<p>Kargo has been named a recipient of the Food Logistics 2021 Top Software & Technology Providers award. The accolade recognizes leading software and technology providers that ensure a safe, efficient, and reliable global cold food and beverage supply chain.</p><p>“Software developments and emerging technologies are what make the world go 'round,” said Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “They're what make supply chains move, even when the world stops. They're what keeps people, products and plants safe. They provide traceability, visibility, efficiency and credibility. And, the winners from this year's award prove that there are no limitations to what software and technology can do in the supply chain space.”</p><p>Kargo is helping 3PLs in the global cold food and beverage space address critical labor and visibility challenges. Over the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult to hire and retain warehouse workers, especially for cold storage facilities. Kargo helps 3PLs fill labor gaps by automating critical processes, including those specific to the food and beverage space. For example, Kargo's sensor towers automatically check expiration dates, inspect for damage, tampering or contamination, and verify that food and beverage products have maintained a specific temperature and are safe to move to the next stage of the supply chain. In automating these processes, Kargo not only creates opportunities for workers to shift into safer, higher-impact roles but allows 3PLs to maximize their existing capacities by increasing throughput.</p><p>Visibility has always been important to the supply chain, but especially in the cold food and beverage space. As a supply chain visibility startup, Kargo stands out because we connect the physical world of freight with the digital ecosystem that manages it. Kargo's technology aggregates and operationalizes data that 3PLs have never had access to before. Kargo's dashboard integrates with a 3PL's warehouse management system, and provides real-time data and visuals that enhance visibility into freight and facility operations—which can be passed along to shippers. For example, Kargo allows 3PLs to share video footage of damaged freight unloaded from a truck, flag unusually long idle times, notify shippers of missing palettes, and adjust operations to control cold food and beverage product needs.</p><p>At Kargo, our mission is to empower companies to manage their supply chain more effectively. We're honored to receive this recognition from Food Logistics and look forward to continuing our work in helping transform the cold food and beverage supply industry.</p><p>Recipients of this year's award are profiled in Food Logistics' Nov/Dec 2021 issue. See the full list of Top Software & Technology Providers at <a target='_blank' rel='noopener' href='https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3397945-1&amp;h=3217884100&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodlogistics.com%2F&amp;a=FoodLogistics.com.+'>FoodLogistics.com.</a>.</p>

Kargo Named Food Logistics 2021 Top Software & Technology Providers Award Recipient

<h2>Discover how computer vision can be used to remove the ambiguity from freight claims and make the process easier for everyone.</h2><p>Logistics providers are dealing with an unprecedented amount of freight claims, thanks to the now-constant interruptions in supply chains that have occurred over the last few years. Issues ranging from shipments being <a href='https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ever-given-leaves-suez-canal-more-3-months-after-blockage-n1273200' rel='noopener' target='_blank'>delayed</a> to worldwide <a href='https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/navigating-the-labor-mismatch-in-us-logistics-and-supply-chains' rel='noopener' target='_blank'>worker shortages</a> are causing untold issues for logistics companies.</p><p>Freight claims are nothing new, but with the challenges the industry has been facing, these claims have been growing, costing 3PLs more time and money to resolve.</p><p>Up until now, technology hasn’t been a big part of the solution. However, artificial intelligence, specifically emerging computer vision techniques, is proving effective in reducing human error, streamlining the claims process, and eliminating fraudulent claims altogether.</p><h2>What is a freight claim?</h2><p>A freight claim is a report that is filed when a customer reports that the cargo arrived damaged, with parts missing, or it didn’t arrive at all. Freight claims are filed by the customer as a way to get a response from the shipper - usually financial recuperation or getting the goods redelivered.</p><p>Damage or lost packages tend to happen as a result of human error during the shipping process, although not always. It can happen when items aren’t packaged properly, they’re mishandled, or when items shift during transport. This can make it incredibly challenging to track down the actual source of the problem, as well as make it difficult for customers to settle the claim - especially if multiple parties were involved in the shipping process or there is an overall lack of accountability.</p><h2>What are the different kinds of freight claims?</h2><p>There are four common types of claims. The kind of claim you file depends on what happened during shipping and whether the issue has been acknowledged. Knowing what kind of claim you need to file can make getting started easier.</p><p><strong>1. Damage -</strong> This is what most people think of when they hear about freight claims. Usually, for this type of claim to be valid, there has to be visible damage that you notice right away. Obvious clues are crushed or punctured boxes or leaks.</p><p><strong>2. Loss -</strong> Like damage, this one is pretty common. There’s often no real way to track what happened to the package, it simply never arrives. In recent years, this has been exacerbated by package theft, like the <a href='https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/economy/la-freight-railroad-theft/index.html' rel='noopener' target='_blank'>recent high-profile coverage</a> of thefts from trains in LA.</p><p><strong>3. Shortage -</strong> With a shortage, something is missing from the order. Typically, this happens when large quantities of something are ordered or if there’s a delivery that involves multiple boxes for one item.</p><p><strong>4. Concealed damage or shortage -</strong> This is the hardest one to settle because it’s often not noticed until everything has been signed for and the customer starts going through the shipment. For concealed damage or shortage claims, as the name suggests, the issue has been discovered by the shipper and covered up, with the hopes the end customer doesn’t notice until it’s too late.</p><h2>What is the freight claims process like?</h2><p>The freight claim process needs to be started as soon as possible. Start when the package arrives (or doesn’t arrive) and you notice something is wrong. This isn’t always possible, though. Concealed damage or shortage claims can be hard to notice until you start breaking them down unless you’re missing an entire pallet of goods.</p><p>To ensure that you’ve got everything you need to make a claim, you should consider the following things:</p><p><strong>- Report it as soon as possible.</strong> If you notice an issue when it’s being delivered, don’t sign for the package. That helps you start a paper trail that there was something wrong. However, if it’s concealed, you won’t be able to catch the problem on delivery. In that instance, report it as soon as you see something is either missing or damaged.</p><p><strong>- Don’t sign for the delivery without inspecting the package first.</strong> It should go without saying, however, if you’re busy, it’s easy to sign for something without even thinking about it.</p><p><strong>- Take photos of everything.</strong> The container or pallet it was shipped in, the state it arrived in, the specific damage to the cargo, everything you think that could help prove your claim. If you can capture an image of it on the truck, even better. That can help narrow down where the issue was, although this isn’t always possible.</p><p>Once you’ve gathered your evidence and filed a claim, it’s time to wait. Freight claims can take a long time to sort, especially since there can be a lack of accountability throughout the shipping process. By law, shippers have to acknowledge your claim within 30 days, but it can take up to 120 days to settle the claim.</p><h2>What are the challenges with freight claims?</h2><p>Various trucks, trains, ships, warehouses and people are involved in getting an item to its final destination. This makes it difficult to pinpoint what happened, where it happened and who is responsible. The result? Lots of finger-pointing. Often, logistics providers shoulder the blame – costing them huge amounts of time and money – in an effort to maintain good relationships with their customers.</p><h2>How can computer vision help resolve freight claims?</h2><p>As frustrating as freight claims can be, technology can help. Computer vision, the use of artificial intelligence to train computers to ‘see’ or derive meaning from images, can be used to provide irrefutable evidence to support claims resolution. Computer vision solutions offer platforms that have photos and/or videos of every inbound and outbound shipment. This hard evidence is invaluable for 3PLs when they are navigating uncomfortable claims conversations with their clients. For example, if there is visual evidence that a pallet was damaged when it arrived at the 3PL’s warehouse, it’s much easier for customer success teams to achieve a favorable outcome during the resolutions process. As a result, claims can be resolved more quickly and 3PLs can maintain good relationships with their clients. Protecting margins and the client relationship.</p><p>Learn how Kargo does both of these things - prevents mistakes from happening and provides irrefutable visual evidence to dispute claims - at the same time, eliminating 100% of errant claims.</p><h2>Contact us at info@mykargo.com!</h2>

