When it comes to fleet management and supply chain challenges, “prompt service and delivery issues” is the number one answer according to new research commissioned by HERE Technologies.
More than 300 fleet management and supply chain leaders from around the world responded to the survey, which focused on their objectives, challenges and investment priorities. “Prompt service/delivery issues” was the top challenge for 55% of respondents and was followed closely by “costs” coming from 54% of the respondents.
With the continued driver shortage, rising inflation and pandemic-related disruptions, the findings provide helpful insights into the current state of the industry. So, what can fleet managers do to minimize the impact of these events?
Focus on building more agile processes and digitizing the elements you can control. For instance, the survey revealed that nearly 70% of organizations still rely on spreadsheets, worksheets and paper-based driver logs as part of their shipment processes.
Wherever you are in your digitization journey, location technology enables the flexibility needed to solve for daily disruptions and shift from tedious, manual processes to predictive analytics and processes. The technology allows fleet owners and managers to improve driver efficiency, reduce costs and fuel consumption, and control a greater portion of their operations.
To highlight the tangible impact of location technology, HERE developed the interactive map below. The map illustrates the real-world impact of truck routing calculations from the Port of Long Beach to three major warehousing districts in southern California.
Factors such as time of day (rush hour or off-peak), vehicle size (large vehicle or standard delivery van) and type of load (flammable or regular) all impact the optimal suggested route, as well as duration, distance, CO2 emission, and associated cost.
For a single trip the impact is present but minimal. However, when you increase the trips from one to fifty or one hundred, the impact on a driver’s time, mileage and costs can change dramatically for the same exact route.
On a technical level, location technology creates a unifying layer of data that cuts across functional silos. It enables enhanced visibility, optimized workflows, quicker decision making and more responsiveness.
“As the industry embraces process automation and digital transformation to drive down costs and to deliver operational efficiencies, we need new ways of working,” says Graham Wallace, Director of T&L Product Marketing at HERE. “Building roadmaps and equipping the industry with the digital tools needed to prosper calls for a close working relationship with data providers and partners.”
In the visualization, the HERE Truck Routing and Traffic Analytics API are used to determine all route calculations. The map leverages HERE’s capability to customize vehicle and load configurations, and determine truck-safe routes, while integrating traffic information and first-party data.
No fleet or supply chain can jump instantly from completely manual processes to a fully digital organization. But there are stepping stones along the way that can increase efficiency, accuracy and cost savings. And this journey can start today.
Click here to see how HERE customers are leveraging location technology. To see the visualization in full screen, click here.
