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lslandsofFleet managers expect theirautomated systems to worktogether seamlessly

PeopleNet recently unveiled a mobile app thatsends alert notices to fleet managers when acritical event occurs.The app displays a map ofthe location. vehicle and driver information.

workfl ow management, performancemonitoring in terms of speed, fueleconomy or hard braking, and otherinformation, such as electronic driverlogbook data that can be broughtback into a fleett enterprise system,

Cubine says.

Brad Young, director ofindustrymarketing for TMW Systems, says

fleets traditionally deployed a TMS tobetter control fuel costs.

Today that's only part of the savings.

ATMS helps fleets reduce paperworkby digitizing files, imaging and index-ing, which yields efficiency gains.

Fleets can derive real value fromtight integration between their

-Whether you call it a truckingmanagement system, fleet manage-ment software, trucking enterprisesoftware or a freight managementsystem, in a nutshell, these systems

manage vehicles (and the things onthem), people and money.

Just as trucking companies comein all shaoes and sizes. there are

a nu-bei of TMS options, fromfull-featured enterprise managementsofrware to more limited dispatch androuting offerings. There are systems

that are installed on site on the fleet's

comDuters and ones that are \feb-b"seJ, or "in the cloud."

No matter the size or deliverymethbd. however. to be a viable con-tender in the marketplace roday, TMSmust integrate with other technolo-gies a fleet may have, such as mobilecommunicarions, routing. navigation

or on-board computers.\Thatever kind ofTMS, they are

"not little islands of automation," says

Ken Weinberg, vice president and co-founder, Carrier Logistics Inc. Insteadthey are systems that can take infor-mation from a variety of automatedsources and totally integrate thardata within the system to get a single

output: a dispatched truckthatt safe and productive.

"Over the last fewyears there has been aconvergence of data fleets

use to manage their oper-ations," says Adam Kahn,director of marketingproduct and indirectchannels for QualcommEnterprise Solutions."It's evolved from'where's my truck andhow can I talk to mydriver' into a much more complexnetwork of data communication."

Pulling all the pieces togetherCompanies are iooking for a

solution that manages all their majorbusiness processes, including financialand operations management, says

Mark Cubine, vice president mar-keting, Mcleod Sofrware. "Robust

integration of planning/dispatch withmobile communications has become

very fundamental," he says.

In addition to providing services

for locating and tracking vehicles,

mobile communication provid-ers have added capabilities such as

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of Automatlondispatch, navigation and mobilecommunications systems by bettermanaging things such as out-of-routemiles, documenting/collecting deten-tion charges, on-time performanceand other factors.

In addition, by integrating withmobile communications, fleets can

give drivers the same functionaliryas someone in the back office. Theycan update trips or capture reference

numbers and other information at thepoint of delivery.

"You are extending that (back of-

fice functionality) out to your driverbase," Young says. The end result is

fewer driver managers in the backoffice. "Instead ofhaving 10 peoplewith 10 drivers each, I can have twopeople with 50 drivers each."

Shift to safetyIn recent years, there have been

changes in fleet management in termsof not only what we're measuring,but how we are measuring it and howwe are delivering it, says ChristianSchenk, senior vice president, XRS.

"Outside of being able to manage

driver time and mileage and pay-ing them, more and more fleets are

getting on board with compliance,"Schenk says.

"S"f.ay and compliance are moreimportant than ever," Cubine agrees.

Five to 10 years ago, he says, "track-ing not only the companys, butindividual drivers' CSA compliancewasnt in the picture then, but is veryimportant now."

Smooth integration between tech-nologies makes that job much easier.

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For instance, Cubine notes that therehas been a greater emphasis on beingable to plan around a driver's actualavailable hours ofservice, thanks tothe integration of electronic onboardrecorder information from mobilecommunications with a TMS.

On-board safety systems also playa role in managing safery. \X4rile col-lision avoidance and lane departurewarning systems activate when an

event is actually taking place, manag-ers can still use that data later on tocoach better driver behavior in thefuture. ATMS can help crunch thosenumDers.

TJ. Thomas, director of market-ing and customer solutions - Controlsgroup at Bendix, says that when its

Bendix Vingman collision preventionsystem activates, it can capture avideoclip of that event so the fleet czrn get an

accurate context ofwhat just happened.Hans Molin, Vision Systems and

SaferyDirect product manager atBendix, adds thar the video and otherdata collected can be used to coach

that driver."The thing is to summarize what

different behaviors drivers showregardless of which vehicle they are

in," Molin says. For instance, thesummary may list a drivert average

following distance, how often the col-lision avoidance system activates, howmany lane departures have they had,hard braking events, etc.

