Locus enhances Last Mile Logistics Platform to transform retail & courier logistics
These enhancements are purpose-built to address industry-specific pain points & unlock greater opportunities in customers’ last-mile operations than ever before
San Francisco, CA – May 03, 2023 – In its ongoing commitment to helping enterprises seamlessly manage all stages of their last-mile operations, Locus – a global last-mile logistics technology company – today announced industry-specific enhancements of its premier, order-to-delivery Dispatch Management Platform for its growing retail, 3PL and CEP customer bases. These new features serve to unlock greater opportunities across all layers of the fulfillment ecosystem.
Retail and ecommerce brands must have the right technology in place to understand their real-world delivery constraints, fulfill delivery promises at scale, use the full potential of their fleets, and facilitate seamless order-to-delivery experiences that keep customers coming back. Locus has introduced several enhancements that cater to retail and ecommerce, including:
-Powering superior consumer experiences: Retail can exceed consumer expectations by offering flexible and convenient delivery options with Delivery Linked Checkout, which optimizes deliveries via capacity-led slot bookings and includes multi-speed and time-definite delivery options for same- & next-day shipments. While Locus’ Order Management & Route Planning capabilities ensure seamless returns by optimizing reverse logistics, cancellations and reattempts with advanced routing
-Enabling powerful omnichannel retail experiences: Retailers can provide consumers market-leading omnichannel fulfillment with Locus ShipFlex, which automates entire carrier workflows for optimal pricing and delivers end-to-end visibility of order-to-doorstep deliveries across in-house, contracted, and outsourced fleets. Cross-fleet Utilization facilitates efficient and cost-effective fulfillment by deploying the same fleet across different legs and business. Whereas Dark Store Optimization allows retailers to centralize dark store, in-store, and FC fulfillment on a single platform
3PLs and CEPs must also keep up with today’s staggering volume of shipments to build long-term relationships with the e-tailers and manufacturers they support. Locus’ technology enables faster and more efficient last-mile logistics by automating planning processes and enhancing real-time visibility, providing an easier way to manage challenging returns and cancellations, and connecting the dots across their operations and data. New enhancements to enable 3PLs & CEPs to perform at their best include:
-Bringing efficiencies at scale to meet peak demand: Businesses can enable Daily Dynamic Optimization to optimize their routes and capacity allocation on a daily basis, thereby staying abreast with daily & seasonal fluctuations in capacity and demand. Similarly, Dynamic Zone Planning allows for the creation of daily custom zone clusters to ensure delivery capacity meets demand levels while optimizing on-ground resources. Finally, automated parcel sorting & processing allows for the accurate dispatch of orders in minimal time
-Transporter Management: Allows carriers to bring all transporters onto a single platform to easily assign orders/routes to them at scale, thereby reducing the risk of deadlock if some transporters out of commission.
“Locus has elevated our logistics operations to new heights of performance and productivity. Their advanced parcel sorting technology, combined with geocoding and route allocation, has transformed our order processing, resulting in faster order cycle times and 95% route mapping accuracy. The cost savings from reduced overhead resources have been a major boost to our bottom line. Locus has been an invaluable partner in our journey towards logistics excellence.” said Juster Correia, General Manager of Operations, BlueDart-DHL.
“The dramatic acceleration of online commerce channels coupled with dynamic customer preferences have spurred the growth of the Mexican e-grocery sector. Enabling convenience and faster deliveries has become the differentiator for business in this space. Thanks to Locus's real-world ready dispatch management platform, we’ve improved our order visibility, optimized our delivery routes, enhanced our communication with rider personnel, and increased our on-time delivery performance, consequently increasing our customer satisfaction. Our partnership with Locus also helped us scale our business consistently and build brand loyalty amongst customers.” said Juan Pablo Diaz Rodriguez, Head of Last Mile of Jüsto.
“We’re constantly evolving alongside our customers in ways that give them a competitive edge and the latest updates to our Dispatch Management Platform are in direct response to their everyday needs,” said Nishith Rastogi. “Our solutions have already reduced dispatch planning time by 75%, minimized sorting time by 60%, and slashed 25% in operational costs for both industries, and we still see so much opportunity ahead.”
For more information, visit: locus.sh
About Locus
Locus’ order-to-delivery dispatch management software helps enterprises transform their Last-Mile logistics from cost centers to revenue generators through advanced optimization algorithms and intuitive workflow automation. Backed by GIC Singapore, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, and Falcon Edge, it has helped many global customers across industries – Unilever, Nestle, Bukalapak, The Tata Group, BlueDart, etc. – execute 850 million deliveries across 30+ countries. Its technology has also helped save $275 million in transit costs and offset 10 million kilograms in CO2 emissions while maintaining a 99.5% SLA adherence ratio.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.