How Technology Can Help Reduce Freight Claims

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>There are two main things I consider when starting a new career. The first is what they work on, and the second is the people. It was kind of easy to figure out the first one because, as soon as Kargo reached out to me, I went online and looked up what they were working on. I genuinely liked the idea and the technology behind it; the pandemic gave people time and inspiration to come up with amazing solutions, and when it comes to logistics, I believe Kargo’s technology stands among those solutions.</p><p>As for the second reason, the people, it is hard to know everything ahead of time because there is only so much you can figure out online. Naturally, I looked up Kargo's profile on LinkedIn and found that most of Kargo’s members have extensive experience and/or left large corporations to join Kargo; only a great and appealing environment would attract such talented people.</p><p>I’ve now been at Kargo for a little over three months, and I’m happy to report that the people here are much more than what's on their resumes.</p><h2>Tell us what you do as a test engineer at Kargo…</h2><p>You can think of my role as the bridge between the software and the hardware teams. To simplify it, I’m responsible for writing code for new hardware in development, and at the same time, testing and validating the hardware itself. This involves writing code to gather data, validate hardware performance, data analysis, hardware reliability test, failure analysis, prototyping, and more.</p><h2>What is the hardware team, and company culture as a whole, like?</h2><p>My team is very talented and humble, making it very easy for me to transition when I left Apple. I’m truly grateful for having the opportunity to work with them.</p><p>At Kargo, everyone operates without ego and is very supportive of one another. I believe this is what makes the team excited to come to work.</p><h2>Describe Kargo in three words.</h2><p>Generous, friendly, and supportive</p><h2>What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?</h2><p>This might not sound very interesting to some people, but I really enjoy taking long walks.</p>

<p>We were excited to sit down with Bader Aldeen Abou Koura, Kargo’s first hardware test engineer, to learn more about his role and what he has learned since joining Kargo this past January.</p>

Meet the Team: Bader Aldeen Abou Koura, Senior Hardware Test Engineer

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>There were two reasons.</p><p>The first was Sam [Lurye], our founder and CEO. I had the privilege of working with Sam as an agency recruiter, helping him build the Kargo team from the ground up. For the year I worked with him prior to joining Kargo, I saw him grow and evolve into the inspiring and passionate leader he is today. I admire the empathy, compassion, and care he has for everyone on the team. Whether that be making sure we have the best health insurance, asking for open and transparent feedback on what’s working and what’s not working in the company, to making sure that we have all the support from our managers and peers to be successful in our roles.</p><p>The second is that I love startups. I’ve always enjoyed being a part of early-stage startups - this is actually my third adventure with an early-stage company. What made joining Kargo exciting was the opportunity to be a part of a company that is building a hardware and software solution for an overlooked industry that affects our everyday lives - the supply chain.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>I’ve learned that it is important to educate people - the team at Kargo, candidates and other stakeholders - about the supply chain and logistics industry. It is still a new space for most people, including the majority of the team at Kargo. This knowledge is important In order to fully understand the profound impact Kargo is having on the industry.</p><h2>Tell us about the team at Kargo…</h2><p>I may be biased since I am Head of Talent but…the Kargo team is amazing! I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some of the most passionate, innovative, intelligent, and fun people I’ve ever worked with. Each and every day, we’re constantly learning and growing together while embracing challenges along the way.</p><h2>Describe the company culture…</h2><p>Our company culture is based on operating without ego and being transparent, collaborative, inspiring, mission driven and fun! Our team hustles each and every day, but also takes the time to appreciate, reflect, and give thanks to where we are today and the journey it took to get us here.</p><p>Having a growth mindset is also important to our company culture. Everyone on our team has the desire to explore the unknown and embrace challenges along the way.</p><h2>What makes you the most excited about Kargo?</h2><p>I’m excited for the next stage of hyper growth as we scale from 25 to 80, from 150 to 500, and beyond. It’ll be a time for extreme patience, perseverance, and collaboration. A time to embrace the journey, while continuing to write the Kargo story each and every day. The current Kargo team has accomplished so much in the last year and I can’t wait to see where we’ll be a year from today.</p><h2>Since you’re based in San Francisco, what is your favorite thing to do in the city?</h2><p>Adventure! That could be trying a new restaurant, going on an urban hike, checking out a pop-up event, or attending a neighborhood festival or concert. I love it all!</p><h2>If you're interested in joining the team, head to our careers page!</h2>

