Many Massachusetts Trucking Companies Score Poorly on Safety

Fox News Boston reports that many Boston-area trucking companies are scoring poorly on FMCSA vehicle and driver safety ratings. In their recent segment, Dangerous Trucks on Mass Roads, the most common violations were poor brakes on vehicles and driver HOS violations. Scores were based on the FMCSA SafeStat scoring system.

In Mass, “Commercial trucks were involved in 2,310 crashes in 2008 alone -- accidents that resulted in 20 deaths.”

These results underscore the need for EOBR requirements in high-risk trucking companies. In addition to tracking vehicle performance, these systems provide significant visibility into driver performance and can automate HOS compliance with electronic driver logs.



One example of a local fleet leveraging on-board systems is Demoulas’ Supermarkets of Tewksbury, MA. Read more…

Author: Frank Moreno

Cadec and Velociti Expand Partnership to Offer Nationwide Field Service

Cadec announced today that it has partnered with Velociti Inc. to offer a new, nationwide field service and support program to its customers. Called Cadec Express Service, the new program provides a comprehensive nationwide installation, field service, support and repair solution for Cadec’s North American trucking fleet customer base.

Velociti specializes in mobile device installation and service for trucking fleets. Long considered leaders in transportation technology, Velociti has been working with Cadec for the past five years, supplementing Cadec’s own staff in the field. The company employs hundreds of technicians and operates a network of more than 50 drive-through service centers across North America.

Read the full press release here.

Author: Frank Moreno

Cadec Customers Recognized for Industry Leadership by IFMA

Cadec customers Ben E Keith Foods and AGAR Supply were recently honored by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) for distributor leadership and overall excellence within the foodservice industry.

“Ben E. Keith Foods was honored with the IFMA Excellence in Distribution Award.”

“AGAR Supply Company, Inc. was named the winner of the IFMA Distributor Sales & Marketing Performance Award.”

The full article can be found here: http://www.ifdaonline.org/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=665&z=1

Author: Frank Moreno

MPG Per Driver – Is this a valid KPI for Fleet Management?

Since the 2008 fuel crisis, many fleet managers are being convinced to measure and track miles per gallon (MPG) in an effort to reduce fuel consumption. Newer engines and vehicle designs boast lower fuel usage, but most companies are using their older vehicles longer and have very few new, fuel efficient vehicles.

So a common request among many fleets is to leverage on-board computers and fleet management systems measure MPG not only by vehicle, but by driver. Their goals are to identify drivers that violate established acceptable standards for MPG for training purposes or potential replacement. Is this a valid measurement?

Tracking MPG across your fleet makes perfect sense. Identifying those units that are consuming more fuel than others and ultimately costing more money may indicate when it makes more sense to repair or replace a vehicle. When this information is integrated with vehicle maintenance systems, there are clear efficiencies gained. Tracking MPG by route also provides useful data.

However, can accurate data be gained with KPIs that track MPG per driver? Consider these questions:
Are the drivers using the same vehicles every day?
Are the drivers driving the same routes every day?
Are they delivering the same cargo every day?
Are the driving the same routes at the same time each day?
Are the driving the same routes on a weekday vs a weekend?
Are you alerting drivers when they are exceeding MPG goals?

Optimizing fuel consumption is one of the most fundamental goals of any fleet manager, and analyzing MPG (in addition to idling, speeding, over RPM) make perfect business sense. MPG by driver may however provide inaccurate information.

If you are tracking MPG by driver, please comment on how you use it. Are these pitfalls real? How does your fleet avoid these?

Author: Frank Moreno

Fleet Management Fundamentals Podcast

Check out my radio interview with M2M Magazine, available as a podcast or streaming over the web. http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/M2M-Radio.html

Author: Frank Moreno

Fleet Management Industry Needs Standard Technologies

There are several shared initiatives across the trucking industry lately – reducing fuel, going green, paperless deliveries, improving safety, etc. – however one of the most common is supply chain visibility.

At the recent NPTC Conference, many private fleet executives voiced their concern regarding the challenges they face in integrating the many disparate technologies they use in their organization to improve their visibility across their supply chain and increase productivity. Consider the technologies that are often used in most of today’s leading fleets: routing, dispatch, fleet management, warehouse management, maintenance systems, hr/payroll systems, and financial systems are just a few of the core systems needed to run their business. Unfortunately, many of these systems are very insular in their design and provide limited data integration capabilities. For example, two of the most common routing platforms used in the private fleet industry can only export their data as a flat file or .CSV file. The same holds true for the industry’s most widely used dispatch system. Many other systems provide APIs (application programming interface) that are based on proprietary languages or formats.

