FreightWaves Today

Noi Mahoney, Borderlands Reporter, FreightWaves

Topic: LG energy investing in battery building 

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/borderlands-lg-energy-solution-to-build-55b-ev-battery-plant-in-arizona

Topic: Laredo tops US Land ports again

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/laredo-texas-again-top-us-gateway-for-international-trade

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Diesel continues to fall despite oil fluctuation

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Rachel Premack, Editorial Director, FreightWaves

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transportation-wonks-are-mixed-on-pete-buttigieg

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fra-links-train-configuration-to-6-derailments-issues-safety-advisory

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Lanes of the Day

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Louis Stevens - Associate Software Engineer - Metafora

The translation process

Turning business goals/ideas into functional intuitive software

This process can seem straightforward but there’s a lot that can be lost in this translation

By the time a business goal gets rolled out into software and is in the user’s hands that idea should be enhanced by the execution process

Importance of great communication on a software development team

When the product/engineering team fully understands a feature, understands the (“What are we building”) and (“Why are we building it”) than the question of (“How to build it”) becomes very clear

At Metafora, I think our communication is what sets us apart, we take the time to communicate, ask probing questions and fully understand a feature before we begin translating to code

Our channels of communication with experts in different fields is what allows us to massively cut down on wasted engineering efforts and helps us to better serve our clients and users (Its the secret sauce of what makes us a good partner)

The iteration process

Good software development is an iterative process - we often will build a mockup of a user interface or build an MVP(minimum viable product) and get feedback from experts in logistics at our company to understand how our implementations can be optimized

We take this feedback and we tinker and tweak and change, always seeking out more feedback along the way, to come out the other end with truly useful software for the logistics space

Because of our communication channels this is a speedy process and that is important because that allows us to bring meaningful technology to the logistics space quickly

End users

As a developer who is focused on the front end of an application - my goal is to advocate for our users 

On my current project, our users are seasoned logistics professionals and their job is to move freight efficiently and reliably

To do our job well, we need to have empathy for our users, put ourselves in their shows and be curious about what makes their jobs and lives easier

Seeing data about how a feature is being used and hearing about happy users from our customer support team is very rewarding

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OTRI falls below 3%

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Mary O’Connell - Running on Ice Community - St. Louis, MO

Expedite All and Reefer Van Network.

You guys have a new definition for STL that is in fact not the city of St. Louis. What is Small truckload and what are the most common applications of it?

How do you determine the best method for shipping small loads, and what factors do you consider?

How do you ensure that small loads are properly packaged and labeled for shipping?

What are some common challenges you face when shipping small loads, and how do you address them?

For the loads that are required to be kept at certain temperatures. How do you guys handle that in the sprinter vans?

What measures do you take to ensure the safety and security of small load shipments during transit?

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Contract vs. Spot Rates

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John Kingston - Editor at Large - FreightWaves

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Alan Adler - Detroit Bureau Chief - FW

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