimensions, and condition of the freight at the time it was dimensioned, but the last problem tied to proof of pickup was solved with the FreightSnap Mobile 360 application. The warehouse dock workers utilize handheld technology to scan the shipping documents as the freight is tendered to the Carrier as well as pictures of the freight in the trailer.
The mobile application is integrated with the FS 5000 pallet dimensioner and Cloud Based technology to provide a 360-degree view of the shipment, which includes the certified measurements and weight, the images from multiple perspectives of the shipment prior to loading and then the images of the freight once it is loaded in the LTL trailer. When taken from the correct perspective, dock workers can include things like Pro Numbers and internal order numbers in the images for further documented proof. With the FreightSnap 360 process, customers receiving freight can also document the condition of the shipment and include those with the existing images and documentation.
“When we piloted our new mobile application at Johnson Controls, their shipping personnel noticed instant results with tracking down lost shipments,” said Justin Dixon, a Customer Delivery Specialist at FreightSnap.
“Everything about FreightSnap 360 is geared toward providing a seamless integrated process which combines all our technologies across the supply chain ecosystem. Whether it is pallet or parcel dimensioning, warehouse placement, load documentation, or even our new AI platforms utilized for capacity utilization, all our products and applications are interconnected and provide an efficient platform for our customers,” added Adam Robinson, Software Engineer at FreightSnap.
Benefits for Freight Carriers
Even freight carriers are seeing the benefit of the FreightSnap 360 platform. “Before we partnered with FreightSnap, we really had no visibility on actual damage claims and lost freight. In a system like ours, where we handle thousands of shipments each day across multiple hubs and terminals nationwide, without documentation from both our customers and our own systems, it is impossible to navigate this part of the business. At the end of the day, we are here to get it right, and many of our customers utilize FreightSnap 360, and combined with our own images, we have been able to strike the right balance on how these things are settled, improve our own operation, and in the end, better serve our customers,” said Webb Estes, President and COO of Estes Express Lines, Inc.
Real-World Success Story
“The first day we implemented this system, one of our customers in Chili wanted to see images of a shipment we processed at one of our facilities. We dimension everything with our FreightSnap Dimensioner and take multiple images of everything we handle. Our team also takes images with the mobile application. So, when our customer asked for the images, they were shocked at what we could provide them. From the FreightSnap 360 application, we can quickly send a link the customer can open and take a quick image to include with our own of any piece of freight. In many cases, we can identify labels and other key information with these shipments. It has been an absolute game changer for us,” said Sean Scarbrough, CEO Taggart International Ltd.
Utilizing the Mobile Application
The FreightSnap Mobile application can be utilized with either Android or IOS devices and is included with the FS 5000 Pallet Dimensioner. The images below will provide a good example of a shipment being tracked through the Mobile / Cloud 360 Process.
In the future, you will be able to access white papers detailing the implementation of the FreightSnap 360 process at leading shippers such as Johnson Controls Inc. and Berry Global, as well as customer experiences from other leading companies. FreightSnap is a leading provider of Freight Dimensioning and Documentation Solutions worldwide.