It’s time for an industry group or consortium to define certain technology standards for integrating transportation systems. If we look at the global software leaders and enterprise application providers, all of them have embraced XML-based web services and service oriented architecture as the standard way to interoperate across disparate applications. This is extremely prevalent in the supply chain arena, where legacy, mainframe applications are now accessible by more current web-based systems. Karen Butner, IBM’s Supply Chain Management Lead for the IBM Institute for Business Value describes SOA as the “Blueprint for Supply Chain Visibility”.

Now is the time to standardize the data made available to and from fleet management systems (assets, accounts, products, driver performance, vehicle performance, delivery data, time and attendance data, etc.) as web services, making them consumable in a standard way by any other system. Cadec will push to be at the forefront of this initiative, and enable fleet managers to achieve better supply chain visibility and improve the overall returns on their technology investments.

Author: Frank Moreno

Fleet Management ROI Discussion at NPTC

From NPTC – While the attendance at this week’s National Private Truck Council’s conference was a bit light compared to year’s past, there was no shortage of news and interesting discussion across the industry. The Benchmarking data presented by NPTC’s Tom Moore highlighted a number of significant trends and observations:

- Customer service (mainly on-time arrivals) remains far and away the number one reason why companies operate their own fleet
- Reducing out of route miles is the top method of increasing fuel efficiency
- There is a increasing interest in leasing of tractors among private fleets
- The amount of Empty Miles Driven increased in 2008 (possible correlation with the increase in fuel prices)
- There has been a major increase in Going Green initiatives in private fleets
- With reduced number of drivers, incentive-based pay plans have increased and are working
- Technology is #10 in the Top 10 Challenges facing Private Fleets (Economy/Costs was #1)

Also, the ROI session was very interesting as leading executives from Giant Eagle, Bridgestone Tire and Cadec customer Mennel Milling presented on ROI from On-board Technology. While the current returns were not surprising (efficiency & productivity gains, automating manual processes, route optimization, reduced idle time, etc.) it was the concerns they highlighted that were of most interest. Common to all speakers and consistent at the conference was the concern about the amount of data their technology systems provided and the challenges around integrating their systems and interpreting the data into meaningful business intelligence.

The concept of supply chain visibility, business intelligence and actionable information is becoming a theme across many vendors. Be sure to consider a system’s ability to provide visibility not just into its own system, but across multiple transportation systems within the infrastructure (such as Cadec’s Insight system). Cadec will be sponsoring an upcoming webcast on this topic with Fleet Owner and NPTC in June. Visit www.cadec.com for details in the coming weeks.

Author: Frank Moreno

Hollywood or Reality? Advanced Fleet Safety Technologies

In 1994, years before 9/11, the motion picture Speed exaggerated the need for improved safety and security systems on a motor coach. Most people over the age of 30 recall the movie. Fast-forward 15 years to 2009 and Hollywood recreates a similar scenario on the CBS television series Numb3rs. Yet in the episode, a new fleet management technology with real-time GPS tracking, covert emergency notification by the driver and remote engine shut-down technology brings the hijacked bus to a controlled stop by safety officials and authorities!

Is this technology real? What about for the trucking industry? With the recent increase in cargo theft and the heightened security around fuel and hazmat haulers, there is clearly a need for combining existing fleet management, AVL and mobile communications products with advanced safety and security features into one system… Check out PowerVue ProTecht Fleet Safety and Security Applications from Cadec Global.

Author: Frank Moreno

Update from ALK Technology Summit – technology advancing fast, economy moving slow

Last week I attended ALK’s annual Technology Summit in Princeton, NJ. Cadec was one of many industry leading sponsors the event. The standing room only crowd (120+) of technology vendors, fleet managers, press and industry experts gathered for what ALK calls its Thought Leadership Summit to share various trends and observations in the areas of transportation safety and efficiency in the trucking industry. While there was an obvious focus on navigation systems, the sessions also covered a wide variety of industry trends and other technologies.

An interesting, yet sobering keynote address by US Express’ President John White showed the concerning state of the for-hire trucking industry, particularly the large TL carriers, as a result of the economic slowdown. White also shared insights on a number of hot industry topics, including Card Check, HOS Regulations and EOBR Mandates.

