Golden Kite Awards

Ardent Mills orchestrated a cultural and operational transformation that turned initial platform resistance into enterprise-wide adoption. Through comprehensive change management and strategic alignment across Transportation and Logistics, Customer Service, Mill Schedulers and Sales functions, Ardent Mills achieved dramatic improvements in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Barilla Group transformed a manual, fragmented tracking process into an integrated global visibility platform. Managing over 2,000 weekly shipments across 120+ countries, Barilla eliminated countless hours of manual carrier communications while building resilience against major disruptions including the Red Sea shipping crisis and Panama Canal drought through predictive analytics and proactive management.

Kimberly-Clark reimagined facility operations through intelligent automation. By implementing autonomous gate technology and eliminating manual touchpoints, Kimberly-Clark transformed an 8-10 minute process into a sub-two-minute automated workflow, demonstrating how strategic technology deployment can drive immediate operational value while positioning the organization for future autonomous capabilities.

Trane Technologies transformed a $2.69 million detention cost problem into a strategic operational excellence initiative. “FourKites’ yard analytics and performance dashboards helped us eliminate almost all of our annual detention at two sites, reducing costs by 98.6%,” said Trey Hendricks, Director of International Logistics Operations, Trane Technologies. “We implemented proactive monitoring with weekly operational reviews, and we’ve applied these strategies across additional sites.”

The Coca-Cola Company pioneered autonomous customer service capabilities that deliver transformational business value. “FourKites’ AI agent Tracy has transformed how we handle ‘where’s my truck’ queries, cutting response times from 90 minutes to just a few seconds, returning hundreds of hours to our associates,” said Patrick McManus, Senior Director Customer Operations at The Coca-Cola Company. “Beyond customer service, Tracy now handles specific tasks including identifying stale location data, flagging missing information and proactively nudging carriers to provide updates. This positions us ahead of the curve as we prepare for a future where customers expect increased and differentiated service capabilities.”

Dow received the Golden Kite Award for Improved Customer Experience for its success in leveraging FourKites’ Dynamic ETA® and real-time tracking features to enhance customer experience. “Supply chain visibility has contributed to our goals by providing a solution for Dow to deliver real-time shipment visibility through Dow.com, as well as a mechanism to proactively alert our customers of in-transit delays,” said Jillian Bourbina, Global Business Process Expert at Dow.

Cracker Barrel and Averitt Supply Chain Solutions received the Golden Kite Award for End-to-End Optimization for successfully enabling real-time tracking of purchase orders globally, optimizing yard management, and reducing uncertainty through Dynamic Yard®. “Now, instead of being on the radio constantly and trying to track things, it is automated and it’s become easier to manage the yard which is a huge win,” said Matthew McDaniel, Logistics Analytics Manager at Cracker Barrel.

Paccar received the Golden Kite Award for Supply Chain Agility, leveraging FourKites saved reports to gain real-time visibility into inbound shipments, proactively manage delays and adjust production schedules, resulting in time savings and reduced labor costs. “The amount of time spent gathering the details was greatly reduced which led to a higher quality of work,” says Paccar Logistics Systems Manager Lee Taylor.

Topco received the Golden Kite Award for Collaboration for integrating Tive temperature tracking devices into the FourKites platform, allowing them to monitor trailer temperatures in real-time, quickly resolve claims, and avoid costly fines. “The data takes the guesswork out of claims,” said Topco Logistics Manager John McCormack.

Reynolds Consumer Products received the Golden Kite Award for Connected Supply Chain for connecting appointment and yard management seamlessly across locations and stakeholders, which resulted in a significant reduction in manual efforts and appointment calls each week. This also included 96% greater accuracy in delivery notifications for dock teams and a 15% increase in shipment visibility.

Bayer received the Golden Kite Award for End-to-End Optimization, highlighting its continued improvements in visibility across the globe, first-call resolution rates, on-time delivery and more. As Johnny Ivanyi, Supply Chain Senior Director, Global Head of Logistics Excellence at Bayer stated, “FourKites capabilities are adding value to our customers and internal stakeholders that have never been seen before.”

Big Lots received the Golden Kite Award for Improved Customer Experience. Big Lots created a strategy to improve on-time delivery service to their stores that included implementing FourKites to support proactive carrier and load management. The company has been capitalizing on real-time visibility, proactive notifications, carrier tracking and insightful analytics across its operations, which has resulted in 95% on-time delivery rates for its customers.

