When should a freight delay reach production or sales?

Key Takeaways

A freight delay should reach production or sales when it changes what they do: a line schedule, a customer promise or an order.
Not every delay needs to leave logistics. Too many alerts and people stop reading them.
Set the rules once by 3 questions: what kind of shipment, how late and who's affected.
Wilson, by Cartage, is an AI logistics agent that gets the new ETA and reason for a delay and tells the team and anyone else the company has set, by Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or SMS.
Each company chooses who's notified and how.

Why do delays reach production and sales too late?

An inbound shipment of raw material is running a day late. Logistics knows at 9 a.m. Production finds out at 2 p.m., when the line runs out. Sales promised a customer an order that now won't ship on time.

Delays reach production and sales too late because logistics knows first, but there's no rule for who else needs to know and when.

Visibility is limited for many companies: in a BCI Global survey of 240 supply chain leaders, only 35% reported end-to-end visibility.

Which delays should reach production or sales?

Share a delay when it changes what another team does.

Delay	Who needs to know	Why
Inbound material for production	Production, planning	The line schedule may change
Outbound order for a key customer	Sales, customer service	The customer promise may change
Order that misses a delivery window	Sales, customer service	The customer may need an update
Minor delay with no impact	Logistics only	Nothing changes for others

When should they hear about it?

They should hear as soon as the new ETA is known.

Get the new ETA and reason from the carrier.
Check the impact: line, customer or order.
Notify the affected team right away.
Update again if the ETA changes.

See a delayed delivery needs a customer update, not another internal alert.

How does Wilson, by Cartage, notify other teams about delays?

Wilson gets the new ETA and reason, then tells the team and anyone else the company has set to be notified. Traditional logistics software gives teams information. Wilson executes the work required to move shipments forward.

Step	Trigger	What Wilson does	When a person steps in
1. Detect	Load is running late	Contacts the carrier	Not required
2. ETA	Carrier responds	Gets the new ETA and reason	Not required
3. Notify	ETA confirmed	Tells the people the company has set, by Slack, Teams, email or SMS	Not required
4. Update	ETA changes again	Sends a new update	Not required
5. Escalate	The delay needs a decision	Escalates with options	Deciding

Each company chooses who's notified and how. See the shipment status changed. Who needs to know first?

How do teams avoid alert overload?

Teams avoid alert overload by sending each delay only to the people it affects.

Set rules by shipment type, not one list for everything.
Use the channel each team reads: Slack, Teams or email.
Send one update per change, not repeated reminders.

FAQs

When should logistics tell production about a delay? As soon as the new ETA is known, if the delay affects inbound material for the line.
When should sales hear about a freight delay? When the delay changes a customer promise or a key customer order.
Does every delay need to go to other teams? No. Minor delays with no impact can stay in logistics.
Can Wilson notify production and sales? Yes. Wilson tells the team and anyone else the company has set to be notified, by Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or SMS.
How does Wilson get the new ETA? From the carrier's API, GPS or ELD data, the carrier's website or by contacting the carrier.
How is Wilson priced? There's no subscription fee. Pricing is a percentage of the carrier payments that run through Wilson.

Conclusion

A delay that stays in logistics can stop a line or break a customer promise. The answer isn't more alerts. It's clear rules about who needs to know, which delays matter to them and when. Wilson, by Cartage, gets the new ETA and reason and notifies the people each company chooses. The practical first step is to write down who needs which delays, start Wilson on a few lanes and compare how fast affected teams hear about them.

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