Job Description

Job Location: Green Bay, WI 54302Primary Purpose
The Planner is responsible for the strategic and tactical coordination of freight assignments to maximize fleet efficiency, meet customer commitments, and balance driver satisfaction. This role acts as the operational hub, linking Customer Service, Fleet Leadership, and drivers through precise scheduling and proactive communication.
Current focus: load planning for a 40-driver, home-daily fleet.
Future state: expansion into regional, dedicated, and brokerage operations with system automation and multi-region planning.

QualificationsCore Responsibilities
1. Load Planning & Assignment
- Review all load tenders entered by Customer Service in TruckMate for accuracy and completeness.
- Match available drivers based on hours of service (HOS), driver location, and equipment type.
- Build optimized load plans to minimize empty miles and improve driver utilization.
- Balance freight assignments across lanes, customers, and shifts.
- Communicate finalized load plans and dispatch instructions to Fleet Leaders.
2. Trailer Management & Utilization
- Maintain accurate visibility of all trailers in TruckMate, including loaded, empty, and in-transit statuses.
- Monitor trailer pool counts by customer location, ensuring availability for upcoming loads.
- Identify and correct imbalances by repositioning or shifting trailers based on freight patterns and customer needs.
- Collaborate with Fleet Leaders to ensure trailer readiness, cleanliness, and maintenance coordination.
- Track trailer dwell times and report delays for billing or escalation.
3. Real-Time Coordination
- Monitor live execution through TruckMate and Samsara, ensuring the plan aligns with actual movement.
- Communicate with Fleet Leaders about schedule adjustments, route conflicts, or driver availability.
- Document any changes or reassignments to maintain system accuracy.
- Partner with Customer Service to ensure all customer impacts are communicated promptly.
4. Efficiency & Cost Optimization
- Analyze lane patterns and develop routing recommendations that improve time and cost efficiency.
- Provide driver capacity options and resource utilization insights to Operations Leadership and Sales.
- Continuously assess dwell, idle, and route efficiency metrics to drive process improvements.
- Support margin improvement through optimal load sequencing and empty-mile reduction.
5. Collaboration & Communication
- Maintain constant communication with Fleet Leaders to ensure load execution success.
- Work with Customer Service to balance customer demands with operational capacity.
- Coordinate with Maintenance for equipment readiness and availability.
- Participate in daily operational huddles to review planned vs. actual performance.
6. Continuous Improvement & Ownership
- Take ownership of load plans from assignment through completion.
- Identify recurring bottlenecks or inefficiencies and recommend structural improvements.
- Support system enhancements and automation integration projects.
- Maintain accountability for accuracy, efficiency, and service reliability.
KPIs / Performance Metrics
- Planned vs. Actual Utilization: % of planned driver hours executed.
- % of Loaded Miles: Percentage of total miles that are revenue-generating.
- On-Time Performance: % of loads delivered within scheduled window.
- Trailer Balance Accuracy: % of trailer pool locations with correct equipment counts.
- Rate per Total Mile: Measures operational revenue efficiency across all lanes.
Technology Touchpoints
- TruckMate TMS: Load planning, trailer tracking, and real-time visibility.
- Samsara Integration: Driver HOS, location, and ETA tracking.
- Internal Communication Tools: Chat, email, and dashboards for coordination.
- Reporting Dashboards: Lane analytics, driver utilization, and network balance tracking.
Future-State Annotations
As WSW Logistics scales into regional and OTR networks:
- Planners will specialize by region, fleet type, or customer vertical.
- System automation and AI-based optimization will reduce manual planning workload.
- Collaboration with the Operations Support team will increase to handle data accuracy and preplanning.
- Enhanced analytics will drive more proactive forecasting and network design decisions.
Key Role Attributes
- Analytical Thinker: Understands data and uses insights to make decisions.
- Collaborative Communicator: Works effectively across all departments.
- Detail-Oriented: Ensures every plan aligns with driver, customer, and equipment needs.
- Accountable: Takes ownership of planning accuracy and results.
- Strategic: Balances short-term execution with long-term efficiency.
- Resilient: Adapts quickly to last-minute changes or challenges.