USA Truck – DB Schenker received the Supply Chain Agility award for finding unique ways of harnessing FourKites data to uncover cost savings. As Tyler Brendle, Director, Capacity Solutions at DB Schenker stated, “By requiring tracking prior to load pickup and integrating ELDs for high-value cargo, we significantly reduced double-brokered orders, enhanced shipment security, and ultimately lowered fraud attempts at our organization.”

Haworth received the Golden Kite Award for Green Earth for successfully overcoming the typically manual and cumbersome process of calculating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. By leveraging FourKites sustainability reporting, Haworth can easily track and report greenhouse gas emissions as part of their Global Reporting Initiative.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation received the Golden Kite Award for Collaboration for streamlining the appointment scheduling process across 16 distribution centers and production plants to improve productivity and ensure on-time deliveries. By scheduling approximately 1,200 appointments per month (60 per day) in FourKites’ Appointment Manager solution, Kimberly-Clark has been able to eliminate 300 emails and save 480 minutes per day. As Tony Poole, Senior Transportation Manager, Kimberly-Clark, stated, “In addition to the email and time savings, on-time delivery on live unload shipments has improved by 10% due to the ability to secure the live load pick up in a timely manner.”

Bayer received the Golden Kite Award for Improved Customer Experience. Bayer has been using FourKites to obtain more visibility across its product delivery, especially in the area of last-mile to enhance the customer experience. According to Bayer Logistics Manager Arvin Cuenco, “Visibility allows us to make well-informed decisions when the unexpected happens. It not only gives us confidence in our own processes, but it also makes our customers happy, as they can rely on us.”

Land O’Lakes received the Golden Kite Award for End-to-End Optimization. The agriculture leader is leveraging FourKites for prompt visibility, even among its smaller carriers in rural areas. Carrie Conrad, Transportation Systems Analyst at Land O’Lakes, said, “We’re excited to roll this platform out to all our drivers so that we can track 100% of our shipments right from pickup, and therefore be empowered to be more proactive and accurate with customer delivery notifications.”

ArrowStream won the Golden Kite Award for Supply Chain Agility. “By creating a platform in which we are able to pair purchase order visibility with real-time tracking ETA’s from FourKites, ArrowStream developed a solution where customers could receive real-time stockout potential alerts and act proactively in order to expedite, transfer or allocate items,” said Jason Wowk, Director of Operations at Food in Transit, who manages inbound freight for some of the countries top restaurant chains.

Cardinal Health received the Golden Kite Award for Green Earth. Cardinal Health has been able to make progress toward its long-term sustainability goals by using FourKites. Karen Betancourt, Vice President of Logistics at Cardinal Health, said that “to track emissions and to evaluate how we’re performing — it all relies on data. And that’s a place where we’ve been thrilled with our partnership with FourKites, because without it, we would not have the critical data we need to operate well.”

Armada, a creator of innovative, fully integrated supply chain solutions for the restaurant industry, received the Golden Kite Award for Supply Chain Agility in recognition of its use of FourKites’ AI/ML predictive ETA capabilities to predict disruptions with 96% accuracy and triage order resolutions 75% faster than pre-implementation. The award was accepted by the Director of Innovation and Commercial Program Management, Phillip Lakomy.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation was awarded a Golden Kite for Collaboration. “Achieving goals as a team allows us to communicate more effectively with one another, with our clients and more importantly with our carriers and customers, shortening decision-making cycles and boosting productivity across the teams,” said North LAO Transportation Management Analyst Valeria Ochoa, in accepting the award.

Ingredion, a leading global ingredients solutions company, won the Golden Kite Award for Customer Experience, which recognizes achievement in using FourKites to continuously improve customer service. Prior to implementing FourKites, Ingredion’s average response time for customer inquiries averaged between 30 to 60 minutes, due to the large quantity of shipments managed daily. After the FourKites implementation, the average response time for customer service inquiries plunged to just one minute. The award was accepted by Logistics Engineer Alberto Machuca.

T-Mobile, the multinational wireless communications company, won the Golden Kite Award for End-to-End Optimization, which recognizes achievement in using FourKites to connect modes, regions and unmanaged freight across the lifecycle of shipments. T-Mobile implemented an end-to-end process that evaluated its transportation performance based on FourKites data and geofencing capabilities, thereby significantly increasing the visibility and accuracy of its operation. The award was accepted by Marshall Wang, data scientist, T-Mobile procurement and technology.

