Our team at Uber Freight looks forward to this event all year to gather together to discuss the most pressing opportunities and challenges impacting freight transportation today. Professionals on all sides of the logistics industry will offer key insights, strategic actions, and current market and economic trends for shippers and logistics pros to keep top of mind. Hosted September 26-28 this year at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, CA, it’s an opportunity to reset and reflect before the busy season and 2024 planning take full effect.

We have a jam-packed agenda that includes keynotes from our leadership team, fireside chats with industry experts, workshops offering best practices for shippers, and networking with supply chain leaders. These sessions will spotlight the industry’s most urgent topics, from the role of artificial intelligence in logistics to the need for operational efficiency. 

In addition to looking back and planning ahead, giving back is another important part of Deliver. Together with Feeding San Diego, we invite attendees to participate in packing meals that will provide food for local families in need. Our goal is to raise $50,000 for

Feeding America through our food packing experience, along with a silent auction and charity golf tournament.

Mark your agendas to make sure you don’t miss out!

Interested in attending? It’s not too late to join us!

The role of AI in logistics

Artificial intelligence is set to change the face of supply chain and logistics management. Shippers are leveraging AI across their supply chain operations, from scheduling shipments to predicting late arrivals. Sessions highlighting the state of AI include: 

Session: Building the next generation of AI-powered autonomous trucks

• Speakers: Lior Ron, CEO of Uber Freight and Raquel Urtasun, CEO and Founder of Waabi, an AI company building the next generation of self-driving technology 
• Location/Time: Luna Ballroom, September 27, 11:00-11:45 a.m. PT
• What to expect: A discussion will offer insight into ongoing trends and upcoming developments in AI and autonomous technology. 

Session: The experts are in: AI adoption meets transportation

• Speakers: Mike Carter, founder of Vooma; Anthony Sutardja, co-founder and CEO at Parade; Viv Luu, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Uber Freight; and Val Marchevsky, Head of Engineering at Uber Freight 
• Location/Time: Breakout track, September 27, 1:00-1:45 p.m. PT
• What to expect: The panel will provide insight into the implications of optimizing supply chain and logistics operations with AI. Drawing on their experiences from various sides of the logistics industry, panelists will also speak to the infrastructure necessary for AI-powered logistics management, and how to build an effective roadmap for AI adoption. 

We’ll also explore AI in practice. Join us for a generative AI showcase on September 27, from 2:50-3:35 p.m. PT: experts will share demos of our tools in action and show how deployment across a business can deliver immediate and continuous value. 

Sustainability in the supply chain

As the world continues to experience the drastic effects of global warming, customers are expecting sustainability commitments from all companies, especially those in the transportation sector. The time for business leaders to roll out efforts to reduce their environmental impact is now. This year, we unveiled research highlighting the possibilities of network optimization by reducing empty miles. The following session will offer a deep dive into how logistics pros can take action: 

Session: Sustainable supply chain: balancing cost and climate impact

• Speakers: Mike Vogt, Director of Logistics Procurement at BASF; Eduardo Bialostozky, Director of North American Logistics at Reckitt; and Illina Frankiv, Head Of Sustainability at Uber Freight
• Location/time: Breakout track, September 27, 2:50-3:35 p.m. PT
• What to expect: By exploring the real-world constraints of reducing environmental impact while balancing cost, experts will discuss strategies to plan, measure, and calibrate efforts to rethink how networks and transportation modes can become more sustainable. The session will highlight the latest developments in electric truck adoption and infrastructure, and provide pragmatic tools to drive business growth while cultivating a sustainable future. 

Preparing to pivot for future disruptions

Needless to say, global supply chains ground to a halt during the pandemic. Volatile years ensued, and the freight economy only recently stabilized. At this year’s conference, hear from industry leaders about lessons learned from these tumultuous years, and how logistics professionals can become rebound ready and equip themselves to prepare for future service disruptions:  

Session: What permanent changes have been made in supply chains to minimize future disruptions?

• Speakers: Stephen Stewart, Director of Consumer Services and Operations at Whirlpool Canada; Matt McKinney, Director of Logistics & Distribution at Leaf Home; Chad Strohm, Transportation Operations Manager at United States Gypsum; and  Craig Watson, Vice President of Operations at Uber Freight
• Location/time: Breakout track, September 27, 1:00-1:45 p.m. PT
• What to expect: Speakers will share the changes they made within their supply chains that helped them navigate disruption. From supplier diversification to inventory optimization, these best practices will provide attendees with practical takeaways. 

