TECHNOLOGY VEHICLE TRACKING
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All your trucks are out there working, which can't be a bad thing, but where exactly are they?
Are they using the most efficient routes and, at day's end, what has your business earned? If you find these questions difficult to answer it may be time to turn to technology for the answers.
Marrying technology to traffic management and route planning is
becoming increasingly sophisticated but buying a system requires careful consideration. After all, unlike a truck, a computer cannot make you money.
Many hauliers still prefer to rely on the trusty wall map and a display board to know what their vehicles are picking up and where they have to deliver. But used correctly technology can save you money in time, staffing costs, telephone calls and efficiency: no more hunting through piles of paper to find that missing POD when the press of a button will locate delivery times and locations for the whole day's work.
Some systems can even help you reduce your fleet size by routeing vehicles more efficiently: as one operator says, cutting out one vehicle a year more than pays for the investment But it's important to think ahead: what will you need the system to do for your business as it grows? If you already have an accounts package will the new software be compatible so you can transfer information between the two systems? If you're happy running a small fleet do you really need those extra features so beloved of the smooth-talking salesperson?
Before making a purchase decision ask the supplier for names of hauliers who are using Freightshift's Peaciar his equipment. Contact them independently
Murtagh chose and quiz them on the system's flaws as well as Roadrunner, its strong points. Unless they're your dead
liest rivals they're much more likely to provide a balanced assessment than a commission-driven sales rep. But in the end, if it sounds right for your business, don't be afraid to byte the bullet. And remember, the next step is the Internet. Hands up those operators with their own web site? There is at least one on these pages... "It's purely a routeing and scheduling system," says Andrew Monk, Iceland's primary distribution and development manager. "All the orders are fed into the system and it picks the best routes and delivery times." These will take into account restrictions on daytime deliveries, parking, lorry bans and other holdups from information fed in by Iceland's programmers. "With 750 stores around the country, trying to remember all that would be impossible," Monk adds. More efficient routeing has contributed to a decision to reduce the fleet at Deeside from 90 to 75: "You only need to save one vehicle and it pays for the system," he points out. Paragon supplies updated maps each year as part of its maintenance fee which includes any necessary software updates.
UPS London
• International parcels giant UPS has devised its own parcel tracking system based around a product called DIAD, a hand-held terminal carried by its 640 UK delivery drivers which carries information on pick-ups and deliveries.
director Kerry Fielding. European investment in DIAD cost UPS $17m;it is not available outside the operation.
K&L DELIVERIES Millstreet Town, Cork
• Gordon O'Keefe, boss of K&L Deliveries, wanted to streamline the efficiency of his multi-drop operation, covering the Cork and Dublin regions. 'We were getting so busy, we had so much paperwork and the paperwork system had poor traceability," he explains. So he turned to Quantum Despatch, a software package designed in Dublin with the same-day courier in mind. The system was installed in January this year and already O'Keefe reckons he is cutting up to 2300 off his monthly phone bill which was running at around 21,000. Much of this has been achieved by slashing the time it takes to deal with queries, as collection and delivery information is instantly available on screen. Other savings have been achieved by installing a modem link with his Dublin depot which will transfer information from Cork without time consuming phone calls.
Two customers use a Telexpress service: they're networked to K&L's system and can simply key in their instructions . For iobs booked days or weeks ahead the system will provide an early warning when the collection/delivery is due in time for a vehicle to be allocated. It also enables the operator to identify where the nearest truck should be for a short-notice pick up, although the driver will still need to be contacted by cab phone. O'Keefe lists other advantages: "It checks and lists the drops for tomorrow; it can tell historically how long a series of drops will take; it can say what vehicles I will need tomorrow, for example five trucks, 12 vans, one car, an artic." He is also able to analyse routes that are losing money and spot others that deserve more support. O'Keefe paid £8,500 for the software (he already had PCs) which included a network taking in Dublin, a modem and two Telexpress sites. "It will pay for itself in two years," he predicts. For accounts activities, beyond invoice generation, the system exports information to a separate package called SAGE (not supplied by Quantum).
FREIGHTSHIFT SERVICES Limerick
• Freightshift provides a general freight service between Limerick and Dublin and has recently become one of 10 Irish operators in the Nightfreight consortium, allowing it to offer a next-clay service throughout Ireland's 32 counties. Earlier this year it introduced the Roadrunner system to manage its increasing traffic after having a "disastrous' experience with an earlier system designed by another software manufacturer. "It achieved 5% of the things it said it could do," says director Peadar Murtagh. Before choosing Roadrunner Freightshift trod carefully, investigating other systems, asking operators using them about their shortcomings. "Roadrunner was the answer to all our needs," says fellow director Ray Parkes, "The beauty is that you have the traffic and accounts all in one system." This avoids the need to bolt on a secondary accounts package. The heart of the system is a booking page which, for regular customers, can include standard information to avoid repeat keying. A daily transaction listing is compiled, listing consignment reference, delivery address, weight, revenue and driver name. FreightshiFt enters PODs and delivery manifests into the system. "We can isolate our turnover on a daily basis and identify the cost of work subbed to Nightfreight partners," says Murtagh. No invoice can be generated unless the POD has been entered and outstanding PODs from fellow NightFreight partners can be identified and chased.
