With roughly 95% of its deliveries requiring appointments, FFE is rolling Qued out across its 18 nationwide service centers — after early use turned two hours of scheduling work into about five minutes
BROADLANDS, Va., November 5, 2026 — Qued, a leader in developing sophisticated, automated appointment scheduling solutions for supply chain and logistics companies, today announced a strategic partnership with FFE Transportation Services, Inc. (Frozen Food Express), the largest nationwide asset-based temperature-controlled LTL carrier. FFE has integrated Qued’s Smart Appointments platform into its own operating system and is rolling it out across its 18 service centers to automate delivery appointment scheduling — and to give its customer service team their day back.
Appointments are the defining constraint of refrigerated LTL. Where much of the dry-freight world delivers without them, roughly 95 percent of FFE’s deliveries require a scheduled appointment. Driven since 1943, FFE moves 22 to 24 million pounds of food every week — the refrigerated and frozen products on the outer aisles of the grocery store — through 18 cold-storage service centers, more than 1,200 dual-temperature trailers, and 700 tractors. Nearly every one of those deliveries lands at a receiver with its own scheduling portal, its own rules, and its own quirks: a pop-up box on one site, a required leading zero on a PO number on another. FFE’s customer service representatives have carried that load manually, spending so much of the day booking appointments that little bandwidth remained for track-and-trace, proactive updates, and the customer relationships the business is built on.
FFE had tried to automate scheduling before. Several years ago, a different provider could not unlock a single receiver website, and the idea was shelved. Qued has been unlocking those sites one by one — learning each receiver’s quirks along the way — and FFE’s email-based scheduling is already fully automated. In early use, batches of appointments that once consumed two hours of a CSR’s day — 20 at a time — have been booked in about five minutes. With its trial phase complete, FFE is now putting Qued in the hands of service center teams across the country and rolling out training.
Qued’s platform uses machine learning to find the best appointment slots in real time based on ETAs, facility capacity, historical performance, and the specific requirements of each location. It connects directly to the transportation management system a carrier already runs, and it works on every channel a facility can require: web portals, email, and AI-powered voice calls.
“Refrigerated LTL is appointment scheduling on hard mode — nearly every delivery needs one, and every receiver does it differently,” said Prasad Gollapalli, CEO of Qued. “FFE has led temperature-controlled freight for more than 80 years, and the trust of the nation’s largest refrigerated LTL network is the strongest endorsement there is. Where a previous provider couldn’t unlock a single site, we’re automating them one by one — and giving FFE’s customer service team their day back.”
“Our CSRs are called customer service reps, but appointment scheduling has turned them into appointment schedulers. The goal with Qued is to give them their time back for track-and-trace, proactive updates, and growing relationships with our customers — real customer service,” said Vince Barnett, Vice President of Operations at Frozen Food Express. “We’re still early, but every problem we’ve given Qued, they’ve taken it and worked on it until it’s fixed. They’re super responsive and super engaged. You couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
FFE joins a growing roster of asset-based carriers running on Qued, from family fleets to some of the largest refrigerated networks in North America.
About Qued:
Qued is a cloud-based, AI-powered smart workflow automation platform transforming load appointment scheduling for brokers, 3PLs, and carriers. By automating the scheduling process, Qued eliminates manual work, simplifies multi-stop load appointments, and ensures seamless coordination across the supply chain, improving both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.qued.com or contact us at contact.us@qued.com.
About Frozen Food Express:
FFE Transportation Services, Inc. (Frozen Food Express) is the largest nationwide asset-based temperature-controlled LTL transportation and warehousing provider. Driven since 1943 and headquartered in Lancaster, Texas, FFE operates 18 cold-storage service centers across the country and runs dual-temperature trailers that move refrigerated (33–38°F) and frozen (−10°F) food-grade freight on the same trailer — 22 to 24 million pounds of food every week. For more information, visit www.ffex.net.
Media Contact
Adam Robinson, The Robinson Agency, 1 2148720780, adam@the-robinson-agency.com, https://www.qued.com/
