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This story appears in the June 28 print edition of Transport Topics.

Ryder System Inc., Miami, said it won a patent for supply chain management tools and methods that pool data from shippers, carriers and consignees on the Web.

Ryder has used the technology underpinning the system, which is called Logistics Release, for years while the patent was pending. Ryder received the patent May 4 and recently announced the award.

Logistics Release is intended for manufacturing supply chains and is designed to give all supply chain participants a central hub from which to monitor movements of components and materials that are bound for assembly lines, a Ryder executive said.

“The novelty here is the fact that the communication utility for all parties in the supply chain, the shipper, carrier and consignee, are all using the very same information technology,” said James Moore, a vice president of sales at Ryder’s supply chain group.

Logistics Release generates shipping plans for manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace and industrial sectors, specifically for components these manufacturers order from their own suppliers, Moore said.

Manufacturers in these sectors sometimes refuse to pay transporters and logistics providers their full fee if components do not reach assembly lines within very narrow delivery windows. Moore said that some manufacturers will assess penalties for parts that are only 60 seconds late to the line.

Logistics Release is the culmination of Ryder’s efforts to meet these tight delivery requirements. Components makers submit data about the parts they make, carriers submit data about their trucks and routes, and consignees provide their conditions for receiving the shipment.

Logistics Release combines information from all three parties to create a plan for every type of shipment, Moore said. “This plan is a group of instructions: what kind of pallet is used, what stacking is required, what kind of truck is required, what are the time windows for a shipment, what are the time windows for delivery.”

Once a shipment is in transit, Ryder’s newly patented system allows shippers, carriers and receivers to get status updates about the shipment in whatever format their business requires.

For example, “if you’re [the manufacturer] using the part, you’re interested in the part, not what truck it’s on. If you’re in the [manufacturer’s] transportation department, you’re probably interested in where the truck is, and if it’s going to be on time. And if you’re the carrier, you can see how you’re being measured by the person accepting the freight,” Moore said.