Shipping with Amazon (SWA), the online giant’s fledgling delivery service, is a self-contained system that covers the entire shipping process from seller to consumer. Eventually, SWA will offer shipping services to other companies in direct competition with UPS and FedEx.

The impact of SWA on the logistics industry cannot be overstated. In addition to utilizing state-of-the-art physical equipment such as an electric yard truck, traditional carriers need to embrace automation to stay competitive in the logistics industry.

Benefits of Logistics Automation

Why should carriers integrate automated logistics?

– Most organizations have a primary goal of scaling their business, a process that’s immeasurably more difficult without automation.

– Automation makes it easier for providers to manage and coordinate the efforts of dissimilar functions, including manufacturing, distribution and transportation.

– Automated delivery management systems include robust functionality for tasks such as truck load mapping and dispatching.

– Productivity improves when less time is spent correcting avoidable errors.

Using a Workflow-Driven Approach

Conventional wisdom holds that automation is more suitable for companies with large fleets, but even those with smaller fleets can reap the advantages of automation with targeted workflows.

With a workflow-driven approach, a simple task such as scanning orders at pick-up and drop-off becomes more efficient with automation. Accuracy increases, which in turn reduces the number of time-consuming disputes.

According to Dan Stoll, technical product manager at Nintex, automation hasn’t been a priority for legacy shipping providers. Stoll believes that “the Amazon effect” will prompt many of these companies to make some long-overdue changes.

Move Trailers Safely and Efficiently with the Electric Yard Dog

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Blockchain may be the “Holy Grail” of the trucking industry. We have enough trucks and drivers to fill demand, but matching up shippers and carriers in the right place at the right time can be tricky, even with a yard truck to position trailers where they need to be at a moment’s notice. Blockchain technology is the other piece of the puzzle necessary to make trucking the efficient industry that it should be.

Blockchain for trucking looks a bit different than Bitcoin, which runs on a public blockchain. Transportation companies use a private blockchain. Both offer a distributed ledger of highly secure data, but the private version requires an invitation.

A co-founder of Transfix, a trucking marketplace, recently laid out how blockchain is used in transportation and what needs to happen for it to be wildly successful:

– Trust: Shippers and carriers must trust the system. This requires an agreed-upon process of vetting and contracts.

– Small business participation: We’ll need to see close to universal adoption by small firms, which make up the vast majority of shippers.

– Standardization: Things will only go smoothly if everyone involved uses the same data type.

The Yard Truck for a Hyper-Efficient Trucking Industry

If your warehouse could have a driver ready to take every piece of freight to the next destination, would you even be ready for it?

While blockchain may revolutionize the data, you need boots-on-the-ground preparedness to make use of the improved warehouse efficiency.

The TrailerCaddy electric yard truck from DJ Products can tow any trailer up to 100,000 pounds with speed, safety, and incredible efficiency. Load trailers up to the dock, move them around the yard, and be prepared for the new wave of blockchain for distribution. Contact us for more info.

The post Could the Blockchain Concept Work in the Trucking Industry? appeared first on DJ Products.

Could your next yard truck be robotically driven? Alongside autonomous or ‘self-driving’ cars, autonomous tractor trailer technology is entering the market. Turns out Uber isn’t just interested in toting people around … It’s in it for the long-haul. Literally.

Uber Ramps Up Robo-Trucking Efforts

Uber’s been trying to rule over the self-driving big-rig market since it acquired Anthony Levandowski’s self-driving truck company, Otto, in 2006. But it’s far from the only contender battling for market share. Daimler, Tesla, Waymo, Volvo, and even some startups are parrying for position in what’s seen as the future of long-haul trucking.

Driver Shortage Fuels Efforts

Online shopping is pushing out the traditional retail purchase, and with Americans ordering and shipping more and more stuff, and a driver deficit, the market is primed for new players. And though it’s tough to get vehicles to drive themselves in the city, on the freeway is another story.

Dangerous Curves Ahead

Still at issue: The difficulty of trucks safely negotiating industrial yards, intersections, and areas with pedestrians. To navigate such issues, those in the robo-trucking game are trying-on different tactics. Startup Starsky is looking to remote operation on service streets, like an RC car.

Uber is trying out the ‘bar pilot’ model, using humans to pick-up shipments and transfer them to robo-truck transfer hubs situated highway-side, with a hand-off in reverse at the exit. For now it’s trying the task at weigh stations off I-40 in Sanders and Topock, Arizona. Their goal is not only safety, but logistical efficiency, to maximize profit and minimize liability in an arena of multiple players sharing the same tote.

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The post The Uber Concept for Logistics Movement – Is It Right for You? appeared first on DJ Products.