Carrier Logistics Inc. has selected the Progress OpenEdge e-business platform to Web-enable the next generation of its FACTS2000 freight management and tracking system.

CLI, a Progress independent software vendor since 1986, provides logistics software to the less-than-truckload industry. The application lets delivery companies coordinate delivery schedules, loading dock operations and trailer space, to ensure on-time delivery of shipments and manage all elements of their business.
CLI wanted to provide the transportation market with a Web-enabled product, giving its customers greater application functionality with an efficient, user-friendly interface. After researching multiple options, CLI decided on the Progress OpenEdge platform from the Progress Company for its low cost-of-ownership, high scalability and integrated Progress Dynamics application framework.
The FACTS2000 application manages hundreds of thousands of shipments daily for LTL carriers around the world. FACTS2000 includes everything LTL carriers need to automate both their freight operations and back-office financial functions. Because the system is based on the OpenEdge platform, it provides a far lower total cost-of-ownership than other widely deployed software platforms in the LTL space, according to the company.
"It takes far fewer people to run an application based on OpenEdge than it takes to run one built with other platforms," said Kenneth Weinberg, vice president of Carrier Logistics. "We recently had a deployment where the customer needed five people to run the outgoing application, and only one person to run our Progress-based FACTS2000 application."
The new user-friendly version of FACTS2000 provides enhanced functionality, particularly in the area of reporting and rating/pricing. It centralizes pricing information, greatly reducing required manpower and the opportunity for billing errors. The system also includes a wireless component, in which both radio and satellite communications are used to transmit dispatch information to drivers en-route. It even provides instructions on how to load trucks to ensure maximum productivity.