Logistics can get complex quickly, especially if you're not employing any automation tools. Shippers today need every advantage to increase efficiency, minimize costs, and optimize shipping workflows.
FreightPOP’s tools help high-volume shippers maximize efficiency and keep costs low. For example, our tools integrate with order systems to auto-populate side-by-side shipping rate comparisons on each and every order. Automated dispatching goes further by deploying advanced workflow automation at scale, selecting the best rates, and routing shipments without human intervention. Here's how!
Benefits of Auto Dispatch for Shippers
Auto dispatching takes an order, converts it into a shipment, and then organizes the shipment for you. Auto dispatch works for domestic and multi-stop international shipments and even automates the accessorial process.
With FreightPOP's auto dispatching, you can configure dispatching for all open orders or subsets of orders. You can either trigger the program to run pending orders or let it work on auto-pilot throughout the day. With selected carriers, you can process orders without any manual effort and automatically rate shop orders based on your standards and preferences.
Auto dispatching algorithms examine multiple variables at lightning-fast speeds. Whereas you might typically shop two pallets as LTL shipments, FreightPOP's auto dispatching AI can automatically identify weight and freight classifications to see if there’s a cheaper FTL solution available. It can also determine whether bundling shipments or freight pooling solutions are better alternatives.
Here are five critical benefits of auto dispatching:
1) Cost and Labor Savings
Besides saving on rates, auto dispatching speeds up the entire shipping process, increasing productivity and efficiency while reducing labor costs. Hands-free dispatch enables your team to handle orders automatically and route quickly without the tedious manual work of requesting and comparing rates.
2) Auto Dispatching for Best Rates and Routing
Using auto dispatching for best rates saves up to five minutes on every shipment and up to 30% on average shipping costs. You can automatically compare rates from an unlimited number of shipments and uncover hidden rates you might not know about.
FreightPOP’s FreightRateHACKER uses AI algorithms to sort carrier data to isolate optimal routing for cost savings, which allows you to mix and match carriers, service levels, and legs to find the most cost-efficient routes. AI can also evaluate the impact of zone skipping and demand pricing to look for more affordable routes and predict rates based on trending market conditions.
Carrier rate shopping ensures you choose the best possible rate and routing for your order every time without having to log in and out of different carrier portals, juggle multiple tenders, or keep track of contract rates on spreadsheets.
3) Improved Accuracy
Auto dispatch produces improvements in accuracy, creating fewer errors and delays. With every shipment, you get tracking to keep systems and vendors in sync across your entire logistics ecosystem.
After shipments are complete, you can also trigger an automation to audit every invoice to identify and correct invoice errors, duplicate billings, or incorrect weight, classifications, or fees. An analysis of data by FreightPOP shows that most shippers can see overcharges of up to 15% or more. For high-volume shippers, invoice auditing and going after that money is a significant money-saver.
4) Increased Scalability and Flexibility
You also get increased flexibility with auto dispatching. You access a more efficient resource allocation by automatically assessing potential shipping methods and carriers, which makes it easier to respond to sudden or seasonal demand without increasing your team's workload.
5) Better Compliance
There is now a way to automate your established configurations and compliance measures. FreightPOP's auto dispatch follows your rules and applies them consistently to every shipment. This means your team will always comply with your policies and proforma.
You also have the opportunity to restrict which shipments are handled by automated dispatching or change configurations to respond to changes.
Automated Dispatching Provides a Competitive Advantage
Auto dispatching gives you a significant competitive advantage by:
- Improving speed and response rates
- Isolating the best rates
- Providing the most cost-efficient routing
And not only does auto dispatching simplify logistics and reduce the burden on shippers and dispatchers, but it also produces a better customer experience.
Discover more powerful ways to improve your logistics through automation by reading our new ebook: How Logistics Automation Saves Time and Money.