Supply chain leaders share best practice at visibility conference

FourKites, a leading real-time supply chain visibility platform, has announced that its European customer conference, Visibility 2021, will be held virtually on 7th October. The theme of this year’s conference, “Go Beyond,” presents a bold vision for supply chains of the future, centred around automation, innovation and collaboration. Supply chain leaders from across Europe have the opportunity to network, share best practices and insights, and collaborate on FourKites’ product roadmap during the world’s largest virtual supply chain summit.

“FourKites‘ Visibility conference is exactly what the industry needs right now,” says Roy van der Heijden, Business Analyst at Int. Transportbedrijf van der Heijden, a leading provider of freight transportation and logistics, as well as a recent addition to FourKites Premier Carrier List.  “End-to-end, real-time transportation visibility is a key priority for all companies, big and small, and I’m excited to hear from so many industry leaders and to engage with supply chain peers at this unique event.”

Now in its fourth year, FourKites’ annual conference brings together the world’s largest community of shippers, carriers, 3PLs and freight forwarders, together with industry experts and influencers, for a series of rich information-sharing sessions, presentations and brainstorms on the future of supply chain management and automation.

Supply chain leaders from Dow, Bayer, Zebra Technologies, AB Inbev, Yara International and other customers will take part in immersive sessions that explore the next generation of international ocean freight management; best practices for improving supply chain efficiency and sustainability; how to manage disruption; and how to leverage data to make critical business decisions. FourKites will also showcase leading-edge innovations with its strategic partners Volvo Group, Qualcomm Ventures and Zebra Technologies.

Former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski will deliver the keynote address. “Leadership is never an easy task,” Parazynski said. “And with the massive disruptions and uncertainty that have arisen in the supply chain over the last couple years, it’s a truly Herculean task to be a market leader and create differentiation in a rapidly evolving market. I’m honoured to address FourKites’ audience of market leaders as they push the boundaries of what’s possible and think outside the box when it comes to innovation for the greater good of the industry.”

“We are excited to bring together this unique community of collaborative supply chain leaders across Europe,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “The pace of innovation in this industry continues to accelerate as we work together with our customers to break down barriers across today’s supply chains to enable true end-to-end visibility, analytics and automation.”

In the year since Visibility 2020, FourKites has experienced record growth in its network, including load volume growth of over 50%, with up to 2 million loads and $100 billion in freight under management at any given time; 70% YoY growth in connected facilities, now totaling 6.4 million; 140% YoY increase in ocean and rail shipments; 97% growth in air shipments; and 22% growth in connected carriers in 176 countries across road, rail, ocean, air and courier.

In addition, FourKites introduced a number of industry-first innovations, including Dynamic Yard, which extends visibility into warehouses and yards; Dynamic ETA for Air, which provides highly accurate and automated ETAs on 100% of air freight, at a time when ETAs for air shipments have only been available 40% of the time and may be off by as much as two days; as well as Dynamic OceanSM, a next-generation international ocean visibility solution that encompasses advanced document management capabilities, robust collaboration features and support for bookings, with superior end-to-end real-time tracking.

A testament to the company’s breakthrough innovations, FourKites was also recently awarded a patent for its Smart Forecasted Arrival (SFA) capabilities, which provide companies with highly frequent and accurate ETAs for freight in transit — even when that truck lacks any technology (such as ELD) to transmit location data.

In April, FourKites was named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms, and it secured $100m in funding from Thomas H. Lee Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Volvo Group Venture Capital and Zebra Technologies to continue to define the future of supply chain automation.