New advanced scheduling configurations and automatic booking enable greater predictability and cost savings for shippers
CHICAGO, July 18, 2024 – project44, the leader in supply chain visibility and the only High-Velocity Supply Chain Platform, today announced expanded capabilities and reach for its Appointment Management product – now available in Europe as well as North America. Appointment Management offers a central view of all facility appointments with the ability to monitor trailer ETAs against scheduled appointments in real time, allowing shippers to gain visibility into inbound and outbound loads and proactively manage exceptions. New features include advanced schedule configurations and automatic booking, enabling improved efficiency, collaboration and labor planning for shippers, carriers and logistics service providers (LSPs).
Warehouse personnel spend countless hours scheduling carrier appointments by phone, email or spreadsheet and manually managing schedule changes when drivers arrive early or late. Inefficient appointment planning results in overcrowding and long driver queues to enter a facility that can lead to driver wait fees or fines due to road blockages, as well as shipment delays and missed customer commitments.
With project44 Appointment Management, shippers no longer need to rely on carrier signals to understand arrival or departure times from the yard. Once a carrier arrives at the facility, the warehouse manager can update the milestone in the Appointment Manager, and through its seamless integration, the milestone will instantly sync to and enhance the data in Movement by project44. This level of location accuracy means that yard personnel get trailer location signals in real time, leading to faster gate in processes, optimized labor costs, reduced driver detention fees and, ultimately, an increase in on-time deliveries.
New features in project44’s Appointment Management product include:
- Advanced administrator configurations: Administrators can set parameters for scheduling at the gate and dock level, including detailed time block adjustments and holiday schedule and day-based exceptions
- Advanced carrier booking configurations: Carriers can self-service bookings based on administrator-set restrictions
- Pre-set appointment restrictions: Admins can configure restrictions by carrier, load type, commodity and shipment attributes
- Automatic booking: project44’s self-service system will automatically book appointments for carriers when pre-set criteria is met
- Appointment Management reporting: Advanced report templates to evaluate KPIs
“The success of a facility’s operation begins long before a driver enters the facility,” said Jett McCandless, Founder and CEO of project44. “By automating pre-arrival processes, we’re helping shippers, carriers and LSPs realize efficiency gains and avoid downstream shipment delays.”
To learn more about the project44 Appointment Management product, visit project44.com/platform/facilities/appointment-management.