<p>Joining in January 2021, Anjennette Wong was one of the first people to join Kargo. Since then, she has been the key to building the amazing team we have today. We sat down with Anjennette to learn more about her and her role.</p>

Meet the Team: Anjennette Wong, Head of Talent

<h2>What’s your story for joining Kargo? Why did you choose to join the team?</h2><p>I was thinking about changing jobs because I wanted to try something new, something that would have a bigger impact on the real world. It started with a cold email, which I usually don’t reply to, but for some reason, I actually read this one. The idea of using computer vision to revolutionize the logistics industry sounded very interesting to me, so I decided to give it a try.</p><p>At that time, I was interviewing at a lot of different places and I received offers from a variety of large companies (Google, SpaceX, Robinhood). Kargo stood out because of the close-knit culture, and I just couldn’t resist being part of the start of something big and great, so here I am.</p><h2>What makes you excited about Kargo?</h2><p>It’s more about our mission. From a technical side, we are solving problems that help people in real life. Hundreds of people are injured every day around forklifts. We’re using computer vision and deep learning to try to make the process safer and more efficient. It’s certainly a challenge worth pursuing.</p><p>What we are building is new to the industry because it requires so much computation power. Transferring that amount of data to the cloud is even more difficult. What we’re doing here is really cutting edge. We’re pushing the capabilities of software engineering, and we are doing good in the process.</p><h2>How would you describe the company culture?</h2><p>Our team is always thinking about what we can provide to the customer. We care greatly about the industry and revolutionizing the logistics industry. The team works well together because we share so many of the same values.</p><p>As an early-stage startup, there will always be challenges, for example, a crash or a bug. What is important to me, and what I like about Kargo, is that our team is always eager to learn from our mistakes.</p><h2>What is your vision for Kargo in 6 months? A year? Three years?</h2><p>In six months, we will have a solid dock visibility system with hundreds of towers deployed and providing visibility into each dock and facility we are in.</p><p>In a year, the number of towers will continue to grow and create a large sensor network. We will be able to track freight as it travels along the supply chain, providing further value to our customers. The existence of this network will sell itself and we go into an exponential growth phase.</p><p>In three years, I see us having a huge fleet of towers and expanding our sensor network beyond loading docks. We will be able to track the entire path of a product - from raw materials to the final product in consumers’ hands.</p><p>That’s something really exciting.</p><h2>If you're interested in joining the team at Kargo, check out the careers page!</h2>

<p>Binyan Liu, joined Kargo in the Fall of 2020 as an Infrastructure Engineer and one of the first members of the software team. Now as the leader of the team, he oversees everything related to software. We had the chance to sit down with him to learn more:</p>

Meet the Team: Bingyan Liu, Head of Software

<h2>Tell us about your role at Kargo...</h2><p>As one of the first account executives to join Kargo, I have been working hard to listen and learn from our customers. Really understanding the challenges they are facing is key to building a robust and futureproof solution for the industry. At the same time, we (the sales team) have a lot of educating to do. Not only about our new technology but a totally new way to solve the problems warehouses are facing and help ease the global supply chain crisis.</p><h2>Why did you join Kargo?</h2><p>I came from a unicorn start-up and loved the thrill of helping build products that change the world. Kargo checked off all the boxes of a unique opportunity that I wanted to be a part of. A technology and solution that is relevant to almost every industry in existence. It also didn’t hurt being the first Chris to join the company which comes with the elusive Chris@ email address...</p><h2>What excites you about working at Kargo?</h2><p>I am a supply chain nerd that has sat both on the execution side, as well as the demand side of logistics. The global supply chain crisis is a product of inefficient, disparate systems that ultimately lead to underutilization of global and domestic infrastructure. Kargo will play a critical role in enhancing the infrastructure we have in place today, and in the future. Essentially doing more with the same 4 walls of any warehouse.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>Engineering is really magic! When we see an opportunity to enhance our product, our engineering team can make it a reality within hours. This is something that our customers have grown to love. It makes their lives easier, and when they win - we win.</p><h2>How would you describe the team at Kargo?</h2><p>We give a sh*t. Pure and simple. Everyone cares about what our customers need and will do whatever it takes to provide them with solutions. The team is a group of the smartest and hardest working people that I have ever met... who also like to have a good time.</p><h2>Tell us something your coworkers don’t know about you.</h2><p>I am really into aquascaping aquariums. Google can be your friend here to visualize what this looks like.</p><h2>If you're interesting in joining Kargo, check out the careers page!</h2>