GlobalTranz, a leading, technology-enabled, full-service transportation and logistics provider, won the Golden Kite Award for Green Earth. GlobalTranz is using FourKites data to provide detailed transportation routing optimization strategies that can reduce the number of trucks used on an annual basis, and consequently their environmental impact. Working with a large CPG customer, GlobalTranz reduced annual truckload shipments by an estimated 30%, resulting in 26 million fewer miles driven, 5 million gallons of diesel saved and an estimated 58,000 fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The award was accepted by Senior Marketing Manager Annie Graupner.

Canfor, a leading integrated forest products company, received the Golden Kite Award for Customer Experience in recognition of its use of FourKites to continuously improve customer service. By leveraging FourKites dashboards and embedding dynamic ETAs throughout its TMS and ERP systems, Canfor made the shift from time-consuming, manual processes to automated, real-time freight status reporting for its priority customers – a win for Canfor and its customers, alike. The award was accepted by Senior Supply Chain Planner Daniela Camacho.

Baxter Healthcare, a leading global medical products company, was awarded the Golden Kite Award in the Green Earth category, which recognizes customer achievement in using FourKites to identify and attack sustainability initiatives. FourKites is an integral part of Baxter’s global initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from product transport and to achieve net-zero emissions globally. The award was accepted by Senior Manager of Transportation John Revenaugh.

Schreiber Foods won the Golden Kite Award for Supply Chain Excellence, which recognizes achievement in using FourKites to take supply chain visibility to new levels. Schreiber implemented a new facilities detention approval process, using FourKites location data to back up carrier requests. To date, enhanced visibility has reduced Schreiber’s detention requests by 15% as carriers now look at real-time visibility data to back up their claims. The award was accepted by Sourcing Analyst Marisa Dempsey.

Kraft Heinz, one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, won the Golden Kite Award for Collaboration & Globalization that recognizes achievement in using FourKites to expand and integrate visibility strategies with new stakeholders and/or regions. Kraft Heinz leveraged the FourKites platform to provide in-progress shipping information to customers, as well as to a nationwide network of food banks the company supports through the hunger prevention initiatives of Feeding America. Feedback from customers and partners has been overwhelmingly positive. The award was accepted by Senior Manager of Customer Service Ryan Main.

Serta Simmons Bedding, the largest American producer of mattresses, won the Golden Kite Award for Crisis Management. This award recognizes customers who are using FourKites to react quickly to disruptions within the supply chain. Serta leveraged FourKites to manage its donation of 10,000 mattresses to New York City hospitals and medical facilities to fight the COVID-19 pandemic during its early stages. Armed with in-transit ETAs and arrival times, Serta logistics, supply chain and customer service teams were able to provide critical intel to customers during a time of high strain on supply chains. The award was accepted by Outbound Logistics Manager Andy Tingle.

C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocery supply company in the U.S, was the winner of the Golden Kite Customer Experience Award. Under the stewardship of Transportation Technology Manager Meghan Reilly, C&S Wholesale Grocers reported a 65 percent reduction in internal “Where’s my truck?” calls within three months of deployment, and began their rollout of FourKites ETA push notifications to customers. 92 percent of participating customers reported high satisfaction scores and improved overall customer experience.

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Ryder, a leader in commercial fleet management, dedicated transportation, and supply chain solutions, won the Golden Kite Award for Driving End-User Adoption. Transportation Manager Erin Starliper reports the organization achieved a 32 percent increase in compliance, and a 30 percent increase in consistency via a comprehensive program that managed communications between operations, account teams and FourKites. In addition, Erin and team restructured onboarding and enhanced automated scorecards for carrier management and procurement engagement. Today, Ryder has hundreds of active FourKites users, has achieved 82 percent overall compliance, tracks 40,000-plus loads monthly, and has onboarded 300-plus carriers to the platform.

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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., won the Golden Kite Award for Value Realization. The platform has been especially powerful in Cracker Barrel’s partnership with transportation and supply chain management company Averitt Express. According to Logistics Manager Jim Burnett, with FourKites the company’s retail managers can better maintain the delivery window required for planning flexibility, while providing greater certainty of ETAs for delivery. Because Cracker Barrel’s customer service team can leverage FourKites’ messaging feature to interact directly with retail managers, Cracker Barrel has reduced time- consuming phone calls used to alert stores of late deliveries, and can now keep store associates aware of important events.