Load One is developing custom software applications and databases through an exclusive multiyear agreement with App Nouveau Canada, founded by Ed De Leon (far right), who also founded Sylectus, a web-based transportation management system. Pictured from left: Gabe Prestia, CIO of ANC; Paito Anderson, CTO of ANC; John Elliott, CEO of Load One; and Ed De Leon. Photo by Mary Rosecrans.Load One’s technology is fueled by a data replication process. The company’s data center at its headquarters in Taylor, Mich., replicates a live database from its web-based Sylectus transportation management system to a separate database hosted in the Microsoft Azure cloud.
Load One is developing custom software applications and databases in Azure through an exclusive multiyear agreement with App Nouveau Canada, a partnership Elliott established in March 2017. Ed De Leon, who founded ANC at that time, and programmers at the software consulting firm have a deep knowledge of the Sylectus database. De Leon was one of the founders of Sylectus, a division of fleet management systems provider Omnitracs.
With Elliott’s guidance, ANC programmers moved quickly to develop software and incorporate user feedback to differentiate Load One in the expedite market.
“I like technologies, and so I like to push and do things,” Elliott says. “The collaborative effort between our technology guys, our staff and our drivers is phenomenal.”
The first project Load One completed with ANC in September 2017 was a customer mobile app, Load One Track, that gives customers total transparency of their shipments from dispatch through delivery, among other self-service functions.
Soon afterward, the team developed a system that automates the laborious process of monitoring “bid boards,” the private websites that third-party logistics providers and shipper customers use to communicate bid requests and load offers to carriers. The sites are most common for Load One’s automotive industry customers, Elliott says.
As an expedited transportation and freight management provider, Load One has to act quickly to secure offers via phone, email, websites and electronic data interchange tenders. Photo by Mary Rosecrans.The operations department had to monitor numerous bid boards to find loads. It also searched the Sylectus TMS to find available trucks and drivers within range and to verify those assets had the right payload and dimensions for the offers.
Load One’s fleet is comprised of cargo vans, straight trucks, tractor-trailers and a specialized curtainside trailer division.
With the new bidding system, offers are extracted from the websites and matched with available assets and drivers in Sylectus. Offers that don’t match are declined automatically, which “saves us huge man-hours,” says Elliott.
Offers that match are presented instantly to dispatchers via the TMS to accept or decline, upon which the system sends an immediate response to the customer through EDI and other electronic channels.
About the award
Commercial Carrier Journal’s editors recognize innovators throughout the year and select one for special recognition as the CCJ Innovator of the Year. Innovators considered for the current award were those recognized in the magazine in 2018.
Innovation in any aspect of the operation is eligible for recognition. To qualify, the carrier must operate at least 10 power units in Classes 3-8 and maintain a satisfactory safety rating, if rated. Selection of innovators for recognition is at the sole discretion of CCJ’s editorial staff.
This year’s award was announced and presented at the CCJ Innovators Summit, a networking event for current and prior-year CCJ Innovators held Feb. 7-9 in Key Largo, Fla. Representatives of the innovative trucking operations updated one another on their initiatives.
The CCJ Innovators program is sponsored by Cummins, Freightliner Trucks, Omnitracs and Shell Lubricants. For more information on the program and links to previously recognized CCJ Innovators or to fill out the online nomination form, go to CCJInnovators.com, or contact Jeff Crissey, CCJ editor, at 205-248-1244.