<p>Chris Noorian has spent his entire career working in the supply chain space. That’s why we were excited to sit down and talk to him about why he decided to join Kargo and what makes him excited about the future of the company.</p>

Meet the Team: Chris Noorian, Senior Account Executive

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I have a background in supply chain, so I was really intrigued by the product and quickly recognized the huge potential. From my first conversation with Anjennette [Wong], I knew I wanted to be a part of a team that will make an impact on the industry, but had no idea how well things would actually work out. I’m so excited to be the first Product Manager at Kargo!</p><h2>What do you do as a product manager at Kargo?</h2><p>I collaborate with software, hardware, customer success, operations team - basically every team - to help define and shape the current and future product. I also work very closely with our customers. “Falling in love with our customers’ problems,” as our Customer Success Lead loves to say, really helps me understand the pain points in this industry. This is crucial to building a solution that’s game changing.</p><h2>Tell us about the team at Kargo…</h2><p>The team is group of very inspiring, energetic and open-minded people. I believe that we learn something new from each other every day. It’s been exciting to see the team grow - the company has almost doubled in size since I joined, and I can’t wait to welcome more people with the same passion.</p><h2>What is the company culture like?</h2><p>I love that there are no limitations around how to solve problems here at Kargo. The team is very creative, proactive, and flexible.  I also love that we always keep open lines of communication. The culture encourages people not to be afraid to identify and to talk about problems. Seeing a problem is the first step to tackling it!</p><h2>What makes you the most excited about Kargo?</h2><p>I truly believe in Kargo’s mission to connect the physical world of logistics to the digital ecosystem that manages it. Logistics being a more traditional industry doesn’t mean we cannot think outside the box. I’m excited about Kargo’s potential to make an impact on the industry.</p><h2>Interested in joining the team? Check out our careers page.</h2>

<p>Cleo Song joined Kargo in the Fall of 2021 as Kargo’s first Product Manager. We got the chance to sit down with her to learn more about her role and why she loves working at Kargo.</p>

Meet the Team: Cleo Song, Product Manager

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I’ve always dreamed of being able to grow into a role where I’m leading the engineering team for a particular area or product. Kargo seemed like a great chance for me to become the primary backend engineer for a new product that pushes the boundaries of logistics software. I saw early on that we aimed to build an extensive data platform to manage shipments and facilities on a global scale. I wanted to have an outsized impact on the technical direction of this platform and grow my technical skills alongside it.</p><p>I also really cared about the team culture. I was (and continue to be) impressed with every other member of the team. Everyone has a rock solid understanding of their area and they’re great communicators as well – I never feel scared to ask my team what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. I only want to work at places where I have full confidence in the people around me, and Kargo is definitely one of those.</p><h2>Tell us a little more about your role at Kargo...</h2><p>I wear a lot of hats as part of my role. At the end of the day, my responsibility is to deliver product features for our customers, deliver reliable and scalable infrastructure that is sufficiently error-free, and build tooling to help our internal operations. A really large part of this is defining (or understanding) requirements, defining the scope and effort of a given change, and defining metrics in which we can evaluate success. After this, I will work with the team to understand prioritization. The next step is typically design – for example, data modeling, API design, service design, etc. We usually do team-reviews of large-impacting design changes. The last step is the actual coding and implementation of these changes.</p><p>There are a lot of considerations required when building systems at an early stage startup – what languages and protocols should we use? Microservices or monoliths? What tooling should we use? How do we deploy our changes seamlessly? How do we test our changes reliably? What best practices should we follow during development? How do we keep the system flexible, but still maintainable? I spend a lot of my time thinking about these questions.</p><p>I also work closely with our product managers and front-end engineers to make sure that everyone’s unblocked.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>I’ve learned a lot about how to ask productive clarifying questions. When I get requests to build a system or feature, I try not to take the request too literally, but instead, try to understand what the intended effect is, or what is believed to be the root problem. Oftentimes, the request will be a consequence of a much deeper problem. Understanding what these root problems are allows engineering to come up with more effective or even simpler solutions than what was initially requested.</p><p>For example: someone might ask if I could help build them a tool to extract data from one system and input it into another system.</p><p>My initial goal is to understand why they would need such a tool and what their core issue is. With enough clarifying questions, I might end up building an automated way for the output system to gather input data, and this automated way could be a very generalized solution for all the tools we build.</p><p>I’ve used this approach to great effect when building infrastructure, tooling, and new product features! I think it helps enhance the final deliverable, and helps engineering build only the most critically important things.</p><h2>Of Kargo’s six values, which is your favorite and why?</h2><p>I really believe in the value of “Results over effort”. It’s a really liberating value because I no longer feel any pressure to give the impression of spending a lot of effort on tasks. As long as I’m effectively on top of all my responsibilities, I have a ton more flexibility on how I accomplish my work.</p><p>For example, I’m not always productive when working normal hours. My productivity comes and goes. I feel like there’s enough trust and accountability at Kargo that I can spend my low-productivity times on recovery and relaxation. I know my team will let me know if I’m lagging on any of my core responsibilities.</p><p>This value also pushes me to find more creative, efficient ways to accomplish our tasks. Sometimes it means reducing the scope of a project. Other times it means spending more time building a long-lasting, scalable solution to what might appear to be a common problem.</p><h2>When you’re not working, what do you like to do?</h2><p>I play tennis, hike, and love spending time skiing in Tahoe. This might give the impression that I’m physically fit and active, but don’t be deceived.</p><p>I’ve spent 12 years playing a real-time strategy game called Starcraft 2. I’ve consistently been a high Master-level player. These days, I enjoy teaching my friends how to play better, watching the competitive scene, and learning new strategies. I follow a lot of competitive games like Smash, and League of Legends as well.</p><p>I work on side projects when I can – little pieces of automation or scripting, a website focused on professional video game streamers, and lots of mostly failed product ideas.</p><h2>Interested in joining Kargo? Check out our careers page!</h2>

