How Uber Freight helped LG improve the carrier experience at a key facility

Building a cost-efficient supply chain isn’t limited to maximizing a truck’s time on the road. Inefficiencies at shipping facilities cost both truck drivers and shippers—$1.3 billion for carriers alone in 2018. 

One company dedicated to optimizing its supply chain is LG Electronics USA. LG’s supply chain is just as far-reaching as its product line. And to help strengthen performance at its shipping facilities, LG leveraged data available from Uber Freight.

“Running an efficient facility is required to keep our business moving forward, and this particular facility consistently underperformed the rest of our network.”

Jeung Un-Choi
Logistics & Transportation Manager, LG Electronics USA

Data-driven solutions

Uber Freight launched a number of tools and features last year that gave visibility into the day-to-day performance of customer facilities. 

In January 2019 Uber Freight released facility ratings, a feature enabling carriers and drivers to leave feedback directly in the Uber Freight app on the locations they visit. Since then, Uber Freight also released our Facility Insights Report (first in June 2019, then in January 2020), a comprehensive look at the data and trends captured from facility ratings left by carriers and drivers. 

Shippers also have access to freight insights, a dashboard displaying key performance metrics around facility ratings—data points that are valuable tools that can impact improvement.

Dwell-time dilemma

Looking at data from Uber Freight’s facility ratings, LG found operations at most of its distribution centers to be healthy. One high-density facility in Georgia, however, was in need of improvement.

This particular site was one of LG’s lowest-rated, with an above-average dwell time of nearly 3 hours. This led to LG working with the Uber Freight team on-site to help implement the right solutions. 

“Our data confirmed the challenges that LG identified: high dwell times, low ratings. We sent a team to walk the facility, and work together with the LG team to identify solutions.”

Sameer Dohadwala
Head of Central Operations, Uber Freight

At the Georgia facility,  LG made the following changes to reduce driver wait times and unlock higher facility ratings:

• Dock Management: Moved drop trailers from outbound dock doors with less capacity and high variability to receiving docks.
• Staffing: Created a swing shift to minimize the effect of staffing transitions during peak periods in the day.
• Appointment flexibility: Instituted flexible appointments to decrease dwell time.

Measurable results

After LG implemented these changes, dwell time decreased by over an hour, and ratings increased by 0.6 points. 

• 14% increase in average facility rating | 3.7 to 4.3
• 38% (64 minutes) decrease in average dwell time | 2 hrs 47min (167min) to 1hr 43min (103min)

In total, the Georgia site saw a 14% increase in its average rating, moving from 3.7 to 4.3 stars, and a 38% decrease in average dwell time, from nearly 3 hours to just 1 hour and 43 minutes. The new average dwell time rests below the widely accepted industry average of 2 hours. This improvement was right in line with what our initial Facility Insights Report revealed: the top reason for a 5-star rating at any facility was speed.

Time drivers saved at the facility after the changes were made? Over an hour. 

The increase in facility rating correlates with another key metric improvement. Loads from higher-rated facilities are booked on the Uber Freight app much faster than from lower-rated facilities. For LG, average sessions—the number of times a load is viewed—to booking decreased from 16.21 to 8.38 after facility changes were implemented.

“We saw an immediate improvement in the facility performance—all captured by the data available in Uber Freight Insights.”

Paul Heffernan
Vice President Supply Chain, LG Electronics USA

The team at Uber Freight was very excited to see these results. They continue to work with the LG logistics team to expand these programs across their network and bring innovation to the industry together.

“Our team was very excited to see these results. We’re already working with the LG team to expand these insights and programs across more facilities in their network, as we look to bring new ideas and innovation to this industry together,” said Sameer.