Progress 07/01/21 to 03/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:We reached out to three stakeholder types in this project: 1) trucking companies, 2) rural towns and tribal communities, and 3) other relevant parties. Our Phase I work plan included meetings with large trucking companies (prospective customers) to ensure that our product meets industry needs. We collected inputs on the target variables and simulation design, solicited feedback on our findings from six such companies: Watco Logistics; ArcBest; J.B. Hunt; Schneider National; Prime Inc.; and Roehl Transport. We reached out to government and business leaders in rural and tribal communities along major trucking corridors that met the criteria for being a relay exchange site (a prospective location for establishing a relay nodal center). The goal of each of these connections was to present FR8relay's model and technology and to test our assumptions about perceived benefits for communities in being the site of a relay nodal center. Rural communities with which we established connections included: Chouteau, OK; Rolla, MO; St. Clair, MO; Pontiac, IL; and Pinta, AZ. Suburbs/exurbs near terminal cities (Dallas, Chicago) where we succeeded in connecting included: McKinney, TX, and Joliet, IL. Additionally, FR8relay undertook outreach to stakeholders relevant to the successful implementation of our relay model: truck driver advocacy organization (Real Women in Trucking and Warehouse Workers 4 Justice); economic development entity (Building Communities); academic researchers (Industrial Engineering and Supply Chain Management, University of Arkansas); and entities accelerating vehicle electrification (Forth Mobility and WattEV). Changes/Problems:1. Use of Anylogic Software - A change in our research methodology was instead of building our own simulation software using Python, we utilized a off-the-shelf ready to use simulation software - Anylogic. Based on discussions with our advisors and software developer, we found out that development of a simulation engine would require significant development effort and integrating real-world roadway network and traffic information to such a simulation engine would be challenging. Hence we explored a few market-tested simulation software and selected Anylogic for this project. 2. Data gaps - Regarding data, we found from our trucking industry stakeholders that data pertaining to disruption events,driver no-shows,truck breakdowns, etc. is not recorded by them. This led us to find alternative ways to create disruption in our relay schedules. We accomplished this by utilizing a random probability function that simulates disruption at varying degrees of frequencies. 3. COVID Impacts - During this project, we had intermittent issues arising due to COVID related restrictions. As different virus variants caused uncertainity in supply chains, our meeting schedules with trucking industry stakeholders became unreliable. We greatly appreciate 1-month no-cost extension that was provided to us upon request, as this gave us enough time to have our second set of meetings with the stakeholders. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We hired a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) as part of this project. The GRA is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering focusing on network optimization problem. During this project, our GRA got first-hand opportunity to work with propreitary trucking operations data from 2 major trucking companies in the country. In addition, GRA was able to learn and use Anylogic software, which is a professional software tool for simulating supply chain and industrial engineering scenarios, something that is not accessible through the University of Arkansas coursework. Working knowledge of industry standard software tools and understanding of trucking operations through propreitary operational datasets, are great additions to his skill-set which will help him in his professional career. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Table 1 lists the entities with which we connected in Phase I. These are organized by three stakeholder types: trucking companies, rural towns and tribal communities, and other partners. Table 1: Stakeholders engaged Stakeholder Type Entity Contact Trucking Companies Watco Logistics ArcBest J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Schneider National Prime Inc. Roehl Transport N/A (Not disclosed due to Non-Disclosure Agreements) Rural Towns & Tribal Communities Nahata Dziil Commission Governance (Pinta, AZ) Town of Chouteau (Chouteau, OK) Public Service Company of Oklahoma (Chouteau, OK) Northeast Oklahoma Regional Alliance (Chouteau, OK) City of Rolla (Rolla, MO) City of St. Clair (St. Clair, MO) City of McKinney (McKinney, TX) Greater Livingston County Economics (Pontiac, IL) Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Joliet, IL) Darryl Ahasteen, President Mayor Brenda Cunningham Michael Gordon, Ext. Affairs Mgr. Lisa Smith, Executive Director Tom Coots, City Planner Don Stolberg, City Administrator Mayor George Fuller Adam Dontz, CEO Jen Howard, President Other Partners Building Communities REAL Women in Trucking Warehouse Workers for Justice Forth