<p>Meet Daniel Fang, Kargo’s first backend - and frontend - engineer. We talked to him about the different hats he wears at Kargo, as well as why he decided to join the team last June and what he has learned since then.</p>

Meet the Team: Daniel Fang, Senior Software Engineer

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I thought it was the perfect combination of a good idea and great people. At the time, I was debating between joining another team at Amazon or Kargo. After meeting the team and hearing that I would be the first mechanical engineer to work on the project, I knew this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.</p><h2>What you do at Kargo?</h2><p>I was in charge of the entire physical design of the last generation of the tower: camera/lighting placement, thermal management, structural analysis, electronic packaging, etc. Now that we have another mechanical engineer, I will focus more on camera, lighting, and sensor integration for our next generation tower.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>I’ve learned a lot about myself since joining. To be honest, I was nervous to be the only ME on the team when first starting out, but it’s been some of the most rewarding work I have done. I’ve had to learn a ton on the fly and luckily have been able to lean on team members whenever I can’t figure something out myself.</p><h2>How would you describe your team?</h2><p>Fun loving, dedicated, and thoughtful. We have a great combination of designing and building innovative products without taking ourselves too seriously.</p><h2>What is the company culture like?</h2><p>I think Sam (our founder and CEO) always mentions that we operate highly, but leave our egos out of it. Coming from a large tech company, that was refreshing. Everybody is smart, but nobody feels like they have to prove it.</p><h2>What is your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?</h2><p>EAT - this city has amazing food and our team lunches and dinners never disappoint!</p><h2>If you're interesting in joining Kargo, check out the careers page!</h2>

<p>Harry Wood joined Kargo in the Spring of 2021 as Kargo’s first mechanical engineer, and led the physical design of the last generation of the tower. We sat down with him to ask him what he’s learned about himself, Kargo and the team over the last year.</p>

Meet the Team: Harry Wood, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I decided to join Kargo because of the company’s mission to improve supply chain quality and efficiency. The pandemic, and resulting supply chain crisis, highlighted for me the importance of ensuring organizations around the world can track and receive their freight on time.</p><h2>Tell us a little about what you do at Kargo…</h2><p>I get to work in a wide variety of areas! They include:</p><ul><li>Optimizing the design of our existing product.</li><li>Developing the industrial design of our next-generation tower based on our optical and product requirements.</li><li>Working with our contract manufacturers and other partners.</li><li>Designing the overall structure of our next-generation tower and running impact analysis through our simulation tools.</li><li>Traveling to customer sites to deploy new prototypes and collect data from their warehouses and employees.</li></ul><p>I’ve also built out our rapid prototyping and testing lab, purchasing a variety of fun machine tools giving us the capability to build out all the prototypes for our various programs.</p><h2>What is it like working on the hardware team?</h2><p>The hardware team at Kargo is a group of talented engineers. This team is able to innovate and pivot on new design directions quickly - getting products out to customer sites faster than any other company I’ve experienced. We are very close which makes it easy to navigate cross-functional issues as they arise. </p><p>Matt [Brekken], who runs the team, is a fantastic manager and enables all of us to operate with autonomy. He is just as invested in our personal growth as he is in the company’s growth.</p><h2>What makes you the most excited about working at Kargo?</h2><p>Kargo is tackling challenges that have been plaguing businesses since long before the supply chain crisis. I find it incredibly motivating to be able to work on a solution that is of global importance and has such far reaching impact. I love coming to work everyday as there are always fun problems to solve and new parts/systems to design!</p><h2>Describe Kargo in three words.</h2><p>Supply chain solved.</p><h2>What's your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?</h2><p>I’m based in San Francisco, so in the summer I love sailing in the bay in the summer and snowboarding in Tahoe during the winter.</p>

<p>We got the opportunity to sit down with Jeff Quackenbush to learn more about his role as a Principal Mechanical Engineer on the hardware team.</p>