Each geographical area is coded and regional revenue reports can be generated. Other reports reveal maintenance and fuel costs for each vehicle, but Murtagh is wary of becoming awash in a sea of reports and confines usage to essential information. His only criticism of the system is that the basic model did not feature a full daily transaction report, but only a report giving the value of the job and a few other details which were "all numbers". He had to pay extra to get what, for him, is the system's most useful service. However, an investment of about 220,000 for hardware and software will not be wasted: "It was the price of a small truck with no means of getting the revenue back," he says, "but it does speed up the system no end."
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ACIS
Advanced Communications & Information Systems has specialised in fleet management systems for public transport designed, among other things, to monitor performances of vehicles against timetables. But the basic principle of supplying accurate arrival time predictions at selected points could equally apply to a multi-drop haulage operation.
Supplier: ACIS. contact 0181422 3210
ROADRUNNER
Designed by former haulier Derek Beaver in the 1980s, "because when I wanted to buy a computer there was nothing about for the haulier". New his company Road Tech employs 60 people with a turnover of Mira. Starting from the booking stage, Roadrunner proceeds to vehicle and driver records and cost analysis. It is said to he able to run every kind of road haulage operation. Ste Freiffitshfft case history. Systems begin at £6,000, including one third discount to RIM members.
Supplier: Road Tech Computers, contact 01923 460000.
DATAFRAK
Datatrak is a Securicor company and this system was originally designed to track the company's own operations. It is principally a radio-based Automatic Vehicle Location System, allowing users to track the progress of their vehicles to within 50m, 24 hours a day. An additional software package, Route Deviation, alerts the user by a flashing light in the operations room he vehiiie speeds or strays from an agreed course. The system is now on a UHF communications network allowing two-way text communication, including barcode collection. Screen information is based on scanned Ordnance Survey maps.
Costs are from £10 per vehicle per week. Supplier Securicor Datatrak, contact 01793 500100.
CHRONICLE
The Chronicle fleet management system is designed to be flexible: it can be used in conjunction with land-based and satellite systems and can export data to any map. Features include tracking and vehicle location, analysis of fuel use, defects and hours and scheduling by day, week and month. It works with an on-screen map system (not supplied) and cost is dependent on the degree of accuracy required by the operator. For example, a licence to use Ordnance Survey could cost several thousand pounds a year. Chronicle in-cab hardware is around £1,500 per vehicle with a further £50 per unit for software licences.
Supplier: Oakrange Engineering, contact 01709 542334.
AUTOROUTE
AirtoRoute is a digital map of the British Isles. !hers select place names (out of a cast of 30,000) and the system can be programmed to pick the best route, taking into account factors such as multi-drops and preferred types of road. Up to 100 drop-off points for each journey can be planned, with locations chosen from the user's own database. The system calculates drivers' hours and expenses and its iarmory stores and sorts journeys into the best order for driving time and distance. AutoRoute is also available on CD ROM, to which can be added Map Vision CB which allows users to pan in to photo quality images of built-up areas. Hauliers can input their own depots or customer sites. Thirsty drivers can even search for London's best pubs on a product based on Nicholson's London Guide. Autoroute costs from around £500 on disk or £600 on CD ROM; MapVision GB and its London guide are around £200 each.
Supplier: Microsoft, contact 01734 271000.
QUANTUM DESPATCH
Designed with multidrop operations in mind, it manages collections and deliveries and can accrue analytical records of truck usage, route values and staff skills. See the la! Deliveries case history.
Supplier: UP, LCS Northwest, contact 01539 741717. Ireland, Quantum Computing, contact 001511 676 9322.
PARAGON
See Iceland case history. The first site cost Iceland around £50,000; additional sites range from £10,000-20,I}00. A yearly maintenance fee of around 5'i: includes maps, software updates and use of a support desk.
CONTACT: Paragon Software Systems, phone 01306 742100.
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ICELAND, Deeside and Swindon
• Frozen food retailer Iceland uses the Paragon system to manage a fleet of 150 vehicles based at its Deeside and Swindon distribution centres.
The system is designed to handle complex multi-drop and multi-temperature distribution operations: between them Deeside and Swindon make nearly 4,000 deliveries a week to more than 500 outlets. Paragon is a roadmap-based package and its Dorking-based supplier, Paragon Software Systems, provides a backup service and telephone hotline for users.