That information can all be col-

lected on a scorecard with driverrankings based on real data. "You

can target the training based on thatranking and use the data you have toreinforce it."

Mobile applicationsThucking managemenr sysrems

are also riding the mobiliry wave,although some companies have em-braced it more than others.

For instance, XRS recently imple-mented a completely mobile platformfor compliance and fleet optimizationapplications that runs on more than50 types of mobile devices.

\7hile not ail fleets are moving to acomplete mobile solurion. increasing-ly, they are expecting to have mobileaccess to their TMS.

Cubine says the functions de-ployed for drivers via mobile still fitin a narrow window of functions thatwere for the most part already avail-able on proprietary hardware-basedsystems for mobile in-cab systems.

He notes that the mobile applica-tions for the enterprise operationscan bring information, notifications,alerts, and the ability to deal withsituations that need immediate atten-tion to the back office and manage-ment team when they are away fromtheir desk or their compurer.

"Our customers want the appro-priate office personnel to have easy

access to the common functions theywould need to do off-hours," TM\ftYoung says. "It's nor rhat I can do mysame job, say dispatch 50 trucks, frommy iPad that I do from my desk," he

explains. Instead, fleets want manag-ers to have the ability to respond to anafter-hours call for a com check, forinstance, without having to go backinto the office.

The fleet view

John Erik Albrechtsen, manager ofoperations for Paul's Hauling in Win-nipeg, Manitoba, says integration be-tween systems is key to his companytoperations. Pault uses TM\7 enter-prise sofrware with PeopleNet mobile

QES ToCHANGE NAME

Oualcomm Inc, is chan0inU thename of its Qualcomm EnterpriseServices division, effective April 1, lo0mniTracs, a Qualcomm company,

The new name comos from Qual-c0mm's {}mniTracs satellite trackingc0mmunicati0ns system launched in

the late 1980s,

The name change is part of a busi-

ness restructurinq and will turn whatwas f0rmerly a division of Qualcomminto a wholly owned subsidiary,

. www.qL!alcqnrm.corn

SaIn AUToMATESINSPECTION ANDMAINTENANCE

Saia is now deploying QR Codes on

17,000 assets to automafe its inspec-

tion and maintenance processes.

Scanning the unique code atany auth0rized service location on

a smartphone or tablet computerlaunches a Decisiv mobile application,

The application then immediatelyloads asset information, customized

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inspection details and pending w0rk,The application also allows

service technicians to add odometerreadin0s io tri0uer and send pending

preventive maintenance sperati0ns,and send any operations based on

inspection results to shop porsonnel

and the parts counter so they can

be ready when the truck arrives in a

service bay,

www.dee is:v.com

Srrpelv ALERTSVIA MOBILE

PeopleNet's new EventAlerteriPad application sonds an alert toiPad, iPhone or Android device users

for things such as a r0llover-stabilityor sudden-deceleration event,

The application displays a satel-lite map of the incident with pre- andpost-incident trails, and olher dala

such as driver lD, H0S status and

other information,www. peaplenetonl ine.com

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communications and ALK navigationand route compliance products.

Albrechtsen notes that the goal ofany trucking company remains thesame: moving your customert prod-ucts from point A to point B.

However, that job has gottenmuch more demanding, he says. Animportant element has been improvedcommunications berween theirexternal customers and their internalcustomers (drivers, field staff).

"The truck cab is a driverb office,and we put those devices into the cab

to help us and to help them," he says.

"We couldn't do the amount of workwe do today without technology."

The company used to spend a lotof time on navigation, getting direc-tions to the drivers and monitoringroute adherence.

The integrated software makes thatjob much easier. If a truck does go

off route, or encounters some kind ofdelay, they can warn customers of alate delivery.

Any TMS costs money. Smalleroperations may believe they cant af-ford such a system.

"People still track things on Excel

spread sheets," says TM'W's Young."We don't recommend it, but it worksfor some. But if you have custom-ers that are asking for sophisticatedelectronic data exchange, thatt whenyou have to step up to the plate andget an application that gives you thatconnection to your customers so youcan offer them tracing and trackingthrough a \7eb portal.

"Having that technology as partof your sales offering is becoming a

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necessiry. It's a cost to do business."

Beyond that, he says, the effi-ciencies fleets can gain with a TMSmakes expansion easier.

"There are probably some 20truck operators who want to stay 20

trucks, but others are Iooking to getto 50 or 120."

But these fleets don'r wanr rohave to add internal staffas they addtrucks. An automated system is theonly way to do that.

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