As artificial intelligence and automation become increasingly advanced, companies are racing to optimize processes before the competition, resulting in AI startup Terminal Industries emerging from the background to receive $17 million in seed funding from industry heavyweights such as Ryder, NFI, and Lineage Logistics to automate yard operations.
“There was a general consensus that there was a vast amount of data related to trucks, trailers, chassis, containers, and people that reside in the yard but was not meaningfully indexed, analyzed or leveraged,” Terminal Industries Founder and CEO Max Constant told FleetOwner.
With the teams in the U.S. and U.K., Terminal Industries is developing an AI platform to collect and process data from the yard to streamline operations, saving companies money and effort.
“We were talking to one yard owner, and they said that it takes them seven to 12 minutes to check in a truck,” Constant said. “Imagine if we could cut that from seven to two by just automating certain processes."
“If you can automatically know the date, time, and location of when a truck arrives on a given site, you can use that information for scheduling,” Constant added. “You can use that information for payment processing. You can use that information for faster check-in at the gate.”
With the company's growth, the CEO said it plans to combine data across multiple yards so yard operators can manage the flow of freight across multiple locations.
Funding was led by 8VC and Prologis Ventures. Velocity Vehicle Group, the Friedkin Group International, 9Yards, Northstar.vc, Amplifier, and MS&AD Ventures also contributed.
“Yard management is essential to improving efficiencies at warehouses, yet there has not been a platform to fully digitize yard operations—until Terminal,” said Will O’Donnell, managing director at investor Prologis Ventures. “We know customers are seeking technology that would give them real-time data insights on the intersection between transportation and warehouse operations. Terminal’s AI solution is a significant leap forward.”
“AI is most often a solution in search of a problem,” said Terminal Industries' chief technology officer, Neil Robertson, who added: “We are starting with a fully exposed problem and designing an optimal solution based on an end-to-end design and development philosophy."
