GPS Phones Keep Drivers On Track

Brian Schiavo
Created:

Improve efficiency and productivity, as well as routing and scheduling.


"When an exception happens it alerts the company in real-time," says Koch. "It can even send an email to the customer telling them you're going to be late."

These systems also allow drivers to explain route deviations, thanks to the interactive menus on their cell phones.

"We allow them to type in Over, Short and Damage information," notes UPS' Brandt. "Such as: 'I planned to deliver six cases, I only delivered five.' That's great for order-to-cash type information."

Productivity Improvements

When all is said and done, the biggest incentive for implementing any new system is always productivity-how will it help you move more product? With GPS-enabled cell phones it is no different.

"In conjunction with Roadshow, we've implanted a system called MobileLink Status," notes Tom Wydra, corporate fleet manager for Edward Don and Co., a North Riverside, IL company that delivers restaurant supplies to eateries and schools. "The driver's manifest is downloaded right to the phone and from that he proceeds from one stop to another. In the phone itself he'll hit a key that says when he's arrived at a stop, as well as when he's completed a stop."

Wydra runs a performance summary report at the end of the day that compares performance times they have in the system-from when they originally routed the driver's route performance time-to show how he's actually running the route now. This gives them insight into how productive the driver is currently being.
"We can see where he's losing time and we'll send a supervisor out with him if we're having a serious time problem."


Wawa Watches Its Drivers, Saves Fuel

Wawa Inc. knows something about routing and scheduling deliveries. In addition to providing fresh dairy products to its 565 convenience stores located in the Mid-Atlantic states, the company is also a major supplier of dairy products to more than 1,000 institutional customers.

"We use a product called AVL to create routes," says Don Kane, transportation manager for the Wawa, PA-based company. "We get orders that come in every day for delivery and we build a route off of them using the Descartes Roadshow product."

Kane takes these routes and exports them to the internet-based program on their web site. Then, when each driver comes in for his shift, he logs onto his Nextel phone-which has the Descartes software program loaded onto it-this allows GPS to keep track of the driver's position at all times.

"We're monitoring where the drivers are, compared to where the actual routes should be," says Kane. "You can tell where he's driving to and where he stops, so the value is that I can now measure actual miles versus planned miles."

Before the implementation of its GPS system, Kane found that many drivers were putting excess miles on their trucks. They would take the long way back to the distribution center. They would also jump spots-in essence, they weren't following their assigned routes.

"Without the real-time information and the GPS data, I have no idea what's going on out there. I'm setting up routes in an office and then the trucks leave the lot. All I know is the guy left at 6:00 am and he got back at four o'clock. I'm relying on them to tell me what they're doing and I have to trust them."

Thanks to the system Wawa has deployed, Kane can now watch what his drivers are doing even as they're doing it and then take whatever actions are necessary to saves fuel and wear and tear on trucks by eliminating unplanned stops and unnecessary miles.

He also uses the system for going over the analytics of the department and making decisions regarding fuel mileage and routing efficiency.

"Analysis is the foundation of the department," he explains. "Anything that provides me with data is useful in making decisions that can help me be the most cost-efficient that I can be."

In addition, Wawa's GPS system provides extra value for their customer service department. If a customer calls up and wants to know when a delivery is coming in, all a service person has to do is access the system and let the customer know the precise ETA for their delivery.

"It's real-time information about what's going on with the equipment when it's out on the road." He adds: "It brings the road into the office." -B.S.

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