Low-Cost Mobile Devices Help Small Carriers Access Critical Operating Data, Executives Say

This story appears in the May 19 print edition of Transport Topics.

Smart phones and tablets are transforming the way trucking companies manage their operations, with increasing numbers of drivers, fleet managers and their shipper customers using them for work purposes, carriers and analysts said.

Land Air Express of New England, a regional less-than-truckload carrier in Williston, Vermont, has issued tablets to all of its drivers to enhance communication with dispatch, mainly via text message, while providing GPS tracking, document processing and camera functionality for freight claims.

“The data flow between drivers and the dispatch office has been great,” said Dave Bush, director of business processes at Land Air.

He said the phone call volume at dispatch has been cut at least in half because there is no longer a need to call drivers for estimated time of arrival; that information is readily available. Or a text can simply be sent to the driver.

These devices, although mostly aimed at the consumer market, also are enabling fleets to improve communications with their drivers and gain instant access to critical information, while lowering the cost of mobile technology.

According to technology research firm Gartner Inc., worldwide sales of smart phones jumped 42.3% to 967.8 million units in 2013, compared with 680.1 million in 2012.

Omnitracs is using smart phones and tablets to add capabilities outside the cab as a supplement to its onboard Mobile Computing Platforms.

In September, Omnitracs launched its Extended Productivity Suite, which uses Android smart devices to provide signature capture, bar code scanning, document imaging and photo capture.

The mobile proof-of-delivery application wirelessly syncs with the MCP onboard computers so they act as one seamless platform, said Vikas Jain, vice president of product management at Omnitracs.

“We have taken the best of both worlds,” Jain said. “You get the reliability of the fixed-mount MCP so you have performance monitoring and critical applications like hours of service and others in a very reliable, ruggedized form factor, and you also have the benefit of a portable solution connected wirelessly to the MCP and synchronization of data and applications between the two.”

Reliability is the main reason Omnitracs continues to build its platform around its MCP units rather than offering a system that runs solely on mobile devices.

Omnitracs’ customers rely on their MCP systems to run “mission-critical” applications such as hours of service and vehicle performance, Jain said.

If core functions were running on a mobile device, fleets could lose access to them if the device is lost or broken or runs out of battery power, he said, adding that data security is another consideration.

Jain said Omnitracs offers a “hybrid approach” pairing the MCP with a mobile device: “We believe that’s the best solution for where technology is today in terms of meeting market needs, but over time, I’m sure this will also evolve, and we’ll evolve our platform along with it.”

He also said future Omnitracs products could use a mobile device as the predominant component — but only when the company is satisfied with the reliability and security of those devices.

Onboard computer provider PeopleNet Communications Corp. is offering its software on high-end rugged handhelds from Motorola Solutions and Intermec as an alternative to its fixed-mount and tablet in-cab displays.

Company President Brian McLaughlin said PeopleNet customers using those options are typically less-than-truckload and food-service fleets.

Using a consumer-grade device as the primary system “just doesn’t hold up” due to the reliability concerns, McLaughlin said.

PeopleNet does offer mobile apps that enable safety managers and dispatchers to receive exception-based alerts on their Android and Apple smart phones and tablets.

The company’s EventAlerter provides real-time e-mail or text notifications to the carrier’s office when a driver passes a speed threshold or is approaching an on-duty time violation. The app also can alert managers when an accident occurs, when a driver is out of route or behind schedule and when a truck has been idling too long, among other preset exceptions.

“If you’re a safety manager, now you have all of that right at your fingertips on your mobile device,” McLaughlin said.

PeopleNet is part of Trimble Navigation Ltd.’s transportation and logistics division.

XRS’ new telematics platform runs exclusively on mobile devices. The success of its mobile Turnpike platform, which it acquired through its 2009 purchase of Turnpike Global Technologies, prompted the decision, CEO Jay Coughlan said.

He predicted that all the classic enterprise systems eventually will move to mobile devices: “As you go along, there’s no way the people who are manufacturing their own hardware for the truck are going to be able to keep up with the advancements of someone like a Samsung.”

Talking durability, Ken Weinberg, vice president of Carrier Logistics Inc., said, “Drivers don’t abuse the tablet because it makes their job better. . . . [Good drivers] don’t care if you’re watching what they’re doing because they’re working hard. And if you can help them work smarter, it makes their job better and they’re going to take care of the unit.”

Bush of Land Air said drivers have been quick to adapt to the devices since they were issued last year.

“It’s probably tied to people having their own smart phones for their personal use and not being afraid to use a touch screen anymore versus a three-character flip phone.”

Land Air looked at rugged tablets when examining which devices to use but decided instead to invest in less expensive consumer tablets. The durability of those devices “hasn’t been an issue at all,” Bush said.

The tablets are powered by software from Acordex Imaging Systems and integrate with Land Air’s back-office FACTS software from CLI.

Roadrunners Autotransport Inc. started off with the tablets but decided to deploy smart phones as well to ensure that they could always reach their drivers.

“When we wanted to get ahold of the driver right away when there was a change in delivery, it was tough,” said Sal Giovingo, Roadrunners president. “The phone piece really eliminated that problem for us.”

The larger tablets are easy to work on, but drivers didn’t always have them when they left the truck. They always have the smart phones on hand, he said.

Giovingo said the fuel-tax reporting simplified work that previously was complex and time-consuming.

The data collected by the onboard system also helped the company save fuel by reducing idling.

Randy Guidry, digital communications leader at Averitt Express, said the carrier saw that some companies were creating slimmed-down versions of their normal sites for mobile users, but Averitt decided it was important to make everything available on mobile devices.

“This is an industry that’s time-sensitive,” Guidry said. “We didn’t want customers getting frustrated using our site.”

Mobile usage currently represents a relatively small portion of the total activity on Averitt’s site, but that figure is “growing exponentially,” he said.

About 5% of total traffic comes from smart phones and another 1.5% is from tablets, but Guidry said he expects that number to rise significantly. In March, mobile usage was up 494% from the same month last year, he said.