Mr. White also shared his success using routing software in a presentation with TMW Systems, highlighting how they can compare planned to actual trip data to gain efficiencies.

The use of handheld computers was also a common topic, both to run turn-by-turn navigation software and proof of delivery applications.

Another observation was that most of the fleet attendees were in the for hire markets. While we are seeing significant growth in interest for turn-by-turn navigation among private fleets, and more stability in their financial situations, there were very few of these companies represented at the Summit.

In all, this was an interesting event that will likely increase in size next year as the use of navigation systems in trucking increases, particularly when integrated with on-board computers and fleet management software. I would recommend marking your calendar for this next year.

Author: Frank Moreno

The ROI from Transportation Business Intelligence

It’s amazing how business expenditures are allocated in a down economy. Value and ROI are no longer the driving forces behind capital expenditures. Price is now the primary influence in many purchases, particularly in transportation technology. Additionally, unbudgeted expenditures are basically non-existent – regardless of the price or the payback.

However, those companies that are confident that conditions will soon change and are visionary in their business objectives are now seeing tremendous success. One area where supply chain executives and transportation decision makers are now investing in is Business Intelligence for their transportation operations.

While traditional fleet management systems have focused on the performance of mobile assets (the truck and driver), today’s advanced applications are now interpreting that data into actionable business information across the supply chain. At-a glance-views of business trends, customer impact and business unit performance provide users with the ability to manage by exception and greatly improve visibility across the entire mobile supply chain. But how does the value of providing better service to customers and the value of people making better decisions faster translate into ROI? Can optimizing business processes within transportation and delivery operations yield a tangible ROI?

Transportation Business Intelligence offers a dramatic ROI. Businesses can make better, quicker decisions through facts-based analysis. It's not just about getting the right information to the right people at the right time, he said, but determining that the information is in fact being used to make better decisions. An informed transportation executive can leverage a business intelligence dashboard to identify an event or trend, drill down into detail, determine the root cause for that event, and quickly implement a change that can drive new sales, avoid costs, etc. Essentially, executives can now get the information they need to manage their business, and the ROI is seen across the supply chain in drastically reduced costs (labor, fuel, maintenance, etc.), increased revenues and improved cash flow. Additionally, BI users are defining new performance metrics for their transportation operations that can provide new levels of operational efficiency (route optimization, on-site invoicing, inventory management, etc.)

The most significant ROI of implementing Supply Chain visibility and transportation business intelligence tools, is the competitive advantage for businesses that are optimized to thrive immediately when the economy begins to improve. While competitors will be buried in useless data and reports, dashboard users get faster access to real-time data so they can get straight to the problem right away, manage their business better, and respond to changes in the market better.

Author: Frank Moreno

Cadec Highlights Momentum at Annual User's Conference

After a bit of a hiatus, the Cadec blog is alive and well. Last week Cadec sponsored its annual User’s Conference in Boston, MA. With over 100 attendees present, customers invested two full days in training classes, conference presentations, PowerVue product demonstrations and breakouts including keynote presentations from Aberdeen Group’s Brad Wyland and Blue Sky Technologies President Steve Hensley. The partner pavilion included many conference sponsors – Syntelic Solutions, Motorola, Honeywell, MultiTech, ALK, Telapoint and Velociti.

Customer presentations were the highlight of the event, with Poland Springs sharing how their idle reduction initiatives have saved them thousands of dollars in fuel expenses; Greyhound Lines, Inc. discussing their fleet management and safety investments and BRT, Inc. reviewing how they have customized and integrated Cadec with other fleet-related systems.

Despite the economic conditions, many customers expressed their intent to continue to invest in technologies that can optimize their visibility across their supply chain, to make better business decisions.

Immediately following the conference, Cadec publicly announced their additional funding from Thule Investments. As the fiscal Q1 came to a close, Cadec is riding tremendous momentum into Q2 2009 with new customers, new partnerships and new product offerings.

Author: Frank Moreno

A New Perspective

(The following entry is contributed by Scott MacDougall, Sales Engineer at Cadec.)

Having been with Cadec for over 14 years in the capacity of either field engineer or customer support I have had the opportunity to work with our customers extensively to improve their understanding our products. Earlier this year I took a position as Sales Engineer. My responsibilities now are to travel with the sales team on their appointments to demonstrate the products we have, answer technical questions and assist with showing the customers how Cadec will increase their efficiency and decrease their costs.