WattEV Zenith (IOS) University of Arkansas, Industrial Engineering University of Arkansas, Supply Chain Management Brian Cole, President Desiree Wood, Founder/President Yana Kalmyka, Labor & E.J. Director Alexa Diaz, Senior Policy Manager Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO/Founder Jonah Chang, Senior Associate Dr. Ashlea Milburn, Assoc Professor John Kent, Dir. Supply Chain Init. Trucking stakeholders' second set of meetings. There was some delay in scheduling the second set of trucking stakeholder meetings due to the seasonality of the trucking industry and the resurgence of the COVID pandemic in December and January. Therefore, we were unable to connect with all of our trucking partners before February 28th, so requested a no-cost project extension of one month. In addition to Watco and ArcBest (who also took part in the first set of meetings), four other large trucking companies took part in the second set of meetings. These included: J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Schneider National, Prime Inc., and Roehl Transport (Table 10). Meetings were hosted by video conference and were held separately for each company to protect confidential information shared by trucking stakeholder participants who viewed each other as business competitors. The focus of these meetings was to report back on our simulation findings and elicit feedback. We presented our simulation results and cost savings analysis to the six enterprise trucking companies. Trucking stakeholder participants expressed being impressed with our modeling and findings. For carriers with whom we were meeting for the first time, initial questions revolved around load density and directional imbalance, at which point we were able to share our composite load approach. All companies validated that a relay solution promises to address multiple pain points. All verified the strong need for an innovative and disruptive solution for the industry's labor shortage, and tied this need to work life balance for truck drivers as a means to improving retention and safety. All acknowledged that the conceptual simplicity is likely distinct from the complexity of implementation. Rural towns and tribal communities. We reached out to government and business leaders in communities along major trucking corridors that met the criteria for being a relay exchange site (a prospective location for establishing a relay nodal center). Rural communities with which we established connections included: Chouteau, OK; Rolla, MO; St. Clair, MO; Pontiac, IL; and Pinta, AZ. Suburbs/exurbs near terminal cities (Dallas, Chicago) where we succeeded in connecting included: McKinney, TX, and Joliet, IL. Our contacts for each are listed in Table 10. The goal of each rural connection made was to get a meeting to present FR8relay's model and technology and to test our assumptions about perceived benefits for rural communities in being the site of relay nodal centers. Our largely cold calls received a warm welcome in every instance. In some cases, discussion advanced rapidly, as a participant described the various local entities that could provide various services (e.g zoning approval or traffic turn signals) in order to create the infrastructure needed to permanently install a local FR8relay nodal center. They conveyed a sense of eagerness to work together to navigate bureaucratic processes. The prospect of FR8relay's potential ability to usher in electric vehicle charging infrastructure was notably received with enthusiasm in all cases. Questions from rural stakeholders revolved around the acreage of land needed to test the model out, estimating the number of trucks to be running on the relay model to come through their communities, and quantifying the number of jobs to be created. Based on this, we created an informational packet for prospective relay node communities. Rural stakeholder outreach gave us a foundation for our Phase II efforts, as community leaders expressed great interest in partnering on a pilot with live trucks and drivers using their towns as relay exchange points. As of the end of March, four of these rural stakeholders have signed Letters of Support for a Phase II FR8relay SBIR project. Overall, our initial discussions with the rural communities leaders reached in this project provided preliminary evidence to validate our hypothesis that rural stakeholders would perceive that FR8relay's model could provide their communities with economic development opportunities to benefit their rural workforce. Other partners. Presentations of simulation findings were also shared with other stakeholders. REAL Women in Trucking provided first-hand experience validating the pain points for truck drivers in the current trucking model, and supported the potential of FR8relay to address them. Founder Desiree Wood described her experience driving regional relays (with the U.S. Post Service) as highly coveted job assignments because they were limited in number and allowed long-haul drivers to return home more frequently. Wood confirmed that, by returning drivers home every night, FR8relay could address the barriers to many of the younger female truck drivers she has seen leave their jobs due to the inability to balance