How AI is helping haulage firm make deliveries

The boss of a Birmingham haulage and logistics firm says artificial intelligence has drastically reduced missed deliveries and helped drive up productivity without job losses.

Mobile People Powered Logistics delivers 1,500 different shipments every day, from a single pallet right up to a full lorry load.

Managing Director Matthew Marriott explained how, when it came to AI, "staff that enjoy tinkering with this sort of stuff" eventually led to some impressive increases in revenue, up from £5m to £20m.

Marriott's staff used AI to improve communications between internal computer systems, but they also automated phone calls to customers.

When a lorry is on its way the AI system scans the customer's phone number from the delivery details, then an hour before delivery it automatically calls to remind them their order is on the way and they should prepare for delivery.

It means 400 phone calls a day are done automatically, leaving staff to focus on more important tasks. It has reduced the number of deliveries that have to be rescheduled because no one is in by 22%.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and top American Executive Asahi Pompey visited the business to see the impact AI was making.

Sunak said: "I think there's a fantastic opportunity for small businesses to use AI to turbo charge their businesses and if they do that that's going to be great for them and great for our economy."

Pompey, who is global head of the Goldman Sachs Office of Corporate Engagement, said she's very keen on getting SMEs to use AI but accepts some may be sceptical.

"It is going to be critical to figure out how to integrate this technology into your business. How to use it to scale, how to use it to be able to analyse your data and I would think you should start with where do you see processes that are particularly manual - because that's one of the starting points where AI can be very helpful in automating some of those processes."

At Mobile People Powered Logistics the aim is to use AI increase productivity and to expand the company.

Marriott said even if Artificial Intelligence won't work for some firms at the moment, that will change.

"So for us it's been fantastic but for other sectors it might not work and it might be that you have to wait two, three or four more years for it to develop even more for it to impact other sectors," he added.

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