At FourKites’ 2020 Visibility Conference, we announced this year’s Golden Kite Award winners. The Golden Kite award was created to showcase customer achievements across five key categories: Customer Experience, Green Earth, Supply Chain Excellence, Collaboration & Globalization and Crisis Management.
Kraft Heinz was this year’s winner in the Collaboration & Globalization category, having been recognized for its use of 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.
I recently sat down with Dennis Ding, Sr. Customer Success Manager, to learn more about his close collaboration with Kraft Heinz and their road to Golden Kite victory.
What made Kraft Heinz’s Collaboration & Globalization story so compelling?
Kraft Heinz ships to many locations and does an amazing job of managing their supply chain. Add an unfortunate pandemic to the mix, and the supply chains of even the best shippers will experience some disruption. This story was compelling because it was a mixture of showcasing the strengths of both FourKites and Kraft Heinz during a time when there is such little room for error.
Earlier this year, Kraft Heinz adopted FourKites’ Shared Shipment Status feature. Can you explain the value of that tool, and how your alignment with their team drove this adoption?
Shared Shipment Status provides an encrypted tracking link for any user that does not have access to FourKites. Through this shared link, all parties are empowered with visibility into a particular load to eliminate blind spots and diminish the impact of delays or other unforeseen events.
During one of my quarterly business meetings with Kraft Heinz at the beginning of 2020, we had identified key business objectives to drive efficiencies within their organization. Covid-19 presented an opportunity to really showcase how FourKites was operationalized when adversity impacted their entire supply chain. Inventory was depleted at their customers’ distribution centers, and food banks were struggling to help the less fortunate. Kraft’s Canada team brought to my attention the need for real-time visibility into these loads crossing the border from the United States, and the ability to share tracking information with their customers.
When the company started using our Shared Shipment Status feature, customers and food banks received a status link to track and plan resources for the truck arrival. Kraft Heinz also leveraged our “Mark As Emergency” feature to better identify these loads within the platform and provide visibility to their leadership team.
What are some of the qualities that have made the Kraft Heinz partnership so successful?
I truly believe the alignment of our core values and strategy – from both the FourKites and Kraft Heinz teams – has made this partnership a good fit, and has helped us realize how we can both make an impact in the industry. We’ve been comfortable collecting feedback from Kraft Heinz on our core tracking platform and guidance on pain points within the industry. The trust from our alignment has also led to implementing/creating best practices and further driving adoption with their teams. We both want to continue #winning and there is no doubt that Kraft Heinz is a Shipper of Choice.
What part of your role gets you most excited each day?
For me, it’s thrilling to be able to work directly with some of the world’s leading brands. Adding the value of FourKites to make them more productive is just icing on the cake. I think it’s human nature to want to make an impact on the world. And since the pandemic hit, supply chain and logistics has never been more critical. The facemasks, household essentials, food, medications and other critical items being shipped around the world are more than just loads in the FourKites platform; they are literally the lifeblood of our economy and they are keeping our communities alive.
I am grateful to be at FourKites, which is driving meaningful change to make sure our customers are successful in delivering their goods each and every day during these unprecedented times.
