FourKites Introduces Industry-first No-touch Scheduling Tool for Warehouses, DCs and Plants

Leading supply chain visibility provider FourKites today unveiled extensive enhancements to its automated Appointment Manager solution. Now, with live status updates from customers’ networks, full configurability and end-to-end automation, Appointment Manager is the industry’s first no-touch scheduling tool for warehouses, plants and distribution centers. Shippers, carriers and drivers benefit from significant time savings, smoother operations, reduced detention fees and a lower carbon footprint.

With these latest enhancements, shippers can specify the desired delivery date for both full truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments, and Appointment Manager will automatically select optimal appointment times, securely share appointment data across partner networks, and allow teams to proactively reschedule appointments based on FourKites’ machine learning-based predictive ETAs.

Specifically, the updates to Appointment Manager include:

● AutoBooker, a new premium feature that integrates with customers’ load-planning platforms to intelligently select the best appointment time based on the planned delivery date, enabling completely automated scheduling and carrier notifications based on real-time data. Estimated to save up to 8 minutes per scheduled appointment, AutoBooker is highly configurable to shippers’ business rules, and accommodates the creation of calendars by commodity, carrier and more.
● LTL Scheduling. Appointment Manager now allows the scheduling of LTL shipments, including the ability to split appointment times into smaller blocks to accommodate shorter unloading times; schedule appointment slots with shipments spread among multiple trailers; and schedule outbound shipments with multiple order numbers in a single trailer. This capability improves facility throughput for industries that are frequent users of LTL shipping, especially LSP, CPG and retail supply chains.
● Comprehensive Reporting. Shippers can now drill into granular details regarding carrier appointment compliance, facility metrics, capacity utilization, arrival success and more to better inform carrier selection and drive continuous operational improvements.

FourKites’ Appointment Manager enhancements are being introduced on the heels of the one millionth appointment booked with the solution, scheduled by longtime customer Trane Technologies from its site in Tyler, Texas. “FourKites’ Appointment Manager, with integrated real-time visibility, has increased our yard efficiency, improved truck turn times and enabled us to provide superior customer service,” explains Tom France, Vice President of Distribution, Logistics and Transportation for Trane Technologies.

Appointment Manager is the first appointment solution to integrate with every major transportation management and enterprise resource planning system. Hundreds of the world’s leading brands now rely on the solution to slash manual processes and improve their bottom line. Over the last 12 months, FourKites has seen triple-digit growth in the number of facilities managed with Dynamic Yard® and Appointment Manager, as well as the number of appointments managed in Appointment Manager.

“Our new Appointment Manager capabilities are a harbinger of what we’ve long been building toward: a new era in automated, interconnected and collaborative global supply chains, built on a foundation of real-time supply chain visibility,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “Efficient facility management is critical to the logistics industry right now, and our Appointment Manager solution — in combination with Dynamic Yard and our industry-leading predictive ETAs — are unlocking exponentially higher levels of productivity, agility and efficiency.”

You can find more information about FourKites’ Appointment Manager or schedule a demo here: https://www.fourkites.com/platform/appointment-management/

Leading global supply chain visibility platform FourKites extends visibility beyond transportation into yards, warehouses, stores and beyond. Tracking more than 3 million shipments daily across road, rail, ocean, air, parcel and last mile, and reaching over 200 countries and territories, FourKites combines real-time data and powerful machine learning to help companies digitize their end-to-end supply chains. More than 1,200 of the world’s most recognized brands — including 9 of the top-10 CPG and 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies — trust FourKites to transform their business and create more agile, efficient and sustainable supply chains. To learn more, visit https://www.fourkites.com/.