In the past, truck allocation plans required much time and manpower. Not only that, but they depended on human experience. There were four steps in making a truck allocation plan: (1) understand the cargo load of each truck, (2) calculate the cargo load for each route, (3) establish the maximum loading volume for each route, and (4) decide the number of runs for the allocated trucks. In calculating the cargo load in (2), a person would previously go to the site, visually confirm the cargo space of the truck, and decide how much could be loaded onto it. In addition to differences in the judgments of each person in charge, there was also a risk that these individuals would be hit by a truck or forklift. Moreover, production sites and distribution centers are dispersed in the central, west and east regions in Japan, and their operating hours also span from early morning until late night. This work was thus a huge burden, and less than 5% of the load status was actually understood.

In 2023, the processes of (1) understanding the cargo load, (2) calculating the load for each route, and (3) establishing the maximum loading volume were automated using AI. The cargo spaces of trucks loaded with cargo are now photographed 24-hours with fixed cameras, so that 100% of the loading status can be understood automatically.
Using this data, it has become possible to conduct searches by individual route and instantly identify low volume routes and runs. Based on this information, improvement work to create an optimum transport system is easier to perform, and the number of truck runs has been reduced by about 9,400 annually. Converted to CO₂ emissions, this is a reduction of about 760 tons.
This system has been introduced at distribution centers (in the cities of Miyoshi and Ichinomiya in Aichi Prefecture) that account for 60% of Toyoda Gosei product shipments.

In 2024, we developed a loading volume calculation system* that uses a LiDAR scanner installed on a smartphone. Since the data processing is completed on the smartphone, this system has the advantage of being simple to carry about and easy to adopt. Going forward, we plan to use this system for delivery routes that do not go through a distribution center, which account for the remaining 40% of Toyoda Gosei products.

*The system can be used with both 4-ton medium-sized trucks and 11-ton large trucks.