C.H. Robinson Launches AI Agents to Combat Industrywide Problem of Missed LTL Pickups

The logistics provider's new tech and data are making LTL carrier networks more efficient – eliminating unnecessary trips and giving shippers better service and earlier visibility

C.H. Robinson, the global leader in Lean AI supply chains, is using artificial intelligence to ease a widespread pain point in less-than-truckload shipping: missed pickups. New AI agents are tracking down missed pickups and using advanced reasoning to determine how to keep freight moving. They're also collecting and analyzing previously unavailable data that LTL carriers are now using to improve their technology, scheduling and operations.

This innovation has created a major leap in efficiency: 95% of checks on missed LTL pickups have been automated, saving over 350 hours of manual work per day. Shippers' freight moves up to a day faster. Unnecessary return trips to pick up missed freight have been reduced by 42% – a win for carriers and shippers.

With one truck carrying freight from up to 20 different shippers, LTL shipping requires complex coordination to pick it all up, take it to a terminal and recombine it on other trucks with other freight heading the same direction. Across the industry, that leads to missed pickups and costly delays that ripple through LTL networks.

"A missed pickup isn't just a minor inconvenience," said Greg West, Vice President for LTL. "When a truck arrives and the freight or packaging isn't ready, or the carrier couldn't make it because they got stuck in traffic, it forces another truck to come back the next day. That might not even be our shipper's freight, but it creates a domino effect for other freight that was supposed to get picked up and for all the other trucks down the line."

At C.H. Robinson, which moves more LTL freight than any other 3PL in North America, the new AI agents are resolving hundreds of shipments a day across more than 11,000 customers so far.

"Before this transformational tech, teams of people spent over half the day chasing missed pickups – manually checking carrier websites, making calls, recording updates and notifying customers," said West. "If we couldn't nail down the shipment's status, we'd have to retender it and carriers would send another truck, often to find the freight still wasn't ready or had already been picked up. Now that all that time and capacity aren't being wasted, it keeps other shippers' freight from getting delayed."

To make this speed and precision possible, a new AI agent calls carriers about missed pickups and then another new AI agent decides what steps to take. Because the two AI agents working together can make 100 calls and 100 decisions simultaneously, missed pickups are resolved faster, freight gets on the road faster, and shippers and their receivers get visibility to their freight sooner without hours of manual intervention. The AI agents also give carriers new problem-solving capabilities they never had before.

"Sharing our new missed-pickup data with carriers every day allows them to see which electronic communications could be improved, isolate operational issues to particular terminals and optimize their scheduling," said West. "Having more efficient LTL networks nationwide benefits our employees, carriers and customers – and everybody else who uses LTL shipping."

Vice President for Artificial Intelligence Mark Albrecht calls it a perfect demonstration of Lean AI – C.H. Robinson's unique, disciplined approach to artificial intelligence.

"We don't just throw AI at anything and everything," Albrecht said. "It's not a hobby for us. We use AI agents only where they can deliver tangible business results. Our Lean AI processes helped us uncover the extent of time wasted in handling missed pickups and where artificial intelligence had the most potential to augment our automation software. The agents first started assisting the small- and medium-size customers who use our Freightquote platform. Then in July we started scaling the agents across our LTL customers, giving them faster, smarter, better supply chains."

These new agents in C.H. Robinson's fleet of 30+ AI agents join others that C.H. Robinson built for LTL. AI agents also handle LTL price quotes, orders, freight classification, shipment tracking and proof of delivery.

ABOUT C.H. ROBINSON

C.H. Robinson is the global leader in Lean AI supply chains. For more than a century, companies everywhere have looked to us to reimagine how goods move. Now, as we redefine what's next for the industry, that same drive fuels our commitment to Building Tomorrow's Supply Chains, Today™. Trusted by 83,000 customers and 450,000 carriers, we manage an unmatched 37 million shipments annually, representing $23 billion in freight. We deliver tailored solutions across the world via truckload, less-than-truckload, ocean, air and more. With our unique combination of human insight and Lean AI working as one, supply chains move faster, smarter and more sustainably. As a responsible global citizen, we proudly contribute millions to the causes that matter most to our employees. Find out more at chrobinson.com. (NASDAQ:CHRW)

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Maria Lettman

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