Carriers Reaping Efficiency, Safety Benefits on Greater Tech Integration, Executives Say

This story appears in the May 20 print edition of Transport Topics.

PRINCETON, N.J. — Deeper integration of navigation software with in-cab communications devices and back-office programs is driving efficiency and safety improvements for carriers, trucking and technology executives said.

The trucking industry’s technology providers have been integrating products for many years, but now “we’re seeing a deeper level of convergence of these different systems,” Brian McLaughlin, president of PeopleNet Communications Corp., said at the 2013 ALK Transportation Technology Summit here.

Through these integrations, drivers can gain access to the same real-time information in the cab that dispatchers are working with in the back office, he said.

An example is onboard navigation that links with back-office software to help drivers comply with their planned routes.

John Erik Albrechtsen, manager of operations at bulk transportation provider Paul’s Hauling Ltd., said his company established such a system through a collaborative effort among PeopleNet, TMW Systems Inc. and ALK Technologies Inc. Trimble Navigation Ltd. acquired all three companies during the past two years.

The system improves safety by guiding drivers along their planned routes while automating processes that used to be manual, thus reducing the workload for both the driver and the back office, he said.

The 300-tractor fleet, which operates primarily in western Canada and the northwestern United States, has cut its out-of-route miles to less than 1%, Albrechtsen said.

“That doesn’t come easily. It’s all integration,” he said. “All three partners had to work together in order to drive the solution so that we can have turn-by-turn navigation, from the route developed by the planner to the truck, and they’re both seeing the same thing.”

Albrechtsen said his fleet was a customer of those individual companies before they were acquired, and he recalled when ALK’s CoPilot Truck navigation software wasn’t available on PeopleNet onboard computers.

Looking ahead, Albrechtsen said original equipment manufacturers could provide further integration by offering a built-in display for navigation and fleet management software.

“In this whole puzzle, there’s one key element that’s really missing, and that’s the OEMs,” he said.

That could be changing, though.

In March, Volvo Trucks announced it was working with Trimble and Telogis to develop fleet management capabilities.

Norm Ellis, vice president of sales and marketing at Qualcomm’s Omnitracs Inc., said the different types of fleet management technology are each important, “but to really maximize them, you have to get them to work cohesively together.”

This convergence of technology can give carriers an edge in finding drivers, he said. “Making that driver’s life easier and more efficient, connecting with his home when he can, is really going to help carriers recruit and retain drivers, going forward.”

In recorded comments, Chuck Trivett, zone delivery superintendent for the private fleet of convenience store operator Kwik Trip Inc., said his company has reduced empty miles through an integrated navigation product with ALK’s CoPilot running on Omnitracs’ MCP onboard devices.

“We’ll run close to 19 million miles this year as a transportation entity, so if you can reduce that by even a few percentage points, you’re looking at a vast savings across the

board right down to the bottom line,” Trivett said.

Greg Chitwood, fuel manager for truckload fleet Western Express Inc., said the firm was able to cut out-of-route miles through its deployment of CoPilot on MCP units.

“We’ve definitely seen a reduction in the number of drivers who have gotten lost going over the road,” he said in recorded remarks. “If you take one wrong turn in a city like New York, you can look at a $25,000 bridge hit, just like that.”

Greg Confer, a vice president at Cheetah Software Systems Inc., agreed that technology companies will continue to strengthen their integrations.

“We all need to work together,” he told Transport Topics. “It’s going to be the best approach. Our customers will win, and I think in the end, all of these providers will win as well.”

Confer said Cheetah is currently developing new integrations with ALK and Rand McNally.