Analyst Insight: Over the past decade, incredible progress has been made in digitizing supply chains and logistics. Transportation management systems have eliminated a lot of paperwork, phone calls and spreadsheets. Web portals, apps and digital connectivity have enhanced communications between shippers and their third-party logistics providers. Artificial intelligence has even allowed some tasks to be accomplished without taking up people’s time.     

Despite all that digitization and automation, however, e-mail is still heavily used by shippers large and small. Entrenched in the business world since the 1980s, e-mail transactions have defied automation — until now. With the emergence of generative AI and large language models (LLMs), it’s now possible to automate thousands of e-mail transactions a day across the lifecycle of a shipment.

E-mails about price quotes, load tenders, appointments for pickups and delivery, or freight in transit have previously required people to act upon each one. GenAI not only can help read those types of e-mails, but can also perform the requested task. 

That’s because of the ability to teach GenAI how to handle unstructured data. Instead of information neatly entered into fields in a form, an e-mail from a warehouse manager to a 3PL might say, “Quote me a load same as last Wednesday,” or “I have these loads for next month. See attached.”  Technology employing GenAI can connect information within the e-mail, detect what’s missing, and fill in the blanks. Then it can replicate what a human would do to fulfill the customer’s request. And what might have previously taken hours is accomplished in seconds.   

Speed and 24/7 functionality are critical to global just-in-time supply chains.  An automaker can’t make a car without every one of some 30,000 parts. A retailer can’t sell a product that hasn’t made it to a shelf.  The faster you can get a price quote, the faster you can tender your 3PL a load, it can secure an ideal appointment for pickup, and your freight can be matched to an ideal carrier.

Speed-to-market also affects transportation costs. Most carriers are regional. Even when capacity is ample nationwide, only so many are working in a given lane on any given day. MIT research shows that delays in getting a carrier can result in a shipper paying 23% to 35% extra. It’s the basic law of supply and demand: As the number of available trucks for the day goes down, the cost goes up.

An additional benefit of 3PLs freeing employees from repetitive, routine tasks is that it allows them to do more strategic work. In a world where supply chains are increasingly complex and disrupted, that’s time to spend on optimization, managing exceptions and mitigating potential risks.

Outlook: With multiple types of automation possible, you can capture efficiencies and save on costs by determining whether your 3PL’s technology is capable of connecting with yours, exploring the option of using your 3PL’s TMS, and finding out whether they possess any generative AI tools. Make sure they’re training their large language models with all the details about your unique freight, requirements, locations and receivers. Ask how they’re testing their AI to ensure that it learns from continuous input, and functions accurately. 

Resource Link: https://www.chrobinson.com