With Jeff Grimwood, Managing Director of Operations at Wood-Hall Logistics
Company
Wood-Hall Logistics is a full-service logistics and freight management company, offering a range of transportation solutions, based on the specific needs of the customer.
Headquarters
Breslau, Canada
Industry
Freight Brokerage
Product Features used
Wood-Hall Logistics Inc. differentiates itself within the transportation and logistics industry through their commitment to providing superior operations and transparency for all of their valued clients. They've strengthened their reputation for superior operations by recruiting and training dedicated professionals who are encouraged to seek creative solutions tailored to specific customer needs and continuously look to improve their value within the marketplace through innovation and technology.
For any freight broker, one of the biggest sources of worry is the fear of the unexpected. Whether it's an unforeseen delay, a routine ELD-mandated break, or just a delay at the dock, the frustration of not being able to monitor and track your loads is a huge barrier - especially when deliveries are time sensitive. How can freight brokers provide added value to their shippers? At Wood-Hall Logistics, this was exactly the problem and opportunity that President Jeff Grimwood saw. A veteran freight broker, many of his customers wanted to provide current and accurate tracking updates to their staff & customers.
To provide this service manually, it would require a dedicated team of dispatchers, hundreds of check calls, and constant back-and-forth between Wood-Hall Logistics (the freight broker), their shippers and carriers. Not only does this prevent a cost issue from increased headcount, the high amount of manual data entry for load statuses across emails, calls and texts increased the chance of embarrassing mistakes.
Jeff knew that this wasn't just an isolated problem - it was an opportunity that he could use to benefit both Wood-Hall Logistics and his freight brokerage's shippers.
That's why Jeff chose FreightPath to provide real-time track and trace to both himself and his shippers.
There's plenty of track-and-trace options available on the market today. Why did Jeff choose FreightPath? He knew that providing an accurate, real-time service was just the tip of the iceberg.
Everyone at a freight brokerage is constantly moving - their schedules are packed, and there's no time to fiddle with hard-to-use software or a hundred sub-menus for tweaking. Jeff knew that finding the right TMS solution was all about ease-of-use - providing the best quality information, reliably and as easily as possible to every stakeholder involved.
"With FreightPath's track and trace software, we are able to provide our customers with a real-time shipment updates from their own computer screens."
With FreightPath's easy-to-use TMS for freight brokers, Jeff was able to provide the following compared to his competition:
In this case study we'll see how Jeff was able to accomplish this with the help of FreightPath.
The first thing that Wood-Hall Logistics was able to achieve with FreightPath was its goal of tracking their brokered loads accurately and conveniently. Jeff and the Wood-Hall team knew that having real-time status updates and track & trace was crucial to their success as a forwards-thinking freight brokerage. However, to get everyone involved - carrier dispatchers, drivers and internal brokerage staff - to buy in, he had to find a solution that was easy-to-use and didn't create extra work.
%20(4).png)
FreightPath was able to achieve this with its seamless track & trace ability built into it's freight brokerage TMS. In fact, Wood-Hall was able to accomplish this for both larger carriers and independent owner-operators. With a convenient mobile app, drivers are able to provide real-time location tracking, status alerts, and proof of delivery on the go.
What gave FreightPath the advantage over other track & trace providers was the precision of its location tracking. Using proprietary methods, FreightPath is able to provide real-time GPS tracking with minimal cellular data usage (24/7 tracking on the FreightPath mobile app uses roughly the same amount of data as scrolling on social media for a few minutes).
Of course, providing the tracking and status updates is only half of the equation. Jeff and the Wood-Hall team knew that having the best track & trace platform in the world meant nothing if they couldn't share it easily with the shippers they worked with. This is where FreightPath's white-labelled customer portal came in.
"With one easy click, our customers have access to all the important order information, including current truck location, giving them the opportunity to provide updates to their staff & customers, with peace of mind that the information is current and accurate."
Not only did FreightPath provide an easy to use interface for Wood-Hall's internal dispatchers and account managers, it also provided a simple way to share that view securely with even their largest shipper customers. The best part is that shippers didn't need to create an account or remember passwords - the single shipment customer portals made it easy for everyone to share and collaborate without the hassle of sign-ins, forgotten passwords, and lost accounts.
The final benefits of these built-in carrier and customer portals continues to be the constant access to order information and shipment documents for both carriers and shippers. With a simple online interface that works across desktop, tablet, and mobile, every stakeholder is able to take advantage of real-time information and shipment documents without the stress of hassle of check calls and endless email threads.
%20(5).png)
Here’s a quick recap of what Jeff and the Wood-Hall team were able to achieve by implementing FreightPath:
With FreightPath, Jeff and his team were able to provide an exceptional customer experience to their customers, while making the lives of their dispatchers, account managers, drivers and partner carriers easier. They also know that there are still many opportunities with current and future Wood-Hall customers where FreightPath can make a difference. In this vein, Wood-Hall is planning to expand implementation of FreightPath throughout its projects and organization - in some situations with FreightPath’s newest early release features.
"FreightPath is a valued partner in our day to day operations and we look forward to growing with their innovation and technology."
Wood-Hall Logistics has only just scratched the surface of the possibilities that FreightPath has enabled.
“With FreightPath, the ability to track freight, complete paperwork, and share updates within seconds has become invaluable; not just for my team but for my customers and carriers too.”