This new role has opened my eyes to some interesting points with regards to the Cadec systems:

Our product is a great driver coaching product. From the Driver’s Available Hours report to our patented ETOG application, data showing stops, delays, routing, vehicle data, account information and a drivers habits can all be reviewed to measure driver behavior. With over 90 build in reports you can assist your drivers in meeting company standards for idling, RPM, speeding and route standards. From my previous experience I had known this and worked with customers with analyzing data, but the value is much more obvious now as I work with potential customers who have nothing in their vehicles to collect data. These companies are going to see a fast and overwhelming increase in driver efficiency and vehicle performance with Cadec installed.

Sharing driver, vehicle and delivery data across the supply chain. With our canned reports you can find out almost anything about a driver, trip, account and vehicle information. While I was in customer support I would always be helping customers understand reports and increase performance. Now, I see where the detailed information gathered can be exported and interfaced with other systems. The data can be used for payroll, routing, account servicing and many other aspects, not only improving automation but increasing the visibility into delivery operations and performance.

Going legal. Some people think they cannot realize a profit by adhering to the DOT rules. NOW is the time to start closing that gap instead of waiting for a mandate that OBCs will be required. The first step is gathering data. Without any system installed a company has little understanding of how their drivers, vehicles and routes are working. With an installed system there is clear, concise data to make decisions and improvements. I remember installing a system for a customer. On my follow-up call reviewing driver activity reports with them we found a driver who was on an on-duty delay every Tuesday at 11:00 AM for an hour. Asking the driver about this he told us the dock was closed from 11:00 AM – Noon. He never told anyone and was making money while reading the paper. Most drivers are not out to take advantage of their companies, but if you add up all these small indiscretions, you are starting to close the gap. What is the cost of a driver, vehicle and an hour of idling? (Oh, don’t forget to multiply times 52 for this one example…)

Driver coaching, interfacing data and closing the gap. Since moving from post sales, to presales I have been able to recognize additional cost savings and company improvements you can have in time, fuel, increased driver retention and cheaper vehicle maintenance costs to name a few by leveraging the Cadec fleet management system.

Trucking companies save millions in fuel costs

Trucking companies can take steps to save money on fuel by focusing on their drivers. Fleet Owner Magazine and Truckload Carriers Association are hosting a webinar next week on this very topic entitled: Strategies and technologies for coping with the high cost of fuel.

The concept is not new, but is gaining a lot more attention this year due to the high cost of fuel in the US. By measuring and then altering driver behavior, trucking companies can dramatically reduce their fuel consumption. In the past, these tactics were used in an effort to improve safety, identify & retain strong drivers and increase customer service. Measurements were commonly focused on speeding incidents, rapid decelerations, unknown stops and on-time arrivals. Today’s measurements are now more focused on idle time, MPG and out of route miles.

“Through monitoring with Cadec, we were able to increase MPGs by a half-mile per gallon, saving $500,000 in fuel in the first year alone.” Northwest Food Products Transportation

"Engine idling once averaged 40% of the time engines were turned on but has dropped to 3%. Speeding events averaged about 16,000 per month but now have fallen to 200 per month.” Nicholas & Co.

“Monitoring drivers through Cadec and associated remedial training can help us save $750,000 in one year.” Morning Star

“Poland Spring achieved a 41 percent reduction in idle time and will save about $21,000 in fuel in 2008 with Cadec.” Poland Spring

“Our savings will be close to $300,000 per year. Cadec will be the key to reducing our transportation costs while improving service to our customers.” G&C Foods

Driver scorecards and key performance indicator dashboards are now a critical component of fleet management systems to gain executive-level visibility into transportation operations. For more information, check out these useful links:

www.cadec.com/resources
www.blueskytech.com

Smart in the Office/Smart in the Truck – Doing more to perfect data collection and positively impact performance through in cab technology

While a few system providers have offered onboard fleet management tools for several years that include computing power, memory, touchscreens, and even a database in the cab of the truck, there has certainly been an uptick recently of more vendors joining that club. Clearly the industry sees benefit in doing more on board. There is no shortage of good reasons for this.

Customers have discussed with me an array of results they will achieve by leveraging technology in the cab, and even beyond the cab with handheld devices, sensors, etc. Eliminating paperwork not only makes life easier for the driver and for administrative personnel…it also drives accuracy. Reduced errors mean better customer service and a direct path to better results at the bottom line.

