Schneider’s pursuit of innovation lands it on 2020 FreightTech 25 list
From its humble beginnings with just one truck back in 1935, Schneider has grown to become one of the top providers of transportation and logistics services, with over $5 billion in annual revenue.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin-based company’s cutting-edge solutions in trucking, intermodal, brokerage, supply chain management and port logistics earned it the No.16 spot on FreightWaves’ list of the most innovative and disruptive companies.
Over the past four to six months, said Erin Van Zeeland, senior vice president and general manager of logistics services of Schneider, the company has expanded its carrier reach by utilizing two strategic load boards, partnering with Trucker Tools and Truckstop.com.
Schneider is partnering with these load boards to help deploy its digital freight matching technology that utilizes its own network of more than 30,000 carriers, along with other companies, including owner-operators, that are looking for their next loads.
“We are really hoping that through these alliances, we clearly differentiate ourselves in terms of putting the carrier experience at the center of what we’re trying to create, and this is a great way to do that,” Van Zeeland told FreightWaves.
Carriers using Schneider’s “book-it-now” tools can instantly find a load from a trusted network of brokers, she said.
“We are trying to create some transparency between our shippers and carriers in the marketplace,” Van Zeeland said. “What our carriers like from our standpoint is all of our freight is real freight that is going to move in the third-party market, and if you are the carrier that this load is a right fit for, you don’t have to negotiate, haggle or even bid — it’s yours.”
Schneider said it remains on the cutting edge of technology by gathering information from its moving assets and its ability to apply advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to design what works best for its customers and drivers.
“What keeps us at the forefront from an innovation perspective is our ability to take all of the information we derive from different sources and develop an efficient network that works best for our customers and drivers,” Shaleen Devgun, chief information officer of Schneider, told FreightWaves.
Schneider’s core focus on investing $100 million each year toward next-generation innovation allows the company to provide its carrier and customers best-in-class service, Devgun said.
“We’ve moved from a hardware-based solution to a truly software-based marketplace that allows us to push content out to our drivers,” he said. “We’re able to use technology to gauge where the driver is, what the work is that the driver’s doing and what jurisdictions that work is being performed in around the country.”
The company’s ability to develop “the broadest portfolio of services that exist in the logistics and transportation industry is unmatched,” Van Zeeland said.
“When you add a $1 billion logistics company, $1 billion intermodal capability and a $3 billion over-the-road network, we now have a command center that our customers can work with in one snapshot instead of making three different phone calls like they would have done just five years ago,” she said.
Companies named to the 2020 FreightTech 25 were judged by an external panel of industry experts, with voting conducted and overseen by accounting firm Katz, Sapper & Miller (KSM).
Each member of the panel ranked their top 25 companies on a 1- to-25-point basis. The companies generating the most points make up the FreightTech 25.