From fast food and online shopping to ride-hailing services, the local delivery industry is an integral part of the modern logistical supply chain. However, the product distribution process costs businesses $40 billion a year, which is over 50 percent of the total shipping costs, and puts a strain on urban infrastructure. Delivery trucks account for five percent of road vehicles but are responsible for 27% of emissions.
Chazz Sims revolutionized the delivery industry when he co-founded Wise Systems, a company that uses machine learning to autonomously route and dispatch deliveries. This innovation is used by companies such as Anheuser-Busch and Lyft to increase efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint, and improve the delivery experience for drivers, dispatchers, and customers.
“We’re solving the old ‘cable guy scenario,’ where you know you’re going to get a package at some point, but you could wait all day. We are on a mission to enable perfect deliveries,” Sims explained the rationale behind his company.
Sims understands the importance of being a role model for the younger generation. Growing up, he did not realize it was possible to get into entrepreneurship by developing a comprehensive business plan and starting a company. He underestimated what someone could do in 10 years until he did it. Sims went on to receive a bachelor’s of science and master’s in computer from MIT. While working at the school’s esteemed Media Lab, he researched the transportation and delivery industry, looked at data on their last-mile operations, and even rode along with drivers to get a better sense of their experience.
He concluded that a lot of the delivery operations were still driven by manual processes, with many phone calls and coordination across dispatchers and drivers. This prompted Sims and his cofounders to create the autonomous dispatch and routing platform Wise Systems to help businesses schedule deliveries and create route adjustments in real time by leveraging data and AI. He already had extensive experience in startup companies and had worked in the mobile technology, healthcare, finance fields, and restaurant sectors in Argentina. His expertise and knowledge of technology, science, and especially AI helped him to develop a more efficient platform for delivery drivers.
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“I assumed that everyone in the industry was running on these super sophisticated complex systems, but once we got to it and saw it with our own eyes, we realized that there was a ton of inefficiency,” Sims said about why he decided to found Wise Systems.
Wise Systems offers a reduction of up to 80% in late arrivals and up to 15% in fleet miles. Its dispatcher web application optimizes delivery operations and gives dispatchers and fleet managers options like real-time visibility of all vehicles, status updates on drivers, the ability to automatically assign orders to drivers, and rearrange route schedules. Additionally, the company’s mobile application provides users with route scheduling, navigation (with access to Google Maps and Waze), notes about parking or security codes, and proof of delivery in the form of e-signatures or photos. These utilities help companies optimize their deliveries, learn from real-time driver feedback, and delight their customers.
Unlike traditional route-planning software, which is static and unsuited to complex urban environments, Wise Systems’ solution is dynamic. It responds in real-time to unforeseen road conditions, driver inputs, or customer requests to constantly re-optimize routes. Their machine learning engine continuously improves fleet efficiency and service levels so that customers in food beverage, courier, energy, field service, and other markets experience mileage reductions, significant increases in fleet utilization, and up to 80% decreases in late deliveries. Wise Systems’ customers report annual cost savings totaling thousands of dollars per route while reducing miles driven, and emissions by at least 15%.
“With our technology and this approach, we’ve been able to help companies reduce their number of late deliveries by over 80% and also reduce their miles and time on road by up to 15%, resulting in tremendous value going back into their business, really allowing them to compete in this new age, delivering on the promise of efficiency and service,” Wise Systems said on its website.
The company raised $1 million in seed funding, $7 million in Series A in 2018, and $15 million in a Series B round. It raised $50 million in Series C for its last round, raising a total of over $70 million in funding. Wise Systems has been added to 750 Anheuser-Busch beer delivery trucks, cutting late deliveries by 85% and fleet miles by 13%, and has been adopted by Lyft to schedule car repairs. Although the company does not release revenue numbers, Sims says its revenue grows three times year-over-year.