The Trucking Crisis

The Trucking Crisis

Article by Maura Falk, Associate Editor

Jon Schultz, Westfalia Technologies, Inc. weighs in on the current trucking crisis in a recent interview by IMPO. According to Schultz, “the current trucking crisis is having an effect on warehouse and manufacturing operations. To combat the crisis, automation now needs to change to help fulfill orders appropriately.”

What is the trucking crisis? The trucking crisis is ultimately related to a lack of drivers, which in turn means a lack of trucks and a lack of shipments. Companies are faced with dropped shipments and are beginning to find trucking unreliable. With unreliable trucking, companies are questioning how they can pick up the slack, and keep product moving out the door.

In the article, Schultz is quoted saying, “What we have done is really look at the problem, and figured out how we could help our customers,” explains Schultz. “How can we eliminate the tension time? How can we prepare those orders just in time, instead of in advance? Because if you prepare them in advance, and the truck doesn’t show up, you have just clogged up your warehouse, and you have product with nowhere to go.”

Schultz also goes on to say that trends show the industry is moving towards order fulfillment because of complexity of orders. This will not only help with the trucking crisis but reduce travel time which results in reduced cost.

Order fulfillment solutions that can be implemented into a warehouse or manufacturing operations include the following:

• Pick-by-voice
• Pick-by-light
• Pick-by-label
• Radio Frequency (RF) Mobile Picking
• Automated Layer and Case Picking

To read more from the IMPO article, click here