Keelvar enhances ocean, air freight sourcing bots for procurement automation

Keelvar, the leading global provider of intelligent sourcing automation solutions, today announced it has further expanded the functionality of its sourcing bots built specifically for ocean and air freight buying. The logistics procurement bots can now support customers where it’s critical to collect and analyze more detailed carrier data for a greater variety of freight needs, including temperature control, specialized goods classifications, and freight pricing based on a combination of weight and container size.

The enhancements have been driven by a number of Keelvar’s sourcing automation customers in industries where shipping requirements may be more advanced, such as in pharmaceutical and medical supplies and industrial equipment manufacturing.

“The global shipping capacity crunch has been especially difficult on organizations that move specialized, heavy or highly-regulated freight,” said Alan Holland, founder and CEO of Keelvar. “Logistics procurement professionals must be selective and diligent when securing carriers, and efficiency is key to responding to dynamic supply chain changes. Our expanded automation functionality makes it easier to reduce the time and effort it takes to source more types of freight. It enables our customers to leverage AI-powered automation to employ predictable and consistent processes that can scale according to a broader range of spot-bidding needs.”

Keelvar’s latest updates to its intelligent ocean and air freight sourcing bots enable procurement teams to execute rapid and high-quality spot bidding negotiations with these additional freight support criteria in mind:
Keelvar’s latest enhancements allow buyers to ensure bids are eligible for awards with this specific criterion in mind. As a result, buyers achieve improved efficiencies, scalability, negotiation tracking, and process consistency amidst ongoing logistics challenges.

• Special temperature control equipment
• Additional classifications such as dangerous goods or controlled substances
• Express or expedited shipping needs
• Vessel types for oversized equipment
• Freight cost modeling that incorporates different volume-weight ratios; for example – the same container size shipping heavy goods vs. lightweight goods

Developed as a no-code solution to work alongside procurement teams, Keelvar’s AI-enabled bots can set up and launch sourcing events within minutes, enabling buyers to be more agile and respond faster to market changes. Working 24-hours a day, the artificial intelligence learns and improves over time, resulting in smarter decisions, faster awards and better outcomes. Buyers still retain control and approval of these events and key decision points in the process, including award decisions. So far in 2021, Keelvar’s blue-chip customers have run thousands of spot buying events using its sourcing bots, which can manage and offload up to 90% of tactical sourcing processes.