this work with their home obligations. Forth, WattEV, and Warehouse Workers for Justice (WW4J) validated the power of this model to implement long-haul electric trucking. While WW4J appreciated the improvements for the long-haul trucking workforce, they recognized that FR8relay does not disrupt the industry standard of a largely contracted labor pool that holds most of the operational liabilities and costs. They questioned us about health insurance for owner-operators working with FR8relay. As a freight broker, many of the carriers FR8relay would match loads for would be 1099 owner operators with loads, rather than paying W-2 employee drivers. WW4J is interested in seeking ways to partner with FR8relay and support truck drivers in their communities. Lastly, we also shared Phase I results with researchers from the University of Arkansas in the departments of Industrial Engineering and Supply Chain Management, who also expressed excitement about the potential of FR8relay's model to address critical industry needs. Experience and research in their fields validated our model and observations, and they are interested in following our technical progress. In summary, feedback from various stakeholder groups was overwhelmingly positive, with enthusiastic willingness to explore future opportunities for partnership, as expressed in the many Letters of Support provided for FR8relay's Phase II proposal. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Technical Objectives Plan Actual Execution Aim 1 - Prototype database design and algorithms refining based on stakeholder inputs. These tasks included: defining target variables and parameters, presenting to stakeholders and gathering feedback, integrating feedback as needed, revising scheduling algorithms as needed, and creating requirement specifications. 7/1/21 to 7/31/21 7/1/21 to 10/31/21 100% COMPLETE. In addition to inputs from our trucking partners to inform our prototype design, we also gathered feedback to inform our simulation model and parameters. Based on their inputs, in addition to tracking asset utilization, load delivery times, and instances of drivers returning home, we added two new target variables - one for tracking empty miles and another for driver hours away domicile. These revisions prompted updates to our relay scheduling algorithms and simulation design. Aim 2 - Iterative relay software product development. These tasks included: defining software architecture, choosing the technology stack, designing database schema and APIs needed, making adjustments to algorithms as needed, developing backend, and user testing and bug fixing. 8/1/21 to 11/30/21 8/1/21 to 12/6/21 100% COMPLETE. The Principal Investigator (PI) worked closely with our technical advisors to identify a suitable technology stack for our software platform - JavaScript (Angular + Node) + SQL. Database schema and definition of variables and value ranges, and creating APIs to read and write information in the backend database all went smoothly. Additionally, we worked with consultant Colin Shaw to develop the architecture diagram for a machine learning module that will serve as the background for a future predictive analytics module. Aim 3 - Simulation testing with large datasets and corresponding analysis. These tasks included: Defining and identifying parameter assumptions for the simulation environment, building a simulation engine and algorithms, running simulation scenarios, analyzing results, testing mitigation strategies for disruptions, calculating environmental impact, and creating a catalog of effective mitigation strategies and a report of simulation results. 11/1/21 to 1/31/22 9/1/21 to 2/28/22 100% COMPLETE. Instead of building a simulation engine using Python, we utilized existing supply-chain simulation software platform AnyLogic. Our PI and GRA (Graduate Research Assistant) carefully designed the simulation scenarios for 5- and 6-node relay models. Also, our PI requested operations data (Mar '19 - Feb '20) from our trucking partner and cleaned the dataset for use in simulation testing. Our GRA ran and compiled the results of simulation testing. A catalog of mitigation strategies was not warranted due to the limited number of distinct strategies. Aim 4 - Stakeholder interviews to inform revisions and Phase II requirements. These tasks included: Presenting simulation findings to stakeholders and getting feedback on the mitigation strategy catalog, integrating feedback and running simulations again as needed, and devising Phase II requirements. 1/1/22 to 2/28/22 1/1/22 to 3/31/22 100% COMPLETE. Our team compiled the simulation results and created a presentation for stakeholders. Due to the seasonality of the trucking industry and the resurgence of COVID in Dec/Jan, we were unable to connect with our trucking partners, and hence requested a no-cost extension. We presented our findings and potential benefits to trucking stakeholders and collected their feedback. Additionally, we presented our model and findings to prospective rural community partners and other stakeholders. Based on Phase I experience and learnings, we have defined our Phase II scope of work.
Publications
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