In order to begin using the Load Optimization feature a few things must be done within the Shipwell system. Completing these steps will allow you to utilize the product as described in this manual. The following is a list of items required to get you going.

Once you have completed the items listed above you are now ready to select orders for the Load Optimization process!

Load Optimization allows shippers to select groups of orders to create multi-stop truckload routes in order to reduce the overall cost of shipping the orders. From the Order List screen the user can select a group of orders to run through the optimization process. Using the Order Filter, the user can view all orders shipping between specific date ranges, locations, or other filter criteria. Once the orders are selected, Clicking the Bulk Actions button will display the Optimize Orders option. All selected orders must be Unassigned to shipments in order for the Optimize Orders option to be available.

Once the optimization process is initiated the system looks to create multi-stop truckload routes that minimize the over shipping cost of all the orders. Each order is pre-rated by comparing an LTL rate and a TL (truckload) rate and is assigned the least cost method of transport if the order were to ship all by itself from the origin to the destination. Once the least cost method of transport is identified, the order is assigned this baseline cost. The optimization process is designed to minimize the overall shipping cost of all selected orders while meeting all identified constraints including pickup and delivery windows, truck capacity, number of allowable stop, and other constraints setup in the customer’s configuration screen. Once the optimization process has completed, the user will see the Load Plan Results Page, with the latest plan results shown at the top of the screen with a status of Ready.

The Load Plan Results screen shows all the load plans that have been created from the Optimization process. The plans are listed with the most recent plans at the top of the page. This screen provides summary information about each plan including the number of orders in each plan, FTL and LTL shipments, which configuration settings were used, the baseline cost of all orders shipping individually from origin to destination, and the optimized cost which includes consolidated orders shipping in multi-stop truckloads. The user can click on Orders column to bring up a summary of the orders contained in the plan. To see the individual plan details, the user can click on the Plan Name. Additionally, the user can click on the Optimization Settings link in the upper right corner to access the settings which control the behavior of the optimization process.

The Load Plan Details screen displays all of multi-stop truckload and direct LTL shipments generated by the optimization process. The screen lists the TL shipments at the top sorted by weight and the LTL shipments at the bottom also sorted by weight. Hovering over the Stops column displays the stop information for the load including location, estimated arrival time, stop weight and number of pallets for the stop. Clicking on the Orders column will bring up a detailed list of all orders associated with each load. At the top of the screen summary data includes the total number of orders in the plan, number of FTL and LTL shipments, baseline cost of all orders shipping individually, optimized cost which is the cost of multi-stop truckloads and LTL shipments in the plan, and savings which is the difference between the baseline cost and optimized cost.

Clicking on a Load Number from the Load Plan Details screen will bring up the details for that specific load. The details screen displays all of the stops for the load, a map of the load route and summary information about the specific load. Summary information at the top of the screen includes the baseline cost for all orders within the load, the optimized cost of the load, total weight and pallet count, and the savings generated by the optimization process. The user has the ability to manually modify the load by either removing orders or adding orders to the load. If the load is modified the system will automatically calculate a new route based on the changed order information and will update both the baseline cost and the optimized cost. This allows the user to view the financial impacts of making manual adjustments to the optimized loads.

When users are manually making changes to a load by adding additional orders, the system will now allow the load to exceed the configuration settings for the following:

If the load now exceeds these settings, the system will add the order and recalculate a new route and new cost. This will allow the user to analyze the cost implication of the new load.

A warning message will appear informing the user which settings have been exceeded by the new load, and identify the value of the configuration settings.

In addition, a warning indicator will be displayed on the Load Plan page showing any loads where the configuration settings have been exceeded. Hovering over the warning indicator will display which settings have been exceeded.

A Load Optimization Load Plan Report has been added which allows the user to generate a PDF report that summarizes the entire contents of a load plan. Clicking on the Load Plan Report link generates the PDF report. The report displays plan costs as well as the individual costs for all of the loads and orders within the plan. This report can be used to easily view the entire contents of the plan.

Once the user is satisfied with the load they can create a shipment from the load. This can be done from the Load Details screen by clicking the Create Shipment button in the lower right corner. Once the shipment is created for the load, the user will be returned to the Load Plan Details screen. Loads that have been turned into shipments will display a Created pill next to the load number. Users can also create shipments for loads by selecting multiple loads from the Load Plan Details screen. When loads are selected a Create shipments button will appear in the upper right corner of the screen.
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Once a shipment has been created for a load, clicking the Load number brings the user to the Shipment Details screen. From here the user can start the carrier assignment processes for the shipment. New shipments are created with the status of Quoting, and will automatically initiate any automated workflows or routing guides, and in the case of LTL shipments will collect Instant Rates.

Settings that control the optimization process can be accessed from the Manage, Company, Company Defaults, Load Optimization menu option as well as from the link in the upper right corner of the Load Plan Results screen. Users have the ability to create multiple sets of configurations, and identify one as the default set.

The configuration settings include the following options:

Configuration Name - allows you to uniquely identify the configuration set

Default - Select this to identify this set as your default configurations

Average Speed - This value is used to determine how fast the vehicle travels between stops and is used in the estimated stop arrival time calculation

Truckload Capacity - Allows you to limit the amount of weight or pallets that can be combined in a single truck

Maximum Distance / Route - Used for private fleets to limit the route distance for each load

Maximum Driving Hours / Route - Used for private fleets to limit the time to complete each load

Maximum Number of Trucks - Used for private fleets to limit the number of trucks available

Minimum Stop Time - This value is used to determine how long the vehicle remains at each stop and is used in the estimated stop arrival time calculation

Minimum Stops - This limits the number of allowable stops for each load

Stop Charge - This value is used to calculate the total TL cost for the route (rate per mile x load distance, plus additional stop charges per stop)

Facility Operating Hours - If pickup or delivery windows are not explicitly set on the orders, the system will use these default hours of operation when calculating the estimated arrival time

LTL Freight Class - If freight class is not available on the order line items, the system will use this value in order to determine the baseline LTL cost

LTL Discount - Discounts the standard nationwide LTL tariff used by the model to approximate the shipper’s expected costs from their LTL carriers

If multiple configuration sets exists, the user will be prompted to choose which set will be used when the initiate the Optimize Orders process. This screen also allows the user to name the load plan that will be generated. If only 1 set of configurations has been set up, this screen will be skipped and the optimization will start as soon as the Optimize Orders function is selected from the Orders List page.

A Load Optimization dashboard has been created to display metrics related to the use and effectiveness of the Load Optimization product. To access the dashboard, select the Analytics menu, then Shared folder, and Load Optimization Metrics. The following dashboard will be displayed.

The metrics displayed include:

Users also have the ability to drill down into the individual load details as shown below.

Pickup and Delivery Dates

There are 4 dates on the order. Pickup start, pickup end, drop off start, and drop off end. Each of these fields can either be filled in or left blank and can optionally include times along with the dates. Using pickup as an example, these are the possible options based on the data you enter:

When there are multiple valid options for appointments, the model will first force the delivery to occur as early as possible. Once the delivery appointment has been established, the model will make the pickup appointment as close to the delivery appointment as possible, taking into account transit time, HOS restrictions, and location operating hours.

Rate estimates

There are two rates associated with a plan: the baseline rate and the optimized rate.

When an order is prepared for optimization, we request both LTL and FTL rates for the order. These come from third party market rate providers (subject to change, we might be swapping this out for internal rating). From this we can determine a base rate for the order, which is the cheaper of the FTL and LTL rates. The baseline rate is simply the sum of base rates of all the orders in the plan.

The optimized rate is derived from the base rate, but with savings applied for bundling orders.