Top packaging supplier reduced their freight procurement cycle by 3 weeks

The bottlenecks of a broken freight procurement process

With over 2,000 suppliers globally, 10 distribution centers across North America, and a fleet exceeding 1,000 trucks, this organization's massive supply chain lacked a unified freight procurement platform. Their logistics team relied on historical partnerships rather than data for carrier selection, leading to misaligned resources where high-performing carriers were underutilized while poorer performers maintained their routes. Their current systems provided only basic historical data without structured performance scoring, making effective negotiation across hundreds of lanes nearly impossible.

Without real-time market intelligence or performance metrics, the team made decisions based on outdated information. Manual processes consumed countless hours on routine tasks, while disconnected contract and rate management created pricing disputes and compliance issues. Even minor modifications like updating fuel surcharges required multiple approval rounds and manual updates, straining carrier relationships and operational efficiency.

With annual freight spend exceeding $50 million, the organization needed every advantage they could find to optimize costs and reclaim lost productivity. They recognized that continuing with their current approach wasn't sustainable—it was time for a fundamental transformation of their freight procurement strategy.

We were flying blind when selecting and negotiating with carriers. Our team relied on who we'd worked with before as opposed to who performed best.

- Logistics Director

Unlocking 800+ hours of annual productivity improvement

The shipper’s annual freight spends exceeded 50 million dollars, and they needed every bit of advantage they could get to optimize cost. An end-to-end procurement solution powered by AI to automate freight sourcing could address the existing gaps and provide additional value. Let us explore how they saved 800+ man-hours annually with AI, along with substantial cost savings.

1. Intelligent post-bid optimization

Pando's AI freight procurement expert revolutionized the lane allocation process through its advanced post-bid optimization engine. The system processes thousands of carrier-lane combinations in minutes, simultaneously analyzing cost, historical performance, and capacity commitments. By incorporating shipment-level rating analysis at scale, the platform generates optimal scenarios that balance service requirements with cost efficiency, ensuring each lane is matched with the most suitable carrier based on actual performance data.

2. A single platform for freight procurement

From RFQ creation to bid analysis and award management, every step of the procurement process is streamlined into a single, intuitive interface. The platform's ability to handle shipment-level rating and analysis at scale ensures accurate bid evaluation across hundreds of lanes simultaneously, dramatically reducing process complexity.

Pando helped us cut down time spent on bid analysis from 12.5 hours to 3 hours per event, saving 9.5 hours. If you look at it another way, that’s one whole working day for a logistician! This coupled with digitalized bid events, we save 100+ hours annually!

- Senior Manager, Logistics Procurement

3. Exhaustive scenario planning

Pando’s proprietary scenario planning engine can run multiple scenarios simultaneously. It transformed negotiations from guesswork to strategic decision-making. The logistics team can now instantly analyze the impact of different rate structures and carrier combinations, leveraging Pando's historical performance scorecards for informed bid analysis. This data-driven approach allows them to identify their strongest negotiating positions and focus efforts on lanes with the highest potential for savings, backed by concrete performance metrics.

4. Track lane and carrier performance metrics

Pando's solution brought unprecedented transparency by integrating real-time performance metrics directly into the bid evaluation process. Every carrier bid is automatically evaluated against robust KPIs, including on-time delivery, claims ratio, and tender acceptance rates. This systematic approach to performance scoring ensures that awards are based on verified historical performance rather than perceived capabilities, significantly improving the quality of carrier selection.

5. Digitalized rate management

The integrated contract and rate management system provides a centralized repository for all agreements, ensuring accurate calculations and consistent rate application. The system's configurable workflows and automated updates eliminate rate discrepancies, while its flexible architecture allows for easy customization of contract templates and rate structures. This integration ensures that rate changes, once approved, propagate automatically across all connected systems while maintaining complete compliance and audit trails.

We’ve automated 100% of our domestic rate management. Tasks like entering rates or counter rates and analyzing them become completely digitized. This exercise alone helped us save almost 700 man hours every year!

- Senior Manager, Logistics Procurement

6. Automated support to carriers

Pando’s solution also includes a self-service portal for carriers that incorporates best practices into automated workflows. The system streamlines documentation, rate updates, and query resolution with built-in validation and real-time tracking. New bids floated by shippers give instant alerts to carriers while the entire procurement process runs digitally—a significant improvement from the previous manual email approach. These automated workflows reduce turnaround time for modifications and queries without requiring manual intervention.

By leveraging cutting-edge AI technology, Pando transformed freight procurement from a time-consuming, manual process into a strategic, data-driven operation. The solution not only delivers substantial time savings—over 800 man-hours annually—but also provides unprecedented transparency, efficiency, and cost optimization. Through intelligent automation, comprehensive performance tracking, and advanced scenario planning, organizations can now make more informed decisions, reduce operational complexities, and unlock significant competitive advantages in their logistics operations.