Land O’ Lakes, Inc. Partners With Uber Freight For Seamless Texas Lane

Uber Freight transforms Land O’Lakes, Inc.’s supply chain, one route at a time

Problem

• In a capacity-constrained freight market, Land O’Lakes found themselves searching for a way to leverage new, innovative technology to increase their competitive edge.

Solution

• They partnered with Uber Freight to coordinate the movement of their FTL freight around the country, taking advantage of Uber Freight’s vast network of owner operators and small carriers.

Results

• Through the partnership, Land O’Lakes has seen the emergence of a fully optimized lane in Texas (Nacogdoches and Ft. Worth) that now operates seamlessly with little to no touch.

Land O’Lakes, Inc. is a farmer-owned cooperative, proud of their rich, 100-year history. Founded in 1921 by a group of dairy farmers with a shared idea for better product distribution, the company has since seen rapid growth into new markets. They are currently one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States, and they also have thriving animal nutrition and crop protection divisions. Headquartered in Arden Hills, MN, they move billions of dollars of goods across the country and around the world every year.

As they have scaled, Land O’Lakes has needed to continuously innovate on their supply chain to ensure that it is robust enough to keep up with the business, and elastic enough to meet unpredictable demand. On any given day Land O’Lakes may be delivering milk and butter to supermarkets around the country, or picking up and dropping off animal feed to facilities across the midwest.

“Uber Freight’s premise is all about bringing technology and innovation into different industries…partnering with them allows us to continue that transformation and become more of a technology and innovation company.” Yone Dewberry, Chief Supply Chain Officer Just over a year ago, Land O’Lakes partnered with Uber Freight as a tech-forward freight marketplace that could facilitate dry van and reefer freight across both contract and spot loads. At its core, Uber Freight works by streamlining the booking process for carriers and connecting them with the right loads for their business. Loads from shippers are posted directly into the Uber Freight app, where carriers and their drivers can see full details up-front and book loads instantly with the touch of a button. With features that allow drivers to customize load preferences based on current and desired locations, and available equipment, Uber Freight helps maximize trailer utilization and keep carriers moving. Uber Freight’s commitment to unlocking this capacity has enabled Land O’Lakes to move their freight faster and at scale, with minimal effort.

Since partnering with Uber Freight, Land O’Lakes has seen extraordinary results on a particular lane in Texas between Nacogdoches and Ft. Worth, where nearly 100% of loads are moved via the Uber Freight app. Loads appear in the app and are quickly booked by nearby carriers. Lane optimization not only allows Land O’Lakes to take a hands-off approach to facilitating shipments, saving time and money — it also means that carriers and drivers who favor that lane can benefit from the consistent volume of available loads.

“Two, three, four years down the road, this could very much be the way the entire industry needs to operate in order to compete. And we think that Uber Freight really is at the front of the curve in terms of solving the technology piece.” Nicholas Najjar, Senior Manager Transportation The power of this kind of efficiency was demonstrated recently on a Saturday when a carrier dropped a Land O’Lakes shipment. Given manpower constraints that typically exist over the weekend, it was difficult to facilitate a manual re-booking. Instead, the load was re-posted on the Uber Freight app and picked up by a new carrier within two minutes. The load was delivered on time. Without Uber Freight, the load might have been delayed for hours or even days. Examples like this happen daily.

The Ft. Worth lane is only the beginning. As the partnership grows, Uber Freight and Land O’Lakes are excited to replicate this efficiency on routes across the country.

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