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FeedsHome: August - September 2007 › Lead Story › A logistics lesson for utilities
A logistics lesson for utilities
30/09/2007 | Channel: Fleet Management
Transport and logistics issues are having an increasing impact on Britain's utilities, as July's floods demonstrated starkly. Here Craig Sears-Black of Isotrak, explains the benefits of transport management technology
A logistics lesson for
On July 22 2007, floodwater incapacitated the Mythe Water Treatment Works in Gloucestershire. During the 17 days that followed, Severn Trent water deployed over 1300 water bowsers to maintain drinking water supplies. Replenishing the bowsers required a fleet of over 100 water tankers to deliver top-ups to sites up to three times per day. (Source: Statement regarding impact of flooding July 2007, Severn Trent website, 8 August 2007.) This was a classic logistics challenge of optimising the routes travelled, and driver/vehicle resources deployed, to ensure the appropriate load was in the correct place at the right time.
For the Gloucestershire authorities these were extraordinary challenges; for Isotrak, the UK market leader in real-time vehicle tracking and transport management systems, they are the stuff of day-to-day business. Isotrak works with some of Britain's biggest companies to help them run their transport fleets more efficiently. Our customers include Asda, M&S, Morrison's, Sainsbury's and Tesco, as well as the Royal Mail, tanker provider DHL-Exel Special Products, and many more. By helping improve transport efficiency, Isotrak enables its own customers to reduce costs, lower carbon emissions and improve service to their customers both internal and external.
The need for transport management
The challenge for any transport operation is to fulfil complex requirements as efficiently as possible, using limited resources with oftenunpredictable constraints. Since this amounts to a mathematical problem, transport efficiency has been inescapably linked with the level of computational power available.
Traditional paper-based systems at best could only ensure delivery and collection more or less on time, and then only with clearly defined and inflexible routes for a limited number of vehicles. (See Figure 1: Hierarchy of transport management needs.) The arrival of computerised route planning and resource management systems catered for larger fleets and more complicated, dynamic routes, permitting the creation of sophisticated plans. In an ideal world this could help achieve better utilisation of drivers and vehicles; in the real world of traffic jams, accidents and other unpredictable hold-ups, the best laid plans can all too easily unravel.
As a result, old-style transport operations have always operated with inherent waste and low productivity that are increasingly unacceptable in today's highly competitive,
environmentally conscious climate. So interactive and interdependent are today's long supply chains, there is simply no slack in the system to accommodate inefficient working. What's needed is a way to reduce the number of vehicles required to do the job, ensure they cover fewer miles, and guarantee that for every minute they are on the road they are driven as economically and efficiently as possible. And a key part of that is being able to observe the execution of plans and make adjustments where necessary.
An active approach to carbon footprint reduction
This is where Isotrak comes into the picture with its Active Transport Management System (ATMS). ATMS employs a unique combination of satellite tracking technology and cellular data links to show the location of each and every vehicle in a fleet from minute to minute. ATMS enables Isotrak's customers to view, analyse, understand and control even the largest and most complex transport operations in real time. Typically the arrival of ATMS sets off a chain reaction of three key benefits:
(i) Decreasing carbon footprint and fuel costs by reducing miles run and improving driver management
(ii) Reducing fleet size by improving the planning and management of transport operations
(iii) Improving driver productivity through better labour planning
UK retail - the pioneer in transport fleet efficiency improvement
Retail and utilities are obviously poles apart as business sectors, but we believe the latter has much to learn from the former. Supermarkets were among the first businesses to appreciate the potential benefits of tracking-based transport management systems, and have long since proved their worth in action. Retail distribution is one of the most challenging and competitive logistics environments, and the sheer scale of the big supermarkets' operations promises vast potential economies of scale. Isotrak estimates that the UK's large supermarkets operate approximately 7000 vehicles to deliver products from their distribution centres to shops, travelling approximately 700 million miles per year.
