Overview
Effective innovation in information technology (IT) may be the most important tool for the private and public sectors to respond to capacity constraints and congestion. Both sectors have been investigating and implementing new IT applications to help manage freight transportation, improve supply chain management, enhance productivity and mitigate congestion; that is the essence of applying Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to freight transportation.
With that in mind USDOT worked closely with the freight industry through a collaborative body called the Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group (IFTWG), operating as a committee within the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Together the USDOT and industry helped develop the Electronic Freight Management (EFM) initiative to address data-related problems inherent in complex supply chains with simultaneous connectivity needed among multiple partners. Many-to-many data relationships are a key characteristic of EFM, and hopefully will help advance the state-of-the-art to replace the more costly and incomplete one-to-one relationships that now exist. EFM has already provided strong evidence that it enables significant improvements in supply chain visibility, productivity and effectiveness through simultaneous data sharing. In fact, the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have identified EFM as a major initiative because its success would reach beyond freight system efficiencies to help mitigate congestion and support growing freight transportation.