Load Planning / Load Optimization

Load planning – sometimes called load optimization – is the process of deciding which orders ship together, on what equipment, via which carrier, and in what configuration. It sits at the center of shipment execution: after orders are released and before a carrier is tendered, someone (or something) has to figure out how to move the freight efficiently. For high-volume shippers handling hundreds of orders per week, this step determines whether you're running full trucks or paying to move air.

Effective load planning accounts for product dimensions, weight, stackability, temperature requirements, delivery windows, and carrier constraints – all simultaneously. The planner needs to know pallet counts, whether cases can be double-stacked, and whether mixing SKUs on a pallet violates any customer or regulatory rules. In manual environments, this means referencing spreadsheets, item catalogs, and tribal knowledge – a process that's slow, error-prone, and nearly impossible to scale.

The business impact is direct: poor load planning leads to underutilized trailers, unnecessary shipments, higher freight spend, and missed delivery windows. Conversely, shippers who optimize loads consistently see measurable reductions in cost per unit shipped and fewer accessorial charges from overweight or mis-declared freight.

Modern TMS platforms have moved load planning from spreadsheet exercises to algorithm-driven workflows that read product-level data – dimensions, weights, stackability – and apply configurable business rules to build optimized shipments in seconds rather than hours. The shift from manual to automated load planning is one of the highest-ROI changes a mid-market shipper can make.