On May 2, 2023, Amit Chowdhry for Pulse 2.0, engaged in an insightful conversation “ProvisionAi: How This Company Is Helping Manage Transportation Plans In Supply Chains” with Tom Moore, the Founder and CEO of ProvisionAi. The discussion delved into the origins, challenges, core products, milestones, and future goals of ProvisionAi, a company at the forefront of optimizing Deployment Transportation Plans.
Educational Background and Early Career
Hailing from New Zealand, Tom Moore pursued mathematics and operations research degrees before venturing to North America. His diverse experiences in basic manufacturing, truck fleet operations, and warehouse management laid the foundation for his later endeavors.
Entrepreneurial Genesis
1991, Moore established his firm, with Procter & Gamble as one of his first and enduring clients. Their collaboration initially focused on making truck loading and case picking more efficient. This success paved the way for broader innovations, including the optimal order creation addressed by the LevelLoad software.
While collaborating with a major CPG company, Moore identified a significant challenge in deployment signals disrupting truck shipment schedules. This revelation led to the conceptualization and creation of LevelLoad, a pivotal product of ProvisionAi.
Entrepreneurship runs in the Moore family, with Tom’s son, Keith, overseeing the growth of AutoScheduler.AI and ProvisionAi. Moore emphasizes the importance of a slightly unconventional mindset and the ability to view challenges uniquely.
Overcoming Hurdles
1. Awareness Challenge: Convincing companies of the transportation capacity they might be unnecessarily using.
2. Complex Technology: The intricate technology behind leveling and optimizing loading involves transit times, costs, and constraints.
3. Talent Acquisition: Building a team with intelligence and business acumen is formidable.
Holistic Approach
1. Leveling: Smoothing spikes while ensuring holistic constraints, such as space, throughput, and cost, are met across the entire network.
2. Load Optimization: Building loads that maximize trailer capacity, reducing costs by 4-8% and eliminating unnecessary truck journeys.
3. Early Tendering: Projecting transportation needs enables early commitment to carriers, enhancing flexibility and predictability.
ProvisionAi’s significant milestones include going live with Kimberly-Clark. The first customer validated the platform’s capabilities in managing large networks with high shipment volumes.
Kimberly-Clark showcased improvements in first tender acceptance, cost reduction, maintained or improved customer service, and substantial volatility reduction. Carrier partners experienced benefits from more predictable volumes during successive bid processes.
Self-Funded and Expansive Market Reach
ProvisionAI operates as a self-funded entity, targeting over 60 of the top 100 CPG companies and extending its solutions to diverse sectors such as life sciences.
LevelLoad’s Uniqueness
ProvisionAi’s LevelLoad stands unrivaled in the market, validated by a granted patent from the US patent office. While some supply-planning systems enable volume constraints, LevelLoad’s holistic approach ensures safety without denying essential products.
Educational Evangelization
ProvisionAi’s future goals revolve around educating companies about LevelLoad’s solutions to deployment volatility, load size, and network capacity issues. The focus remains on evangelizing the three core elements: leveling, load optimization, and early tendering.
In conclusion, ProvisionAi, under Tom Moore’s leadership, emerges as a pioneering force, reshaping the landscape of transportation planning in the supply chain. With LevelLoad’s unique capabilities and a commitment to continuous improvement, ProvisionAi stands poised for further transformative success.