Logistics provider C.H. Robinson has launched artificial intelligence (AI) agents to combat the problem of missed less than truckload (LTL) pickups, the company said.
The new technology is now tracking down missed pickups and using advanced reasoning to determine how to keep freight moving. Those agents are also collecting and analyzing previously unavailable data that LTL carriers are now using to improve their technology, scheduling, and operations.
C.H. Robinson says it launched the initiative because with one truck carrying freight from up to 20 different shippers, LTL shipping requires complex coordination to pick it all up, take it to a terminal, and recombine it on other trucks with other freight heading the same direction. That complexity means that missed pickups and costly delays can ripple through LTL networks.
According to the company, the results are already in: 95% of checks on missed LTL pickups have been automated, saving over 350 hours of manual work per day. And unnecessary return trips to pick up missed freight have been reduced by 42%.
“A missed pickup isn’t just a minor inconvenience,” Greg West, Vice President for LTL, said in a release. “When a truck arrives and the freight or packaging isn’t ready, or the carrier couldn’t make it because they got stuck in traffic, it forces another truck to come back the next day. That might not even be our shipper’s freight, but it creates a domino effect for other freight that was supposed to get picked up and for all the other trucks down the line.”
The new agents join a fleet of more than 30 other AI agents that C.H. Robinson has already built for LTL. They include units that handle LTL price quotes, orders, freight classification, shipment tracking, and proof of delivery.
“We don’t just throw AI at anything and everything. It’s not a hobby for us. We use AI agents only where they can deliver tangible business results,” C.H. Robinson’s vice president for artificial intelligence, Mark Albrecht, said. “Our Lean AI processes helped us uncover the extent of time wasted in handling missed pickups and where artificial intelligence had the most potential to augment our automation software.”
