[HN Gopher] Launch HN: Terusama (YC W20) - We help warehouses sc...
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Launch HN: Terusama (YC W20) - We help warehouses schedule trucks
Hi HN, Andrew and Chris here. We're building Terusama
(https://www.terusama.com), a truck appointment system for
logistics teams at warehouses and distribution centers. We automate
the labor-intensive process of coordinating arrival times with a
trucking company, checking a truck in at a facility, and keeping
track of everything. Oh, and we have a theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyp4O4s5tk4 The status quo here is
really antiquated software that is really hard to use. Not only is
the current way of doing things inefficient for logistics folks, it
has a big impact. The inefficiency created by poor supply-chain
coordination costs $30B a year in the U.S. and generates billions
of tons of C02, mostly from trucks idling in parking lots. On top
of that, it has a huge impact on the lives of truck drivers, who
are legally limited to 11 hours of driving time each day. Waiting
at warehouses often eats up 3-4 of those. Those wasted hours really
add up, making the job unsustainable for many and contributing to
another problem in the industry - driver turnover, which is over
90%. Most of this inefficiency is caused by the high level of
friction in communication between the people who manage trucks, the
drivers, and the people who the drivers are delivering to. The
freight industry has made a ton of progress with software to help
manage their fleets, but warehouse logistics software hasn't caught
up. Chris and I were students together at Indiana University. We
became really interested in this space at our later jobs. I was
working at Uber Freight (formerly Otto), and Chris was consulting
for companies in the industry. We were constantly amazed at how big
and complex an issue it was, and surprised that nobody was thinking
about it in the same way we were. We started talking to as many
people in the industry as possbile to figure a better way to manage
logistics. The result was the version of Terusama we launched with
in the beginning of the year. We have been since iterating on the
product with a core group of customers. We streamline or automate
most of the repetitive and administrative processes needed to keep
trucks flowing smoothly in and out of a facility. We provide
dispatchers at trucking companies and brokerages a way to search
through facilities, and schedule directly with these facilities.
When a truck driver arrives at a warehouse, we check them in at a
kiosk. Our customers get a dashboard where they can track and
manage loads coming to their facility. Logistics teams get
visibility into their incoming trucks, the ability to communicate
with drivers and carriers, and to track a load through its
lifecycle (from staging through completion). Everyone involved is
kept in the loop with smart notifications. In the future, an API
will make it easy for anyone with a brokerage or trucking company
to get facility availability (to feed into truck routing
optimization), and schedule appointments. We'll also offer services
to help carriers reduce the risk of missing truck appointments.
One of the most important things we've learned in this time is how
important reliability is for a mission-critical app. It's obvious
in retrospect, but it definitely changes your approach when
building an application - requiring heavier testing, redundancy,
and support as a form of redundancy. These days you hear a lot
about things like autonomy and AI in the freight industry. We
believe that to get the value promised by these things, we first
have to upgrade the outdated technology infrastructure that
currently runs the industry. Our goal is to build that
infrastructure, while solving today's pressing problems. We're
excited to see what HN thinks of our platform. We're eager to hear
about HN users' experiences, ideas, and know there is a ton of
expertise among the community to learn from. And if you're in the
industry, we'd love to hear about your experiences with truck
scheduling!
Author : adenta
Score : 21 points
Date : 2020-03-11 21:01 UTC (1 hours ago)
| parthi wrote:
| Congrats on the launch! Love that you're tackling an underserved
| industry
| parthi wrote:
| Also theme song is on point
| dhruvkar wrote:
| Hi guys, kudos on the launch!
|
| I help run a distribution company and I'm not clear who this is
| for? Is it for my own trucks i.e. scheduling trucks between our
| locations and/or customers? Is it for when we use a 3rd party
| logistics company i.e. scheduling time with them to come pick up
| and deliver our goods? Or is the product FOR the 3rd party
| logistics company that is handling our goods?
|
| Is this usable without two (or more) of the parties using this
| software?
|
| Would love to hear more. There are many issues in this space and
| love the fact newer startups are getting into it.
| adenta wrote:
| > _I help run a distribution company and I 'm not clear who
| this is for?_
|
| Hello! We sell to you, the person who runs a
| warehouse/distribution center. We are trying to augment the
| functionalities of a receiving coordinator. Instead of using
| the phone or email to schedule appointments at your
| distribution center, you can use Terusama. What can we say to
| make this more clear in the future?
|
| > _Is this usable without two (or more) of the parties using
| this software?_
|
| Could you clarify your question? We are not a TMS/WMS. We have
| one customer who still scheduled appointments manually, but
| uses our kiosks to check truck drivers in & out.
|
| Glad you are as excited as we are!
| hef19898 wrote:
| Absolutely agree on the AI vs. legacy systems part! Something
| most people tend to underestimate when talking AI and logistics /
| Supply Chain Management.
|
| back the day, I helped to roll out a similar, rather primitive
| system, at Amazon across their german fulfillment centers. Just
| the added visibility of that was mind blowing. Also increased
| pressure on operations, I don't consider this a bad thing.
|
| If you want to chat, more then welcome! also I'd love to hear
| about how you approach that problem. Because it is huge one, also
| one most companies totally ignore.
| adenta wrote:
| We would love to chat! I'll reach out to the email in your
| profile.
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(page generated 2020-03-11 23:00 UTC)