Efficiency increases by accurately capturing and communicating in a timely and actionable way the events that occur in the field. One industry veteran told me that, “the best data is data captured as close as possible to the point at which it happens.” With the right onboard tool, the quantity and quality of actionable data improves. No averages…no gaps. The beauty of the newer technology on board is not only the capture of this information, often in an automated or minimal keystroke way, but also the ability to manage the communication of that data so that it gets to the right place at the right time….IN A WAY THAT MAKES FINANCIAL SENSE.

Sorry to yell there, but it is an important point. Recognizing the value of doing more on board is one thing. Pulling it off in a cost effective manner is something else. This is where the focus comes off of the onboard device, and on to the applications and overall system architecture. Without this part being right, the value of the onboard device cannot be optimized.

A powerful onboard computer whose cost to use is unaffordable does not get the desired result. Think about the possibilities…..handheld POD….temperature, tire pressure, weight, rollover sensor and other monitoring…..cameras….fatigue detection….onboard navigation…driver entertainment and training! The capabilities and their potential impact are remarkable. Happier, retained, safer drivers…attracted from the younger pool of people in the workplace is an example. This technology migration is a meaningful, positive trend for the industry which, when done right, creates a big win for everyone in the supply chain, as a friend in the food distribution industry puts it….from “farm-to-fork.”

Driver Scorecards Help Manage Employees

In a recent “Trucks at Work” blog posting, Sean Kilcarr discussed Dealing with the Bad – highlighting different methods and techniques for dealing with bad employees. See his post here.

Another method for dealing with bad drivers in the trucking industry that is growing more common is driver score cards. Many private fleets have adopted this practice to help their safety initiatives, fuel conservation, incentive-based pay and driver retention. Scorecards are a very powerful means of behavior modification. There are some businesses that post their driver scorecards every week in their driver's break room for all to see. The exposure gives credit to the strong drivers, and puts pressure on those that need improvement (peer pressure and management pressure). Driver scorecards and KPI (key performance indicator) dashboards are available as stand-alone products, as part of consulting services and in some fleet management solutions.

Information on Cadec’s GYR Driver Scorecard can be found at http://www.cadec.com/solutions/fleetSafety.php#anchorOne

You can also check out how some companies are using the Cadec Driver Scorecard in the Resource section at www.cadec.com.

Author: Frank Moreno

The “Perfect” Foodservice Delivery

Is there such a thing as the “Perfect” delivery in the food service industry? There are so many variables that impact delivery costs. Let’s review some of these common issues and what they tend to result in:

Routing – out of route miles not only have a have dramatic impact on fuel consumption, the resulting delays can have a negative impact on customer service with late arrivals and missed delivery windows. Additionally, when drivers select or are assigned routes that will exceed their available hours of service, the company is at risk of facing non-compliant fees.

Paperwork errors – if you’re in the delivery industry, the amount of paperwork you process is unfortunately very familiar. Manifests, driver logs, inspection reports, invoices, delivery routes, credits/returns, physical assets (pallets, bins, crates, etc.) are manually processed on a daily basis.

Shrinkage – no, this is not a reference to a great 80’s sitcom. What this refers to is lost profit based on not getting paid for things allocated in your operating plan. In addition to spoilage, and OSD (overs, shorts and damages) a common contributor to shrinkage is theft – disappearing inventory from the delivery truck. It’s always funny when the items that are reported “missing” from the drivers are the cases of T-bone steaks, and never the broccoli.

These are just a sample of the types of issues that plague foodservice delivery. The question is, are these problems accepted and commonly written off? Or, is there an alternative with best practices and technology to help improve customer service, reduce costs and increase business productivity? Is the perfect delivery attainable?

Well, today’s new technology addresses many of the challenges facing the delivery process. The combination of fleet management, wireless communications, on-board/in cab computing and handheld computers/scanners with mobile delivery applications provide new levels of visibility and automation beyond the warehouse, into the delivery vehicle and onto the loading docks of customers.

Routing systems can track each driver and their available hours, and assign routes that fit within their availability based on known drive times. On-board computing systems can not only provide GPS tracking for real-time route validation, many systems can alert when drivers go out of route, track & calculate out of route miles, identify unknown stops and measure the time between stops. Additionally these systems can provide instant messaging to drivers, verify delivery locations and run in-cab, turn-by-turn navigation applications. There is now more visibility than ever before into routing and driver performance to optimize delivery routes, and with web-based applications and standard interfaces such as XML and web services, these once-disparate systems can now integrate seamlessly to automate many processes, improve customer service and reduce fuel consumption.