Meet the Team: Jeff Quackenbush, Principal Mechanical Engineer

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I joined Kargo because in my last role I was doing primarily project-based work, working on small, individual components of a system. Prior to that, at Garmin, I had built some really cool computer vision systems end-to-end. So, coming to Kargo, I was looking to get back to that and carry something through end-to-end.</p><h2>How would you describe what you do day-to-day at Kargo?</h2><p>Day-to-day is highly variable. Some days I’m chasing down where valuable and new sources of information for our data sets are going to be. Other days involve setting up the infrastructure for the training and evaluation of deep learning models. More recently, my days have involved building some infrastructure to be able to essentially emulate the operation of the system in a prototype environment, and then designing algorithms around that.</p><h2>How would you describe your team at Kargo?</h2><p>On the software team, everyone is an expert in their role. Everyone is very experienced and has good judgement on what to build. I would say we are – I don’t know if this is too cliche to say – I think we are a very scrappy team. In terms of the problems we are trying to solve and what we have been able to accomplish so far, we are punching above our weight.</p><h2>What is your favorite part of working at Kargo?</h2><p>This may also sound kind of corny, but I feel like I’m able to live up to (or attempt to live up to) my potential as a vision engineer here. In fact, I need to in order to succeed. That’s an opportunity I didn’t have at my previous positions. Working at Kargo has given me the opportunity to grow faster than I was before.</p><p>I can’t overstate how important the personal growth aspect is to me. My first job was strictly a research position. Very slow-paced, without much incentive or need to produce a finished product. In that role, after a long period of prototyping, I was able to build full systems on my own, but they weren’t directly productized or someone else ended up taking them over the finish line. Then the other places I’ve worked have been more execution-focused. So working at Kargo is really the culmination of both skillsets I gained over those experiences.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>Hmm I’ve learned a lot. Part of the reason I joined was because I saw much of the infrastructure had already been set up to be able to test and simulate the operation of a system. Sometimes, algorithmic breakthroughs can happen merely by virtue of having the right kind of testbed for an algorithm. Basically, having the ability to reproduce what is going on in the production environment can, in some cases, make it obvious what the next move is. If you don’t have that capability, you’re guessing what is going to work. The ability to actually see how the production system is operating, and then to quickly iterate on algorithms, has unlocked a lot for us recently.</p><h2>What work are you most proud of? What has been your favorite project?</h2><p>There are two facets. I would say the work I’m most proud of, from an applied research perspective, is the recent label tracking stuff we are doing. It combines deep learning and robotic state estimation in an interesting way. And it is unlike anything else I’ve seen out there.</p><p>The other thing I’m proud of is that we set up version one of the system in 3-4 weeks. The end-to-end complete wide angle understanding of the scene. So I’m pretty proud of our ability to do that.</p><h2>How would you describe the company culture?</h2><p>From an engineering perspective, I would say that people are very honest in terms of what can we do today, what is going wrong, how can we fix it. That’s one thing I like about the culture, I can say “hey I think we should do this” and it is seriously considered.</p><h2>What advice would you give someone on how to succeed at Kargo?</h2><p>I believe success requires that you both know when to take a step back, to think, reflect, prototype and explore solutions, and then when to not let perfection be the enemy of good, and execute on the vision. That is the very unique opportunity we have here. Usually you are doing one thing or the other.</p><h2>What is something your coworkers don’t know about you?</h2><p>I used to breakdance in high school. That is a real true fact that no one knows about me.</p>

<p>Max Goldberg joined Kargo in Spring 2021 as the company’s first Computer Vision Engineer. We had the opportunity to sit down with Max and had a great conversation about his role and what makes working at Kargo so special.</p>

Meet the Team: Max Goldberg, Senior Computer Vision Engineer

<h2>What do you do at Kargo?</h2><p>Right now, because the team is still growing, I’m responsible for the physical parts of the computer vision tower we are building. This includes managing suppliers and design firms for our critical components, as well as guiding them through all of our specifications and requirements. I’m working on building a system architecture based on our customers’ needs.</p><h2>What do you think differentiates Kargo from other startups?</h2><p>The team. I found that everyone here at Kargo is top-level. Really capable. In my previous roles, the focus was on the growth of the company, rather than the team. At Kargo, we are building both in parallel. We hire people that not only bring value to their respective teams, but add to the company as a whole. Sam (our founder and CEO) talks about getting the right people on the bus first, and then driving the bus. Exactly. That’s what we do here.</p><p>It’s the team that makes Kargo the best place to be. The potential of our product is huge, but it’s up to us, the team, to make that happen.</p><h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>While I was working at another startup in the space, Kargo caught my attention. I was impressed by what Kargo was trying to achieve, their expertise, and what they had accomplished so far. To be honest, when I was presented with the opportunity to join Kargo, I was very comfortable in my current position, but Kargo and the team that captivated me. The idea of moving to San Francisco, to a cool office, and to a cool team, that was the push forward I needed.</p><h2>How would you describe Kargo's company culture?</h2><p>With one word: Awesome. If I had to dig a little bit deeper, I would say all of the team members are focused on moving the product forward, but without losing attention on the personal side. We eat lunch together, and we have time to disconnect from work from time to time and talk about topics that are not work-related.</p><p>I also think having a daily standup meeting with the whole team where you can actually see what each team member is working on — and you may not completely understand what it is they are working on — is a great way to keep pushing forward and understand what everyone else is bringing to the table. It makes you not necessarily focus more or work harder, but it makes you want to achieve your goals and update everyone, and if things are not working out, get help.</p><h2>What would you say to prospective candidates?</h2><p>I would say try it. It never hurts to talk to other people and learn new things. Even if you want to start the (interview) process just to see what we are about, to look and to say, “These guys look legit actually, it’s not just a front,” that’s great. We are looking for people with different backgrounds and expertise to bring something new to the team. If you think that sounds like you, we are growing fast and very open to bringing you in.</p>

<p>We sat down with our Lead Design for Manufacturing Engineer, Rodrigo Barriuso de Juan, to talk to him about his role and learn why he decided to join Kargo a year ago:</p>

