Technology provider BeyondTrucks recently launched the BeyondTrucks 2.0 platform, which leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence and process automation to give large fleets greater customizability and workflow functionality in their operational software.
Among the “multitude of new features” in 2.0 are more granular “flex fields,” expanded top-loading logic, and driver self-dispatching capabilities that allow fleet users with complex businesses—particularly bulk-hauling fleets—to easily tailor their transportation management system (TMS) for their unique operations.
“Two things really provoked this move to launch BeyondTrucks 2.0—A, large customers asking for it, and then B, our competitors, the large legacy providers, really not having the right answers,” BeyondTrucks CEO Hans Galland told Bulk Transporter.
Galland said BeyondTrucks 2.0 is the result of nine months of development informed by customer feedback. The California-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company rolled out the first version of its platform in January 2022. “BeyondTrucks 2.0 is the result of deep work in our mid-sized and large fleet customers’ operations,” Galland said in a news release. “Our goal was to develop a workflow automation platform that delivers a step up in productivity for all team members, cutting out operational waste created by the tools and processes they use today.”
See also: J.P. Noonan tabs BeyondTrucks to optimize operations
BeyondTrucks 2.0 was built for large fleets that are struggling with “disjointed” legacy systems, numerous “bolt-on” solutions, and “countless spreadsheets” while attempting to manage “thousands of fragmented tasks.” With more seamless workflows and data, 2.0 allows fleets to eliminate outdated processes, the company said.
“What mattered a lot to us as a complex tank truck operation was to avoid months of lost productivity from a lengthy implementation or ultimately poor adoption by our team—things we feared from implementing other systems in the past,” said Dave Uncapher, director of logistics at Kalmbach Feeds. “But a seamless workflow product that uniquely fits into our operation makes life easier for everyone on the team.
“So, everyone naturally started using it.”
Flex fields allow users to create and label fields that aren’t preconfigured, without paying for customization services. One BeyondTrucks customer is using the feature to record the names of any employees who brought an account, load, or lane to the company—a task legacy providers haven’t been able to help with, Galland maintained. “With BeyondTrucks, we built the platform in a way that is very configurable by the users themselves,” he said.
BeyondTrucks 2.0 users also can adjust driver workflows to include detailed instructions for every consignee facility and empower drivers to complete tasks on their own through the new self-dispatching feature. “Fleet users can define the specific tasks at every activity point based on the customer, commodity, equipment, or location,” Galland said.
Expanded top-loading logic makes it easier to avoid contamination by tracking prior products and correctly matching trailers and loads. “Automating that optimization decision, which currently happens in peoples’ heads, is another feature no one has built before,” Galland said. BeyondTrucks 2.0 also enables preconfigured routing algorithms for situations in which product specifics are unknown until the load is received.
BeyondTrucks 2.0 is a SaaS solution, so there are no hosting fees or upgrade charges, and software updates roll out every 2-3 weeks as part of BeyondTrucks’ subscription-based strategy to keep customers happy, Galland said.
“Our customers expect that our continued R&D efforts will help them become the most efficient fleets in their region and in the country,” Galland concluded. “We have to continually live up to those expectations so that they can go and represent the best of American trucking to the world.”