In many companies, deliveries create unless amounts of paperwork. Forms and documents constantly require manual, human data input, which businesses base their entire operations on. These labor-intensive administrative processes are subject to error in nearly every step they touch – particularly in item counts. Inaccurate counts can impact inventory, customer service, forecasts and ultimately profits. Unfortunately, paper-based processes are often “counted” or have data inputs multiple times, further increasing the chance for errors. The adoption and integration of handheld computers, bar code scanners, mobile delivery applications and soon RFID alleviates many of these error-laden processes, and automates data capture.

Controlling inventory and asset loss is a critical step towards increasing profits in delivery operations. Electronic manifests combined with scanned inventories for each delivery provide an accurate count of every item on a specific truck and details on where those items need to go. With mobile delivery applications, every item on a vehicle must be accounted for at all times. This helps to avoid incorrect items at a site, incorrect item quantities at a site, items delivered to the wrong site, items that don’t belong on a truck, items that are manually picked at the delivery site and items that are missing from the truck. By having every item electronically scanned and accounted for, the opportunity and potential for theft is reduced if not eliminated and the cost of shrinkage is avoided.

While the Perfect Delivery may still be a challenge, it is more attainable than ever before. The implementation of these integrated systems and efficiencies may not yield errorless delivery operations, the impact on productivity and cost savings is clearly compelling enough for any private fleet, LTL or TL for-hire fleet.

Please comment on your thoughts on whether the "Perfect Delivery" is possible and why.

Author: Frank Moreno

ITLC Conference Highlights Trends and Issues in Technology for the Trucking Industry

I spent the past two days attending the Information Technology Logistics Council (ITLC) Conference in Chicago. This three day event boasted a very strong agenda and was all attended by fleets, vendors and industry/government officials. Here are a few observations from the event:

EOBRs in the Industry – It was AMAZING to see just how many fleets are not using ANY type of onboard computers/recorders in their vehicles. While most of the attendees seemed to be in the For Hire (truckload and LTL) market segments, it is still mind boggling to me that the efficiencies gained by EOBRs are not more embraced by these fleets. This session highlighted the upcoming ruling by the FMCSA on probable EOBR mandates and what that will mean for the industry. It was clear that most fleets were investigating this technology and are anticipating some type of requirement for onboard recorders. It was also clear that while the ruling will only focus on HOS information, there is significant value in today’s systems far beyond electronic logs. Telematics data, driver performance, fuel conservation and turn by turn navigation are just a few of the benefits of today’s more advanced systems.

Eye Opener – the reliance on EDI amongst these companies was astounding. Having spent time with software vendors aimed at the financial services industry, the use of XML-based web services has been prevalent for five if not ten years. It was extremely disappointing to hear the “Web Applications in the Supply Chain” session highlight the importance of integrations using EDI. In 2008, any transportation company executive considering an IT investment in web applications fir their fleet management, transportation management system or any supply chain component would be essentially throwing money away if their systems were not leveraging web services and SOA integration. Today’s leading supply chain and transportation systems from vendors like TMW Systems, ALK, Manhattan Associates and many others are leveraging service oriented architecture and web services to facilite standards-based web application integration. Why? This ensures that the integrations are sustainable (not impacted by change) and are flexible enough to integrate with any system.

This is just a sample of articles that review the evolution of EDI with XML and SOA:
http://www.ebizq.net/topics/soa/features/8206.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=208
http://soa.sys-con.com/read/563225.htm

Exciting topic – Wireless Roadside Inspection (WRI). This was very cool. While it is still in pilot phase, the idea of a vehicle driving by an inspection station and instantly uploading HOS data to an inspector’s laptop, without stopping was very exciting. Keep your eyes open for more details on this.

Overall this was a very good conference and should be closely watched and considered next year. It would be very interesting to see more private fleets represented next year to highlight how their technology adoption is more mature than those for hire fleets. The advancements in supply chain optimization and technology adoption is far more prevalent in the private fleet sector and would be a valuable addition to next year’s event.

