FourKites buys yard management suite from TrackX Solutions

Chicago-based FourKites, a provider of real-time tracking and visibility solutions across transportation modes and digital platforms, said today it has acquired the yard management service offerings from Denver-based TrackX Holdings Inc., an enterprise asset management company deploying SaaS-based solutions geared towards the tracking and managing of physical assets.  A purchase price was not disclosed.

FourKites officials said that this acquisition will enable it to develop a new supply chain visibility offering focused on extending real-time visibility into the yard, with TrackX’s Yard Management, Dock Management, and Gate Control solutions, which are the key components of the acquisition. These solutions, according to FourKites, are “are highly scalable, serving the smallest facilities up to multiple enterprise locations…[and] are hardware-agnostic and integrate seamlessly with ERP and WMS systems, as well as RFID and IoT sensors.”

What’s more, FourKites said that this acquisition will create a first of its kind offering through the integration of FourKites real-time logistics data and predictive ETAs and TrackX’s yard management offerings, which will enable enterprises to proactively manage yards and warehouses that are based on real-time signals from both trucks in-transit and trucks on-site.

In an interview with LM, FourKites CEO Matthew Elenjickal provided key details on the acquisition. A transcript follows below.

LM: What drove the need for FourKites to acquire TrackX Yard Solutions?/how long had it been planned?

Elenjickal: FourKites saw the need to extend visibility beyond in-transit to tractors and trailers waiting to be unloaded. It was the next logical step and something we knew our customers would benefit from.  As more and more IOT devices are being introduced into the yard for managing the gate, dock and trailer moves, it was a natural extension for FourKites to play a role in the IOT space to collect real-time data from the yard IOT devices and expand visibility from in-transit to the yard. We also saw a need for the yard to be brought onto the network. Current yard management solutions are mostly on-prem, single tenant applications. There's an industry trend where more and more shippers, brokers and mega-carriers are adopting drop trailers. But to manage a drop trailer program more effectively, you need a multi-tenant solution that manages visibility across multiple yards. Given the density we have with our shipper/carrier partners, we knew we were in the best position to bring it to market, and that's what drove the deal. 

We have been looking for ways to solve this industry challenge for more than a year, evaluating whether we should build this technology internally vs. acquiring a solution. We decided to acquire the domain expertise so that we could quickly bring this solution to market and benefit our customers. 

LM: What are the main benefits of this deal for FourKites customers?

Elenjickal: There are three main benefits for FourKites customers:

1. They will get a seamless  experience across their entire door-to-door or dock-to-dock in one platform, if all parties adopt the yard management system.
2. They will benefit from the industry-first Dynamic Yard platform, as for the first time, yards and distribution centers will have real-time access to live incoming truck arrival information so that they can better plan and optimize their operations.
3. They will also get enhanced tracking based on inputs from the yard management system, including gate in, gate out, trailer loaded/unloaded, and other data sets that are traditionally captured in the yard management system.

LM: What are the main competitive advantages of this deal from a FourKites' perspective? 

Elenjickal:  FourKites has the industry's largest shipper network (more than 400 of the world’s top shippers, including 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies and nine of the top-10 CPG companies). Almost every large-scale yard operator is a FourKites customer. Thus, we have the density to really create a new software category and benefit the market.

We also have access to unique, real-time tracking data that gives a huge advantage when it comes to yard management. Last but not least, given that we are the only multi-tenant solution in the market, drop trailer operators can get a comprehensive view spanning multiple shippers and multiple locations - an industry first with Dynamic Yard.