This means the economies realised by investing in effective transport management are not purely financial. Those 7000 supermarket vehicles are estimated to emit 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 every year, highlighting the need to reduce carbon footprint as much as possible. To take three specific examples from Isotrak's customer database:
Building the business case
Isotrak believes that the opportunity is open to all transport operations to follow the supermarkets' lead and start using high-tech transport management to improve efficiency, boost customer service and reduce carbon footprint. And these are not the only benefits of moving to a technology-driven transport management system. Others include:
(i) Enjoying faster and more pro-active decision-making thanks to the provision of real-time information
(ii) Executing delivery transactions and processes faster and more accurately
(iii) Reducing administration and paperwork costs for deliveries and collections
(iv) Measuring and benchmarking ongoing service levels to achieve continuous service improvement
(v) Improve security for company assets, vehicles and even transactions
(vi) Changing management culture from 'reactive' to 'pro-active'
Of course, to realise these benefits, vehicletracking data must be combined with other crucial aspects of transport management, for example driver communication. Effective twoway driver communication, as implemented in Isotrak's Driver Terminal, can slash paperwork and debriefs, while also enabling planned activities to evolve in response to changing circumstances. (The Driver Terminal also records activity and thus assures compliance with legislation such as the Working Time Directive.)
From the environmental standpoint, one of the biggest opportunities is managing individual driving styles to pinpoint where hard acceleration, harsh braking or excessive idling may be wasting fuel. Isotrak's vehicle tracking unit can link with an engine management system via the industry-standard CANbus, transmitting live performance data that is summarised in a simple league table format, to help identify and indicate where additional driver training may be required.
Of course, technology is only as good as its operators, and the people factor is a very important consideration for any operation looking to reap the benefits of a transport management system. Isotrak originated within the freight industry and has over 11 years of experience, giving us a strong emphasis on what transport needs from technology, rather than vice versa.
It's important, for example, to think about ease of installation and operation, particularly where these impact upon management information systems. Isotrak's ATMS, accordingly, is delivered as a managed service operating on high-powered servers. This avoids the installation and support expense of dedicated PCs, not to mention the business disruption, while also enhancing access to all stakeholders since every feature is accessible through an ordinary web browser. Our easyto- use performance reports show what each vehicle is doing at any time.
It doesn't require too much of a stretch in imagination to see how the same benefits now accruing to Britain's supermarkets could also benefit the multifaceted logistics requirements of utilities companies. Reducing carbon emissions is now, or should be, a fundamental objective for any organisation. And where that organisation employs any number of vehicles, a transport management system like ATMS is the only way to gain the big picture that shows where improvements can and must be made.
Craig Sears-Black is marketing director of Isotrak,which provides its customers with tailored software products and professional service solutions to help deliver value and help transform transport management. To find out more please visit:
www.isotrak.com
For the Gloucestershire authorities these were extraordinary challenges; for Isotrak, the UK market leader in real-time vehicle tracking and transport management systems, they are the stuff of day-to-day business. Isotrak works with some of Britain's biggest companies to help them run their transport fleets more efficiently. Our customers include Asda, M&S, Morrison's, Sainsbury's and Tesco, as well as the Royal Mail, tanker provider DHL-Exel Special Products, and many more. By helping improve transport efficiency, Isotrak enables its own customers to reduce costs, lower carbon emissions and improve service to their customers both internal and external.
The need for transport management
The challenge for any transport operation is to fulfil complex requirements as efficiently as possible, using limited resources with oftenunpredictable constraints. Since this amounts to a mathematical problem, transport efficiency has been inescapably linked with the level of computational power available.
Traditional paper-based systems at best could only ensure delivery and collection more or less on time, and then only with clearly defined and inflexible routes for a limited number of vehicles. (See Figure 1: Hierarchy of transport management needs.) The arrival of computerised route planning and resource management systems catered for larger fleets and more complicated, dynamic routes, permitting the creation of sophisticated plans. In an ideal world this could help achieve better utilisation of drivers and vehicles; in the real world of traffic jams, accidents and other unpredictable hold-ups, the best laid plans can all too easily unravel.
As a result, old-style transport operations have always operated with inherent waste and low productivity that are increasingly unacceptable in today's highly competitive,
environmentally conscious climate. So interactive and interdependent are today's long supply chains, there is simply no slack in the system to accommodate inefficient working. What's needed is a way to reduce the number of vehicles required to do the job, ensure they cover fewer miles, and guarantee that for every minute they are on the road they are driven as economically and efficiently as possible. And a key part of that is being able to observe the execution of plans and make adjustments where necessary.