Author: Frank Moreno

Private Fleets Fighting Back – Saving Thousands with Fleet Management

Northwest Food Products Transportation increases fuel economy, saves $500,000 in fuel in first year with Cadec. “One of the greatest cost savings achieved from our Cadec investment has been in the area of fuel economy. With our Cadec software, we were able to monitor their use of progressive shifting, a driving technique that can help save fuel by ensuring that trucks are running at lower RPMs. Increasing fuel efficiency by just one-tenth of a mile saves NFPT $100,000 annually. Through monitoring with Cadec, we were able to increase MPGs by a half-mile per gallon, saving $500,000 in fuel in the first year alone. That savings alone more than paid for our investment in Cadec. Maintenance costs also went down by 4.5 cents a mile. By reducing sudden decels and increasing use of progressive shifting, we had far fewer brake jobs on our hands.” Roger Nordtvedt, General Manager; Northwest Food Products Transportation

Automation helps CN Brown ensure timely delivery, improve safety and reduce operating costs in their fuel transportation business. “Cadec enables us to monitor and reduce idle time.That directly impacts the amount of fuel our fleet uses. Even with increases in fuel and operations costs and an additional 90,000 miles on the road in 2007, C.N. Brown was able to cut its overall fleet cost by three cents per mile as compared to 2006 – resulting in a total savings of $57,000. “Cadec’s software played a significant role in that,” Ken Cannell, Transportation Manager; CN Brown

G&C Foods Takes Control of Rising Transportation Costs, anticipating $300,000 savings in first year. “Within one week, we saw drastic reductions in both speeding and excessive idling. Our reports went from 80 percent red to just a few drivers in the red, and over time we’ve seen more improvements. Our ability to track this behavior with Cadec had a major impact on driver behavior... Penalties for Hours of Service violations are dramatic, and no matter how meticulous you think you are, paper logs are subject to basic human error. Cadec automates the whole process for us, recording hours of service, pickups, dropoffs… everything that we used to record by hand. Drivers don’t even need to think about it. Cadec ensures our records are accurate and complete.” Larry Clark, Transportation Manager; G&C Foods

“Our overall transportation expenses for 2008 will be about $6 million. If Cadec helps reduce that by just three percent, that’s $180,000 in savings. But when we consider all the areas Cadec can contribute to – reduced fuel consumption, safety improvements, better logging compliance, better return tracking, and improving our ability to collect on invoices – we think our savings will be closer to $300,000 per year. Cadec will be the key to reducing our transportation costs while improving service to our customers.” David LePage, President; G&C Foods

Morning Star anticipates cutting repair and maintenance costs in half “Most years we spend about $1.5 million on repair and maintenance, including accidents. A rollover, for instance, costs about $80,000, and even a minor incident can cost $10,000. We think that monitoring for safety through Cadec, and associated remedial training, can help us cut that $1.5 million in half.” Paul Pimmetel; Morning Star Foods

To read the complete case studies on each of these companies visit http://www.cadec.com/resources.php

Author: Frank Moreno

The 100% Wireless Coverage Fantasy for Fleet Management

Going back a few years to when the earth was still cooling, dinosaurs ruled, and I first entered the wireless industry working for Motorola, we were taught a mantra for setting customer's coverage expectations...."90% of the places, 90% of the time." Even with the advent of GEO and now LEO satellite communications, it may be reasonable to bump up the percentage a bit....but the mantra holds true. There are just too many variables, even with combined satellite and terrestrial communications, to make the 100% claim. Buildings, trees, valleys and other physical blockages, atmospheric conditions, sunspots, and more all factor in.

I still hear that 100% expectation in the course of doing business though - now in the fleet management space. No question it is a noble goal, but that's all. In my opinion, any vendor that promises, implies or suggests to a customer the possibility of 100% wireless coverage should be met with high scrutiny regarding any of the other "commitments" they may be making.

Author: Steve Katz

More Truck Crashes Highlight Importance of EOBR/OBCs and FMCSA’s upcoming Ruling

Yesterday’s accident in Illinois was another example of the critical role that electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) and on-board computers (OBC) have in the transportation business and a fleet management strategy. A trailer hauling 14 tons of Oreo cookies overturned on I-80 at around 4am, 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

The driver allegedly fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median. The trailer was owned by a leading, national for-hire trucking company.

While it is not known whether the vehicle was using any type of on-board system, any time a driver falls asleep at the wheel, hours of service (HOS) compliance comes into question. To address this issue the FMCSA will release a final EOBR rule this fall, potentially involving incentives and/or mandates for the use of EOBRs .

Not only would HOS violations be identified and potentially avoided, excessive speed audible warnings could also aid in helping prevent some accidents.

Author: Frank Moreno