Logistics technology: ATA introduces Information Technology & Logistics Council

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/20/2007

ARLINGTON, Va.—The American Trucking Associations (ATA) announced this week that it has named its first officers of its newly-formed Information Technology & Logistics Council (ITLC).

J. Braxton Vick, senior vice president of corporate planning and development for Southeastern Freight Lines, Lexington, S.C.-based less-than-truckload carrier, will serve as the ITLC's first chair. And Vicki Schluter, vice president of information solutions for YRC Worldwide, will serve as vice chair.

The ILTC, according to an ATA statement, is dedicated to supporting the interests of the trucking industry's information technology and logistics professionals, and it is committed to educating members, developing industry best practices and technology guidelines and providing legislative and regulatory advocacy programs. It was formally introduced at ATA's Management Conference & Exhibition held in Orlando, Fla. last month.

Michael Snyder, ITLC executive director, told Logistics Management there were a few factors that contributed to the inception of the Information Technology & Logistics Council. And in July, an ATA steering committee, comprised of members representing motor carriers, logistics companies, and software vendors expressed the need for the ATA to provide a forum for them to communicate about technology-related matters, which helped drive the need for this type of council.

"If a trucking company is not using technology these days, it is very difficult for them to be able to compete in the workplace," said Snyder. "And technology is needed to keep track of freight moving across the entire supply chain these days."

Snyder added that ATA President and CEO and former Governor of Kansas William Graves has expressed that technology development is one of the key initiatives for the ATA in the coming years.

"What we are hearing from carriers of all sizes in the trucking industry is that they are looking around for the first time and realizing that if they don't keep up with the latest technology and logistics practices, they are kind of sunk," said Andrea Fischer, ITLC information manager. "And that is a change from earlier years when you could survive as 'mom and pop shop' without a lot of extra investment in technology, but that is not the case anymore.

"We had a huge number of members express the need for such a council, because there are so many new technologies and practices in the trucking industry, and it is not the same industry it was even ten years ago. This is a group that can help trucking companies [with technology] and get together to figure out what the best practices are for new technologies or logistics."

In terms of the types of best practices the ITLC will focus on, Snyder and Fischer cited the various languages that are used uniformly across the trucking industry such as EDI (electronic data interchange) as one example.

"EDI has been around a long time, but more and more suppliers and consignees are demanding that trucking companies use it as a mechanism to communicate," said Snyder. "They want electronic versions of their bill of lading and other documents to be able to get up to the minute information on their freight. Everybody is looking for just-in-time type deliveries, and in order for motor carriers to be able to work with other organizations-by providing data through EDI or Web interfaces or XML [extensible markup language]-that is one aspect of how technology can help."

And in a more practical manner, Fischer explained how some shippers are increasingly demanding that their carriers submit electronic invoices along with other basic back office functions that carriers deal with every day and have typically centered on paper-based processes for things like invoicing, as well as counting on telephone-based communications to track a truck's location. More shippers are demanding from their carriers that this information be more accessible through electronic methods, Fischer added.

The concept of RFID was mentioned by Snyder and Fischer as a possible technology-based best practice, as it relates to carriers helping shippers. Fischer explained that at a recent meeting held by a technology standards-setting association she attended, RFID-related standards were introduced and discussed for the first time as something that will affect how truckers use RFID to track freight for shippers. While the actual technology is still too premature to deploy in the trucking industry, Fischer said that the industry is starting to "look at all these things we thought would be fads...may [actually] be things we have to start to pay more attention to."

In trucking, said Snyder, there is more than just using RFID to track a package. RFID has the potential to be widely used on a pallet or a trailer so that [carriers and shippers] can track the movement of larger quantities of freight, as opposed to scanning individual packages as they are removed from a truck with a barcode scanner.

Next steps for the ITLC:
Going forward, Snyder said the ITLC will hold an annual conference for its members from June 1-4 in Chicago next year. And the council's membership will also communicate and meet via monthly or quarterly Webinars and forums to discuss various best practices, technology-, and logistics-related issues. He added that the council's Web site will also provide channels for members to communicate with one another.
Another important "next step" cited by Fischer is getting industry involvement and buy-in from carriers that have expressed interest in the ITLC in order to know what issues they better need to educate themselves on, which is something the Webinars will be helpful with, she said.

Members matter:
Membership in the ITLC is not restricted to ATA carrier members only, according to Snyder. It is also open to software vendors, suppliers, and transportation brokers, among others.

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