"Shipping Happens!" A quote from an old "industry" of mine, Rich S.

I learned this early—first in trucking after my Logistics degree from Penn State, then later, running a nine-figure global logistics budget. When bookings show up late, capacity becomes guesswork. You scramble for space, pay premiums, and must explain delays you didn’t choose.

The breakthrough wasn’t a prettier dashboard. It was getting access to our POs 8–12 weeks ahead and pairing them with dimensions and cube. Then we knew not just when freight would move, but how much space it needed. Before this, we only knew what was needed when a shipper needed to make a booking.

This came out of our International Transportation Management (ITMS) when it was still just an Origin Management program. We turned container planning from hope into math. We secured the right mix of standard and high-cube, consolidated with intent, and cut rolled boxes and rework.

To make it work even better, we now used AI to pull documents: POs, packing lists, HTS, SKUs, into live PO dashboards. No swivel-chair data entry. Then we run weekly partner scorecards that everyone can see: on-time, utilization, damage, and rolls. Behavior followed the numbers. Carriers leaned in, suppliers tightened loading schedules, and the team moved from firefighting to sequencing.

Results landed where they matter: earlier capacity commits, better load factors, cleaner invoices, faster cycle times. The wins compounded because the loop was tight—signal, decide, act, repeat. Leadership rule: "be a bug, not a do" - - Brief clearly, unblock partners, govern outcomes. Delegation plus data beats heroics every time.

This is why I align with WOWL’s approach: carrier-neutral, AI-driven, PO-first. Put data at the center, give your team and the logistics operators one source of truth, and turn visibility into decisions you can bank on.

If your week still starts with guessing what actually ships, flip the script: surface POs early, add cube, automate ingestion, and publish the scorecard. Stay wiggly, plan early, flex fast, and let the numbers carry the load.