Mid-Market Process Manufacturer finds 6% savings with Loop

Before Loop: complex freight data & processes challenges

In early 2023, they faced many challenges in making strong network decisions. With five primary carriers, they struggled to optimize costs while maintaining service levels during seasonal peaks.

The team lacked a centralized system for managing and processing key documents containing invoice, contract, and carrier network data. In an ideal world, they would be able to easily access the key data that lives in those documents, since it heavily informs their network and financial strategies. But without it, they’re operating on outdated or incorrect data, or gut instinct alone.

Not having a centralized system or streamlined processes for doc and data management also created operational challenges. Their teams were stuck manually processing thousands of shipments across multiple systems, which took 48 hours. This turnaround time was expensive and error-prone.

Cost of transportation

Before Loop, the team charged every customer a flat rate of 8% of the revenue order for their freight cost. This one-size-fits-all approach masked significant variations in actual shipping expenses.

Loop's technology exposed these inconsistencies. Loop discovered that freight costs ranged from 6% to 20% for different customers. This meant that some customers were significantly underpaying for freight (up to 14%!) which cut into their profit. Whereas for the customers that were paying 6%, they had 2% that went straight to their profit margin. 

No leverage against rising carrier rates

Despite a soft freight market, their carriers increased rates by  7-10%. While they invested in strong carrier relationships, they lacked the data to effectively negotiate rates. 

Their largest carrier handled nearly 50% of shipment volume, but they struggled to leverage this volume for better pricing. Without detailed performance metrics, they couldn't quantify their value as a shipper or justify more favorable terms.

Blind spots in lane optimization

The team ships LTL and FTL but no data on lane-level performance made it difficult to optimize carrier allocation. When opportunities arose to onboard new carriers, they lacked the analytical tools to properly evaluate these options against incumbent carrier effective rates.

Costly errors from bad data

The root cause of their challenges was incorrect master data in their TMS, which caused errors in their shipment documentation. During a quarterly business review, Loop highlighted that 70% of their shipments with their largest LTL carrier had reweighs, resulting in over $15K in annual charges. 

This is troublesome for two reasons. First, if they are invoicing their customers based on quotes when they tender to carriers, these additional reweigh costs might not be factored in, meaning they lose money. 

Or, if these costs are being factored, carriers come to expect inaccurate quotes. They will lose the trust they’ve worked to build. Loop’s success team suggested the team improve their BOL/Packing list to include both net weight and gross weights to alleviate reweigh charges. 

This was just one of the ways that Loop’s AI and dedicated team of supply chain experts transformed their operations.

Reduced overcharges by 63%

Loop deployed a comprehensive solution that uplevels performance through three key components: eliminate manual audits, improve carrier compliance, and analytics that enable strategic planning.

Before, the team had to manually sift through individual invoices to understand carrier performance. But with Loop’ self-service analytics, they can see every carriers’ charges in aggregate and down to a line item level. 

All they have to do is send Loop their shipment documents via email or API. Loop’s logistics-AI then extracts each data point and cleans the data (fixes spelling errors, removes duplicates, etc.), standardizes it, links unique tracking IDs across documents and carriers, and then automates general ledger coding. Loop’s dynamic AI easily adapts to handle new carriers, contracts, data sources, and document formats.

Within the first nine months with Loop, they achieved remarkable improvements across their operations. 

Loop identified $10,000 in overcharges and reduced linehaul-related overcharges by 63.2%. Fuel surcharge discrepancies decreased by 23.3%, while accessorial-related overcharges dropped by 13.5%. 

And that’s just the beginning.

1. 99.9% automation with 100% compliance

Loop implemented real-time monitoring of +45 cost variables per shipment (i.e. linehaul, carrier rates, lanes, etc.) integrating with five carrier billing systems. The system automatically validates contractual rates and accessorials, while systematically tracking weight variances and reweigh patterns. 

Loop’s automation reduced their previous +48 hour manual audit processes to three hours.

2. Improved carrier compliance & collaboration 

Loop’s homegrown AI standardized BOL data across all locations and automated weight calculations to include pallet weights. By implementing digital document management, the team reduced processing time, improved accuracy, and saved money. But the impact extended beyond their four walls—this newfound clarity in transportation data trickled down to improved collaboration with carriers.

With standardized and accurate shipment documentation, carriers could rely on consistent, error-free data, reducing disputes, delays, and unexpected fees. This transparency fostered trust, making carriers more willing to negotiate favorable rates and prioritize their shipments. 

Additionally, Loop’s proactive compliance monitoring helped them stay ahead of carrier requirements, preventing documentation issues before they even occurred. 

3. Analytics that enable strategic planning

Loop delivers custom dashboards tracking carrier performance metrics and real-time visibility into accessorial charge patterns. The analytics suite enables strategic planning for volume management and provides automated trend analysis for rate optimization.

This is critical in tougher markets with inflation pressures. They experienced this last year. Their carriers expected price increases, so the team tried to negotiate a decrease, but their carriers refused. They came to Loop for help. 

Together with Loop, they presented the carriers with the total amount of business available, giving them more detail so they could be incentivized by all the business they’re not handling - but could be. Part of the team’s strategy in doing business has always been nurturing their relationships with a small group of premium carriers. By not putting this package in front of a wide range of new carriers, this only fueled trust and built upon an already great relationship. The results? 

Their negotiations kept the new rates, but changed the carrier mix for an overall reduction, ultimately leading to a net wash in pricing. A significant success in avoiding 7 - 10% increase.

Loop enables stronger carrier relationships and strategic volume allocation which are both critical to minimizing price increases, even in challenging markets.

Looking Forward

Loop helps the team make data driven decisions that drive growth while maintaining operational excellence.

Their partnership with Loop has transformed their freight management from a manual, reactive process to a strategic, proactive operation. 

They can now optimize carrier relationships through performance-based lane allocation and set up for successful contract negotiations. Loop’s automation and high-quality data provide the foundation for their ability to continue to scale leaps and bounds.

Get started with Loop to see how we can add value to your supply chain.