PakEnergy unpacks practical AI for bulk haulers

Software provider PakEnergy today launched PakCapture, an AI-powered ticket and receipt management solution designed specifically for the bulk trucking industry.

Integrated directly into the PakEnergy Transportation TMS, the tool utilizes PakAI to eliminate manual data entry, allowing drivers to capture document photos the system uses to automatically populate pickup and drop-off forms. By mapping driver data instantly to the back office, PakCapture aims to accelerate cash flow and improve data quality for bulk haulers.

“Manual document handling has long been a bottleneck in bulk commodity trucking,” Nick Giometti, general manager and product lead for PakEnergy Transportation, said in a news release. “Whether you’re hauling crude, aggregate, or liquids, PakCapture removes friction at the source, giving drivers a faster, easier experience in the field while dramatically reducing downstream errors that impact invoicing, payroll, and customer service.”

Scaling through real-world experience

During an interview with Bulk Transporter, Giometti, who created PakEnergy’s bulk commodity transportation software, revealed the platform’s development was born from his personal experience as a fleet owner. In 2012, Giometti started a bulk trucking company with only two trucks and trailers, eventually scaling the business to 80 units within three years.

His team originally used spreadsheets and competitor software but found that existing market solutions couldn’t fully support their growth. This led him to launch Welltrax, which PakEnergy (formerly WolfePak Software) acquired in 2021, as a platform capable of managing most day-to-day needs, including highly configurable rate sheets and custom commodity fields that allow carriers to pivot into new markets without additional software development.

“The only spaces that we don’t play in today are maintenance and ELD telematics,” Giometti told Bulk Transporter. “So we’ve built tight integrations with Samsara, Geotab, and Motive, and we’re extracting HOS data from their systems and putting it on the dispatch board.”

Solving the ‘fat finger’ problem

The development of PakCapture was heavily influenced by real-world friction reported by customers, including Gazelle, a crude hauler based in California. The platform today supports 65 fleets ranging in size from four to 400 trucks, with easy scalability up to 2,000 vehicles, Giometti said.

“We heard from our customers that one of the most frustrating parts of the process was being able to capture a good photograph of a receipt that they receive at pickup or drop off, making sure the data from that receipt got input on the form properly and wasn’t fat fingered by the driver, because that leads to downstream problems with invoice, payroll, and reporting that can trigger a variety of issues.”

Powered by PakAI, PakCapture streamlines the entry process using a mobile driver application that captures, crops, and enhances documents, auto-populates forms, and securely stores those records with the associated load, in the correct format. Driver data is instantly mapped to the correct field and made available to busy back-office staff in seconds.

“Every receipt has different field names, so the system learns over time,” Giometti explained. “It gets smarter and smarter as more receipts pass through it, so it can more easily identify them. And what’s also nice is the back office can tag different naming conventions they are seeing on receipts as a starting point to make the AI smarter from the get-go.”

AI-powered TMS innovation

PakCapture now is available as part of the base PakEnergy Transportation management system and can be accessed via the latest mobile app update on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

“PakCapture is an exciting addition to our growing suite of practical AI solutions,” PakEnergy Chief Product Officer Ryan Lailey said. “We’re focused on applying AI where it delivers immediate value to the industries we know best. Built on our deep expertise in energy and transportation operations, PakCapture addresses a significant challenge our customers face every day. It combines document recognition with in-field auto-population of operational forms, enabling faster, more efficient execution.

“We believe this capability is unique in the bulk commodity trucking market and a major differentiator for PakEnergy Transportation.”