Session: Prepared to pivot? How to get your transportation ready for a freight market turn

• Speakers: Randy Cooper, Director of Transportation & Supply Chain Engineering at Del Monte Foods; Renée Michelli, Head of Logistics Procurement, North America at the Henkel Corporation; and Kate Anderson, Director of Consulting at Uber Freight; and Roger Sechler, Director of Consulting at Uber Freight
• Location/time: Breakout track, September 27, 1:00-1:45 p.m. PT
• What to expect: Experts will help attendees prepare for the anticipated market shift, offering tips for leveraging technology and building fruitful partnerships to give shippers an edge in navigating the upcoming surge in demand.

Leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency

How can shippers embrace innovation to improve efficiency without risking disruptions to service? Embracing new technology is key, which we’ll explore in the following discussions:

Session: Balancing innovation with traditional service expectations

• Speakers: Rajib Sarkar, Logistics Analytics Leader at Colgate-Palmolive; and Olivia Hu, Head of Autonomous Trucking Strategy & Business Development at Uber Freight, 
• Location/time: Breakout track, September 27, 1:00-1:45 p.m. PT
• What to expect: A discussion on meeting traditional service expectations from customers and stakeholders while embracing innovative tech solutions. Geared toward shippers of all sizes, this session will explore tech adoption practices that preserve the service commitments at the heart of the freight industry. 

Session: Emerging trends and challenges in transportation

• Speakers: Steve Arendsen, President, North America at Tosca; and Joe Tocci, Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing and Supply Chain at IPG; and Tim Hinson, Head of TM Operations at Uber Freight
• Location/time: Breakout track, September 27, 1:55-2:40 p.m. PT
• What to expect: Experts will discuss how shippers can use technology to create effective strategies for navigating market trends. The session will explore the path to a more resilient supply chain, which involves harnessing data and analytics and industry-leading perspectives on market trends. 

Keynotes and events providing new ideas, inspiration and motivation

We can learn valuable lessons from people outside of the industry, too. Deliver will continue to spotlight notable people from across industries on the main stage:

Keynote session: Nate Mook, activist, entrepreneur, and former CEO of World Central Kitchen

• Location/time: Luna Ballroom, September 27, 4:00-5:00 p.m. PT
• What to expect: Nate Mook will discuss how to lead with purpose, adapt to disruption, and drive business growth while prioritizing a greater mission. 

Keynote session: Jill Ellis, President of the National Women’s Soccer League San Diego

• Location/time: Luna Ballroom, September 28, 8:00-9:00 a.m. PT
• What to expect: In conversation with Leigh Robinson, Head of People at Uber Freight, Jill Ellis (the winningest coach in USWNT history) will share her experiences leading a team and offer advice on how to translate courageousness, confidence, and taking risks to work and life.
  

Keynote session: Piercing through the noise: Alan Beaulieu, President of ITR Economics

• Location/time: Luna Ballroom, September 28, 10:15-11:15 a.m. PT
• What to expect: Alan Beaulieu will offer a comprehensive look at the economic trends defining society today, what they mean for the future through 2025, and how they will impact attendees.
  

We look forward to seeing you at Deliver 2023!

The post 4 key freight themes shippers will explore at Deliver 2023 appeared first on Uber Freight.

More than 500 people attended the conference at La Cantera Resort & Spa, which featured keynotes and discussions highlighting the state of the freight market after more than two years of volatility—and how shippers can evolve their logistics to better prepare their businesses for future market disruption and build more dynamic supply chain networks overall.

Here are a few highlights from this year’s event:

Powering the future of logistics

Attendees heard firsthand from Head of Uber Freight, Lior Ron about the vision to change logistics for the better. Ron’s opening keynote speech highlighted Uber Freight and Transplace’s mission to invest in innovation and further evolve their joint, scalable technology platform that powers shippers’ supply chains.

“The logistics industry was built for a world we no longer live in and it needs to adapt to a fast-changing environment. It’s not about predicting what’s next, but equipping [shippers] with tools that allow [shippers] to deal with volatility,” said Ron. “Transplace and Uber Freight merging will transform logistics to help shippers be nimble and ready to adapt to any supply chain challenge. It will be a logistics platform and partner built to help you stay ahead of a rapidly evolving world.”

Ron also stressed the importance of shippers and carriers working together—connected through a digital freight network—to build a better future for the industry. And a mission statement set the tone for the rest of the event: Our goal is to reimagine the way goods move to help communities thrive.

Technology solutions grounded in transparency, visibility and impact

Steve Barber, Senior Vice President of Platform at Transplace, and Raj Subbiah, Head of Product at Uber Freight, highlighted how the company will help shippers shift from a reactive to a proactive logistics strategy by using technology.