Meet the Team: Rodrigo Barriuso de Juan, Lead DFM Engineer

<h2>Why did you decide to join Kargo?</h2><p>I joined Kargo because it was an opportunity to try a different technical and business area. I was excited about using my past experience building things from scratch, while also applying my wide range of knowledge and learning new things.</p><p>How I was first introduced to Kargo is actually a funny story. Among all the recruiting emails in my inbox, I saw one was from Bingyan [Liu] who I knew from college. Bingyan leads the Software Team at Kargo, and shared with me the exciting challenges they were facing, which made me more excited about joining the team.</p><h2>Tell us about what you do at Kargo…</h2><p>I mainly work on edge devices - the physical towers deployed in warehouses -  but I occasionally work on the cloud and computer vision code as well. On edge devices, the main task is to process every single frame captured by sensors and derive insights quickly and correctly. In addition to a bunch of other services that support communication, various hardware, etc.</p><p>From a more engineering perspective, my work spans from features, infra and tools to devops processes. We are constantly trying to strike a balance between fast iteration and engineering excellence.</p><h2>What is something you’ve learned since joining Kargo?</h2><p>Before joining Kargo I was working for Google, where infrastructure and processes are advanced and mature, but somewhat isolated. At Kargo, I was able to rethink all the tools and processes I’d been used to, see their motivation for different designs and try different approaches.</p><h2>What makes you the most excited about Kargo?</h2><p>The problems we are solving. They are not like “transcript the product requirements to code” -   you need to apply quantitative skills to actually design something sophisticated. They are also not like “classic hard problems in textbooks” - there’s no standard answer or silver bullet, you need to design the best solution for the specific use case.</p><h2>Describe Kargo in three words…</h2><p>Enthusiastic, professional and open minded.</p><h2>What do you like to do in your free time?</h2><p>On the weekends, I usually go hiking somewhere around the Bay. But it’s getting hard for me to find places I’ve never been. Before COVID, I took several weeks off every year to travel somewhere new outside of the US.</p><p>I also watch all kinds of YouTube channels - math, gaming, food and traveling.</p><h2>Interested in joining the team? Check out our careers page!</h2>

<p>In the Fall of 2021, Xu Hu joined the team as a software engineer, focusing on Kargo’s edge devices. We had the opportunity to sit down with him to hear about the problems he’s solving at Kargo and what he has learned along the way.</p>

Meet the Team: Xu Hu, Software Engineer

<p>There are many structural reasons for why the logistics and supply-chain industry ranks amongst the worst in technology adoption (razor thin margins and over-reliance on tribal knowledge chief among them).</p><p>While these factors limit innovation, they miss the fundamental difference between logistics and other industries: logistics handles the movement of physical goods in the real world, and the real world is an inherently messy place.</p><p>In the world of software, we have grown accustomed to neatly structured schemas, well documented APIs and dynamically-sizing cloud infrastructure. But the real world has none of these things; it is filled with snowstorms, global pandemics and a limited and aging industrial infrastructure.</p><p>The result of this “messiness” is staggering - $80 billion in logistics shrinkage every year in just the US alone. Administrative errors and manual data entry cause more than half of these losses, leaving the average consumer with the bill - higher prices and longer lead times.</p><p>The pandemic shined a bright and uncomfortable light on this untenable situation. In order to usher in a new era of supply chain efficiency and resiliency, we need a way to seamlessly connect the physical asset - a piece of food or a car tire for example - with its digital representation. Creating this link will unlock an entirely new way to manage every aspect of logistics - from payment to capacity management.</p><p>At Kargo, we are building the connective tissue between the physical world of freight and the digital ecosystem used to manage it. We believe that supply chains need to become resilient, accessible and equitable, and the best way to do that is to provide a single source of truth for stakeholders to make faster and more efficient decisions.</p><p>Today I am thrilled to announce our $25M Series A led by Sozo Ventures. The task ahead of us is not an easy one, but it results in a safer food supply, cheaper prices on everyday products and a more crisis-resilient economy. These outcomes are what we at Kargo are extremely excited to continue working towards.</p><p>To that end, our success rests on the phenomenal team we’ve built and will continue to grow. At Kargo, we look for both technical excellence and humility equally. Core to our mission is to provide an opportunity for the brightest minds to focus their energy on solving some of the world’s most challenging and impactful problems. I am beyond excited to continue building Kargo alongside our new team members, partners and customers.</p>