An active approach to carbon footprint reduction
This is where Isotrak comes into the picture with its Active Transport Management System (ATMS). ATMS employs a unique combination of satellite tracking technology and cellular data links to show the location of each and every vehicle in a fleet from minute to minute. ATMS enables Isotrak's customers to view, analyse, understand and control even the largest and most complex transport operations in real time. Typically the arrival of ATMS sets off a chain reaction of three key benefits:
(i) Decreasing carbon footprint and fuel costs by reducing miles run and improving driver management
(ii) Reducing fleet size by improving the planning and management of transport operations
(iii) Improving driver productivity through better labour planning
UK retail - the pioneer in transport fleet efficiency improvement
Retail and utilities are obviously poles apart as business sectors, but we believe the latter has much to learn from the former. Supermarkets were among the first businesses to appreciate the potential benefits of tracking-based transport management systems, and have long since proved their worth in action. Retail distribution is one of the most challenging and competitive logistics environments, and the sheer scale of the big supermarkets' operations promises vast potential economies of scale. Isotrak estimates that the UK's large supermarkets operate approximately 7000 vehicles to deliver products from their distribution centres to shops, travelling approximately 700 million miles per year.
This means the economies realised by investing in effective transport management are not purely financial. Those 7000 supermarket vehicles are estimated to emit 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 every year, highlighting the need to reduce carbon footprint as much as possible. To take three specific examples from Isotrak's customer database:
- Marks & Spencer's General Merchandise operation reduced mileage by 14 per cent after one year of working with Isotrak to integrate sites, fleets, deliveries and collections.
- Isotrak has already helped Tesco increase the number of products delivered per litre of fuel by eight per cent in 2005/06; it is also underwriting Tesco's pledge to reduce the amount of CO2 produced per case of goods delivered by 30 per cent over the next three years.
- Asda has put on record its objective to save five per cent in fuel by 2010.
Building the business case
Isotrak believes that the opportunity is open to all transport operations to follow the supermarkets' lead and start using high-tech transport management to improve efficiency, boost customer service and reduce carbon footprint. And these are not the only benefits of moving to a technology-driven transport management system. Others include:
(i) Enjoying faster and more pro-active decision-making thanks to the provision of real-time information
(ii) Executing delivery transactions and processes faster and more accurately
(iii) Reducing administration and paperwork costs for deliveries and collections
(iv) Measuring and benchmarking ongoing service levels to achieve continuous service improvement
(v) Improve security for company assets, vehicles and even transactions
(vi) Changing management culture from 'reactive' to 'pro-active'
Of course, to realise these benefits, vehicletracking data must be combined with other crucial aspects of transport management, for example driver communication. Effective twoway driver communication, as implemented in Isotrak's Driver Terminal, can slash paperwork and debriefs, while also enabling planned activities to evolve in response to changing circumstances. (The Driver Terminal also records activity and thus assures compliance with legislation such as the Working Time Directive.)
From the environmental standpoint, one of the biggest opportunities is managing individual driving styles to pinpoint where hard acceleration, harsh braking or excessive idling may be wasting fuel. Isotrak's vehicle tracking unit can link with an engine management system via the industry-standard CANbus, transmitting live performance data that is summarised in a simple league table format, to help identify and indicate where additional driver training may be required.
Of course, technology is only as good as its operators, and the people factor is a very important consideration for any operation looking to reap the benefits of a transport management system. Isotrak originated within the freight industry and has over 11 years of experience, giving us a strong emphasis on what transport needs from technology, rather than vice versa.
It's important, for example, to think about ease of installation and operation, particularly where these impact upon management information systems. Isotrak's ATMS, accordingly, is delivered as a managed service operating on high-powered servers. This avoids the installation and support expense of dedicated PCs, not to mention the business disruption, while also enhancing access to all stakeholders since every feature is accessible through an ordinary web browser. Our easyto- use performance reports show what each vehicle is doing at any time.
It doesn't require too much of a stretch in imagination to see how the same benefits now accruing to Britain's supermarkets could also benefit the multifaceted logistics requirements of utilities companies. Reducing carbon emissions is now, or should be, a fundamental objective for any organisation. And where that organisation employs any number of vehicles, a transport management system like ATMS is the only way to gain the big picture that shows where improvements can and must be made.
Craig Sears-Black is marketing director of Isotrak,which provides its customers with tailored software products and professional service solutions to help deliver value and help transform transport management. To find out more please visit:
www.isotrak.com