To provide more transparency to shippers, Uber Freight’s marketplace offers on-the-spot access to capacity and exact carrier costs; the ability to fully automate carrier sourcing or manually control the process; and procurement tools that use shippers’ historical bid data and carrier performance to help customers expand their carrier network and plan for different scenarios.

Technology will also provide more visibility by allowing shippers to personalize and manage dashboards that show shipment status and risks; real-time tracking of multiple shipment modes using APIs; and access to carrier feedback on facilities, which shippers can use to make necessary changes.

There’s a clear vision for the impact this technology will have on the future of freight. Scaling these solutions will allow more than 100 countries to use any shipping mode of their choice, from LTL to autonomous trucks to ocean and air. And Uber Freight has set goals to cut carbon emissions among shippers and carriers, specifically by reducing deadhead miles by 25% and reducing truck idling time by more than 40%.

Taking action on the future of logistics

There are many steps shippers can take—particularly around sustainability, technology, data and scenario planning—to adapt their logistics strategies for the future, as was spotlighted in a number of Deliver mainstage and panel sessions.

Creating more sustainable supply chains is critical to reduce freight’s environmental impact. Uber Freight Head of Sustainability, Illina Frankiv in conversation with experts from multiple Fortune 500 shippers highlighted why sustainability is a core component of their transportation strategies, their short-term and long-term goals to reduce carbon emissions and steps all companies can take to measure their environmental impact and efficiently implement more eco-friendly practices.

The importance of including new technologies and automation to complement manual shipping operations was also a major throughline at the conference. The evolution of autonomous trucks, in particular, was a key talking point.

Olivia Hu, Head of Autonomous Trucking Strategy and Business Development at Uber Freight; Joanna Buttler, Director of the Autonomous Vehicle Program at Daimler Trucks North America; and Charlie Jatt, Head of Commercialization at Waymo, discussed the opportunity to transform transportation and logistics with the introduction of autonomous trucks. Joanna and Charlie highlighted how autonomous trucks could improve transportation capacity, safety and efficiency, as well as an industry roadmap for eventually seeing a rollout of autonomous trucks at scale that will operate side by side with human drivers. To support the vision, Deliver attendees also had a chance to see the technology in action—an autonomous Waymo truck drove around the event venue during the conference’s second day.

Technology and data innovations to power shipper business operations and supply chain decisions were also captured during Deliver’s interactive breakout sessions. During a session spotlighting startups, Ian White, CEO of Koffie Insurance, and Elliot O’Connor, founder and CEO Frontier, discussed how shippers can effectively use technology in the hiring, insurance and drayage sectors of their business. Meanwhile, experts from Uber Freight and other Fortune 500 companies offered actionable steps for shippers to improve how they use data to inform logistics decisions.

Deliver’s ongoing theme of preparing logistics for the future naturally set the stage for the conference’s Q4 outlook panel. Chris Caplice, Senior Research Scientist at MIT; Mazen Danaf, Senior Economist and Applied Scientist at Uber Freight; Ben Cubitt, Senior Vice President of Consulting at Transplace; and Matthew Harding, Senior Vice President of Data Science at Transplace, touched on important insights for shippers such as how to navigate rate fluctuations, capacity challenges and procurement heading into a potentially soft market in the first half of 2023, and a tight market in the latter half.

Standout keynotes and giving back

Along with hearing from industry pros, Deliver attendees also had the opportunity to experience moving, exciting and informative keynotes from notable speakers including David Robinson, former player for the San Antonio Spurs, who discussed the highs and lows of his basketball career, and the importance of giving back to local communities in need; supply chain professional and Managing Director at EY John Polowczyk, who provided a firsthand account of how he came to lead the White House supply chain task force at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; and CNBC economist Marci Rossell, who offered insight on the most important long-term issues for the economy that should be top of mind.

Deliver 2022 was more than just a gathering about the future of freight and logistics, however—it was also about giving back. This year, we partnered with Feeding America and the San Antonio Food Bank to raise money and pack kid-friendly meals for families in need. We’re thrilled to announce that we packed nearly 2,000 meals and raised $75,000!

We’re grateful to all of the shippers, customers and speakers that made it to Deliver this year. While there will always be challenges and uncertainty, it’s clear that our industry is dedicated to building new strategies that will impact the future of freight for the better. Thank you for attending Deliver 2022, and we look forward to seeing you at next year’s event!

The post Deliver 2022 recap: Reimagining the future of logistics appeared first on Uber Freight.