Building a More Resilient and Equitable Supply Chain

<p>Vertical warehouses, <a href='https://www.cbre.us/research-and-reports/US-MarketFlash-Going-Up-Vertical-Solutions-in-Industrial-Logistics' target='_blank' rel='noopener'></a>also called multi-story warehouses, are common across Asia and parts of Europe, where higher land prices and population densities have forced developers to build upward. In the U.S., increased demand for same- or next-day shipping, along with a <a href='https://www.marketplace.org/2021/12/13/supply-chains-stressed-by-u-s-consumers-buying-up-a-storm/' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>surge in consumer spending</a> accelerated by the pandemic, have spurred warehouse builders to establish sites closer to dense metropolitan areas. Vertical warehouses are increasingly the future of the industry at a time when demand is high and space is limited. This shift will in turn make it even more critical to optimize <strong>loading dock operations</strong>. Keep reading to find out why.</p><h2>Why are most warehouses flat to begin with?</h2><p>One reason warehouses have traditionally been flat and wide is a lack of sufficient technology. Before the 1900’s, cargo had to be lifted using <a href='https://www.damotech.com/blog/the-history-of-pallet-racks' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>human-powered levers and pulleys</a>. In the 1920’s, the <a href='https://web.archive.org/web/20130901014848/http://www.themhedajournal.org/content/3q04/lifttrucks.php' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>introduction of the forklift</a> allowed workers to package cargo into pallets and easily hoist them up high. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, <a href='https://www.damotech.com/blog/the-history-of-pallet-racks' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>pallet racks</a> — shelves that allow pallets of goods to be stacked safely on top of one another — made way for a new era of vertically-organized cargo.</p><p>Starting in the early 2000’s, manufacturers have been increasingly <a href='https://www.ccim.com/cire-magazine/articles/warehouses-think-big/' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>consolidating storage and distribution under one roof</a>, meaning warehouses had to become bigger. In 2001, the average size of a new warehouse in the U.S. was around 80,000 sq. ft., swelling to almost 200,000 sq. ft. in 2017, according to an <a href='https://www.cbre.us/real-estate-services/real-estate-industries/industrial-and-logistics/industrial-and-logistics-research/us-marketflash---going-large-warehouse-sizes-increase-for-modern-logistics--november-2017' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>analysis</a> by the real estate firm CBRE. Warehouses with 1 million sq. ft. of space are increasingly common — 2021 saw the <a href='https://www.cbre.com/insights/briefs/record-demand-for-mega-industrial-facilities-in-2021' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>highest-ever demand</a> for industrial spaces of at least 1 million sq. ft. in the U.S.</p><p>Last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced that warehouses have become <a href='https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50496' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>the most common type of commercial building</a> in the country, overtaking office space. And demand for space keeps growing. Global real estate services company JLL <a href='https://www.us.jll.com/content/dam/jll-com/documents/pdf/research/americas/us/jll-us-industrial-real-estate-demand-on-the-rise-in-the-us.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>predicts</a> the U.S. will need to add 1 billion square feet of industrial real estate — warehouses, distribution facilities, plants — by 2025 to keep up with e-commerce demand.</p><h2>Why warehouses must get taller, not wider</h2><p>Warehouses can’t solely be built on sprawling, flat expanses anymore. There’s simply not enough room for them.</p><p>Putting warehouses in strategic locations means builders have to think higher, not wider. Key sites include areas with access to large consumer bases, like the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania (close to New York City and Philadelphia), as well as the Chicago area, the Inland Empire in Southern California, and the Dallas and Atlanta areas. All saw <a href='https://www.cbre.com/insights/briefs/record-demand-for-mega-industrial-facilities-in-2021' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>huge demand last year</a> for industrial leasing space. Space near these sites is scarce, and pricey.</p><p>And there is significant local opposition to more warehouses going up, increasing the need for builders and logistics operators to think smarter about how and where to build. People in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley have described experiencing “<a href='https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/business/lehigh-valley-warehouses-ecommerce.html' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>warehouse fatigue</a>” as large facilities take over farmland and community spaces. Activists in California’s Inland Empire <a href='https://www.pe.com/2021/10/07/pushback-against-warehouses-in-the-inland-empire-gains-momentum/' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>have called out</a> Amazon and other logistics giants for contributing to dangerous air quality due to increased trucks, diesel exhaust and other emissions linked to massive warehouses.</p><h2>What does this mean for loading docks?</h2><p>The rise in vertical warehouses makes it more important than ever to invest in optimizing loading docks.</p><p>With less square footage on the ground floor, vertical warehouses may have fewer loading doors. Even if additional loading docks are added on upper stories, <a href='https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.squarespace-cdn.com%2Fcontent%2Fv1%2F5a31c205d55b41e997de43b6%2F1591654328827-PF39JCFT56RR2VZYKDJH%2Fprologis-georgetown-industrial-warehouse.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.warehouseautomation.ca%2Fmultistorey-warehousing&tbnid=tzDHr48SdGiK5M&vet=12ahUKEwiZjYz8uJb2AhXYFTQIHQsKALYQMygHegUIARDJAQ..i&docid=1dk0OEv2OvuR7M&w=1072&h=555&q=do%20vertical%20multi%20story%20warehouse%20loading%20docks&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwiZjYz8uJb2AhXYFTQIHQsKALYQMygHegUIARDJAQ' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>which trucks can access by driving up ramps</a>, the need for efficient loading dock operations will likely intensify.</p><p>Why? Vertical warehouses are coming online in the age of the “smart” warehouse, which rely on <a href='https://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/maximizing-unused-vertical-space-with-a-vertical-lift-and-mezzanine-is-the-key-to-better-productivity-and-safety/' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>automation</a> to sort goods, <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0TmnegR9P4' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>hoist</a> items up high, and transport them throughout the warehouse space. A compressed warehouse footprint translates to a greater need for technological precision in order to reduce mistakes and injuries. This means that inefficient practices — such as stockpiling merchandise next to a loading dock while it waits for hours to be processed — become even more disruptive and unacceptable.</p><p>Multi-story warehouses also involve more freight elevators so that goods can be lifted to upper floors and shelves. Freight elevators may in turn act as another bottleneck that can lead to backups if operations are inefficient: consider the <a href='https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4D12AQELLOL1t-4A8A/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0/1623272569145?e%3D1650499200%26v%3Dbeta%26t%3DijqqZeh11J2FaqHdPRyhgy_algpqXUwtsh2rwHlukR4&imgrefurl=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-vertical-multi-storey-warehouses-land-zuzana-stepankova&tbnid=63fItpKqbvPemM&vet=1&docid=jo-u6F7ok63sIM&w=1260&h=840&source=sh/x/im' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>limited space next to some loading docks</a> where cargo is swiftly ushered up an elevator at the <a href='http://prologisgeorgetown.com/' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Prologis Georgetown Crossroads</a> facility in Seattle, the first multi-story warehouse in the U.S. The more portals that items must pass through to get to their destination — loading doors, elevator doors — the more likely that traffic backups can occur, underscoring the need for well-organized loading docks.</p><p>And with a smaller amount of horizontal sprawl, vertical warehouses have less parking space around them for trucks to wait. Truck drivers are already being detained too long waiting for their trailers to be loaded or unloaded, hours for which they’re often not paid. This “dwell time” in turn <a href='https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/FMCSA%20Driver%20Detention%20Final%20Report.pdf' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>contributes to more accidents on the road</a> due to driver fatigue and a truck driver <a href='https://www.vox.com/22841783/truck-drivers-shortage-supply-chain-pandemic' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>shortage</a> as drivers leave the industry in search of better work. Efficient loading docks that allow trucks to enter and exit on time are essential to vertical warehouses with limited parking space.</p><p>Vertical or multi-story warehouses are the future of logistics, and the shift will have ripple effects on other systems in the supply chain. Operations at loading docks must quickly adapt to keep pace.</p>

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