Flexport Ocean
01 Background
As a leading provider of freight forwarding services, Flexport acts as a travel agent for commercial freight by purchasing space in vehicles and infrastructure and offering it to clients at lower prices than they would receive by buying directly. Despite the vast majority of the global supply chain operating on traditional paper and spreadsheet methods, Flexport aims to revolutionize the industry by becoming the world’s first operating system for global trade.
COMPANY
Flexport
TIME
2022-2023
ROLE
Product design manager
Business problems
- There are global port congestion during pandemic between 2020 and 2022
- Flexport’s business growing fast and getting more market share as Freight Forwarder
- Flexport has more shipments than its operation team can handle
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Two business choices:
- Hire more operators
- Reduce the Cost-To-Serve using technology
Ocean shipment lifecycle
The ocean shipment process is comprised of six phases, each presenting unique challenges. The Flexport Ocean organization has assembled six specialized teams, each focused on overcoming these challenges with the aim of lowering shipment costs and increasing productivity. The accompanying diagram outlines the primary tasks and target audiences for each of these six areas.
Ocean design team
- Ocean team is part of Flexport Operation org, which includes Ocean, Air and Trucking
- Ocean business represent 70%+ of Flexport revenue
- Ocean design team includes 7 product designers and 1 researcher located in 5 offices
- Our counter partners includes 9 product managers and 6 engineer teams.
Design goals
As the product design manager for Flexport’s Ocean team, my top priority is to leverage design to support Flexport’s goal of reducing cost-to-serve. This is a critical aspect of Flexport’s effort to position itself as a tech company rather than simply a freight forwarder. To achieve this objective, the focus is on using technology to differentiate the cost per shipment and make the process more efficient. By using design to improve the experience of using the Ocean Execution tooling, my team can play a key role in helping Flexport achieve its cost reduction goals and reinforce its image as a tech-driven company.
“Enable any operator for any mode to efficiently deliver high-quality logistics services at scale”
02 Ocean Execution
The focus of this case study is on the use of design to improve the experience of using the Ocean Execution tooling and to help Flexport reach its goal of reducing cost-to-serve through technology. The six feature areas of Ocean present a range of challenges, but this study will specifically address the impact of design on the execution tooling aspect of the platform.
Target users
User interviews
To develop effective and user-friendly tooling for Flexport and partner operators, it is crucial to have a thorough understanding of their current tooling experience, daily routines, and primary pain points. To gather this information, I collaborated with a researcher to conduct a series of user interviews, which will provide valuable insights into the needs and challenges of the operators.
Current tooling for operators
Based on the results of user interviews and prior research reports, operators require a diverse set of tools in their daily work, including fax machines, telephone calls, email, Google Sheets, and Flexport’s internal system, Flexport Core. Flexport Core is a legacy system that has been in use for six years and serves multiple teams within the company, including operators, customer account managers, accounting specialists, and customs specialists. Despite its widespread use, the system has been reported as difficult to use by many operators.
Top pain points for operators
Based on the results of user interviews, the following are the top three pain points for operators. In addition to these primary concerns, operators have frequently reported slow performance with Flexport Core. Further analysis reveals that the average loading time for Flexport Core exceeds 40 seconds.
03 Design iteration
Design workshop
Having gained a comprehensive understanding of operators’ current tooling experience, daily routines, and primary pain points through our user research, my team is now focused on designing solutions to address these challenges and enhance productivity. To this end, I organized and led a 4-day workshop where both project managers and engineering leaders were invited to participate.
One of the key outcomes of the workshop was the alignment of the leadership team on the need to create a dedicated tooling experience specifically for our operators. Initially named Flexport Core 2.0, it was later renamed as the Freight Forward App (FF App) to clearly differentiate it from the legacy, slow system known as Flexport Core.
Concept design and testing
After the design workshop, we continued to work on the design concepts, producing various low-fidelity mockups and promptly seeking feedback from operators. Through iterative design, we arrived at a solution that received positive feedback from both operators and internal stakeholders.
04 Freight Forwarding App
After multiple rounds of design iteration, we finally arrived at a new solution – a dedicated application for our operators, named the Freight Forwarding App. The following are some key concepts of the FF App.
Work view
The Work View is the default interface displayed when an operator opens the FF App. This allows operators to see all relevant work tasks, presented in a clear and organized manner, with tasks prioritized based on deadline (SLA) and work priority. This change from shipment assignments to WorkItems streamlines the workflow and enhances efficiency for operators.
Workspace and reference panel
By clicking on any work item, operators are taken to the corresponding Workspace page. Each WorkItem has a dedicated Workspace with accompanying contextual information, such as specific client preferences, accessible through the Reference Panel.
Other components
In addition to the core concepts of WorkItems and Workspaces in the FF App, there are numerous other features that require design consideration. For instance, when unexpected events occur during the shipment lifecycle, operators need the ability to file exceptions. To ensure consistency and ease of use, the FF App requires a unified exception framework.
05 Carrier booking
The Freight Forwarding App is an ambitious design project with a target implementation timeline of two years, encompassing Ocean, Air, and Truck operations. The first MVP release will concentrate on key tasks for Ocean Execution, which can be a complex process. The image below showcases the key tasks involved in Ocean export execution, with a focus on the new experience provided by the FF App for Carrier Booking.
Customer interviews
To design an optimal experience for carrier booking, we need to gain a thorough understanding of the current process and what the ideal process should be, as well as identify areas for improvement. We conducted operator interviews from various regions and collaborated with internal Operation Excellence experts to align with the business vision. The image on the left displays the insights gathered from these interviews.
Carrier booking background
The below are some key backgrounds related with carrier booking.
- Operators get Assignment from planning team
- Operators need to make booking according to the assignment
- The operators need to re-use existing bookings whenever possible
- It takes up to 48 hours to know whether bookings are successful or not
Top pain points
Workflow and low-fi design
Hi-fi design
07 Result and impact
In November 2022, the Freight Forwarding App 1.0 was successfully launched, offering essential features such as the WorkItem view, Workspace, and a suite of key ocean operations tasks. By December 2022, the results showed not only an improvement in operator productivity, but also highly positive feedback from the operator team.
08 Team operation
The Ocean UX team has several rituals and fun activities that help foster a positive work environment. Every week, the team holds an Ocean UX meeting and an Ocean WeDesign session. To start off the meetings, a “Blob in the Tree” activity is conducted, where each team member selects an image or blob that represents their emotions for the week. On Mondays, team members write a summary of their work, along with interesting personal anecdotes, which are shared in the meetings. The team also participates in activities like Secret Santa and team offsites in San Francisco, which enhance team bonding and happiness.
- Weekly Ocean team meeting
- Weekly Snippets
- Ocean WeDesign
- UX leadership review
Team growth
- 3 team members hired
- 1 promotion
- 1 people out of PIP
