FourKites, a real-time supply chain visibility platform based in Chicago, Illinois, says that its global customer conference, Visibility 2021, will be held virtually on Oct. 6-7. The theme of this year’s conference, “Go Beyond,” presents a vision for supply chains of the future, centered around automation, innovation and collaboration.
Supply chain leaders from across the world will have the opportunity to network, share best practices and insights, and collaborate on FourKites’ product roadmap during the world’s largest virtual supply chain summit.
“We are eager to take part in FourKites’ annual user conference,” said Karen Helton, last mile logistics manager at Ace Hardware. “Today, there are more challenges than ever before, and supply chains and customer requirements are only growing more complex. Collaborating and leveraging the latest tools and technology are absolute musts in today’s environment. We and our supply chain partners appreciate FourKites’ efforts to foster this incredibly collaborative and creative community of supply chain professionals.”
Now in its fourth year, FourKites’ annual conference brings together the world’s largest community of shippers, carriers, 3PLs and brokers, together with industry experts and influencers, for a series of information-sharing sessions, presentations and brainstorms on the future of supply chain management and automation. Supply chain leaders from Kimberly-Clark, Ace Hardware, Coca-Cola, Haworth and many more customers will take part in immersive sessions that explore more efficient and reliable air and ocean shipping; best practices and tools for full-order lifecycle visibility, benchmarking and insights; and leveraging technology to achieve world-class customer service, better inventory management and more.
FourKites will also showcase leading-edge innovations with its strategic partners Volvo Group, Qualcomm Ventures and Zebra Technologies.
Former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski will deliver the keynote address.
“Leadership is never an easy task,” Parazynski said. “And with the massive disruptions and uncertainty that have arisen in the supply chain over the last couple years, it’s a truly Herculean task to be a market leader and create differentiation in a rapidly evolving market. I’m honored to address FourKites’ audience of market leaders as they push the boundaries of what’s possible and think outside the box when it comes to innovation for the greater good of the industry.”
In addition to the state-of-the-art virtual sessions, FourKites will announce the winners of its annual Golden Kite Awards, which recognize companies that are leveraging real-time visibility to achieve greater results in five categories: Improved Customer Experience, End-to-End Optimization, Supply Chain Agility, Collaboration and Green Earth.
Previous winners have included Canfor, Schreiber Foods, Kraft Heinz, Serta Simmons Bedding, PetSmart and Ryder.
“We are excited to bring together once again this unique community of collaborative supply chain leaders,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “The pace of innovation in this industry continues to accelerate as we work together with our customers to break down barriers across today’s supply chains to enable true end-to-end visibility, analytics and automation.”
In the year since Visibility 2020, FourKites has experienced record growth in its network, including load volume growth of more than 50 percent, with up to 2 million loads and $100 billion in freight under management at any given time; 70 percent YoY growth in connected facilities, now totaling 6.4 million; 140 percent YoY increase in ocean and rail shipments; 97 percent growth in air shipments; and 22 percent growth in connected carriers in 176 countries across road, rail, ocean, air and courier.
In addition, FourKites introduced a number of industry-first innovations, including Dynamic Yard, which extends visibility into warehouses and yards; Dynamic ETA for Air, which provides highly accurate and automated ETAs on 100 percent of air freight, at a time when ETAs for air shipments have only been available 40 percent of the time and may be off by as much as two days; as well as Dynamic Ocean, a next-generation international ocean visibility solution that encompasses advanced document management capabilities, robust collaboration features and support for bookings, with superior end-to-end real-time tracking.
FourKites was also recently awarded a U.S. Patent for its Smart Forecasted Arrival capabilities, which provide companies with highly frequent and accurate ETAs for freight in transit – even when that truck lacks any technology (such as ELD) to transmit location data. In April, FourKites was named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms, and it secured $100M in funding from Thomas H. Lee Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Volvo Group Venture Capital and Zebra Technologies to continue to define the future of supply chain automation.
