Turning the spotlight on Freight

Hauliers and freight companies are highly exposed to many of the fleet industry’s most pressing challenges. Rising fuel prices, changing compliance regulation and skill shortages combine to make it difficult to stay efficient, competitive and profitable.

Many are turning to GPS fleet tracking solutions to help overcome these challenges and gain greater control over their operations. Once in place, freight companies can use the technology to reduce unnecessary mileage, improve fuel economy and streamline compliance.

Such are the potential benefits of GPS solutions that across all industries, over two-thirds of fleets believe them to be very or extremely beneficial to the running of their business.

The view from the cab

One fleet seeing the many benefits of GPS fleet tracking technology is Verizon Connect customer DELSOL.

Covering North Wales and North West England, the haulier has over 150 staff across four locations, two depots and numerous sub-contractor sites. This large and dispersed workforce made it difficult for office staff and management to keep track of mobile workers and get a full picture of daily operations.

However, this has changed since implementing Reveal. Now, office staff use near real-time location tracking as well as deep analysis of fuel spend and consumption, site arrival and departure time and a range of other metrics to keep a close eye on the field. Plus, the Live Map feature has removed the need to check up on drivers via phone during the working day.

I can look back at any driver’s day. I can check his daily run, mileage and hours worked. I can also spot any time wasted on personal errands or unauthorised trips home.

-Barry Williams, Assistant Transport Manager

DELSOL reports further efficiency gains across the board, too. As well as seeing a notable reduction in fuel consumption, the company estimates that it has made savings of around £125 per day, previously lost to wasted man-hours.

The company’s customers are also seeing the benefit of the Reveal solution. With near real-time location information, DELSOL can respond to customer queries faster, quickly and easily send the nearest driver back to a job if required and offer more accurate ETAs for deliveries.

Reveal has made a lot of people’s jobs easier. Our office staff spend less time chasing drivers. We know exactly where our fleet is at any given time, and we’ve been able to drive down fuel costs.

-Barry Williams, Assistant Transport Manager

Do more with GPS technology

While most fleets have some form of solution to monitor vehicle location, modern fleet management systems can do much more. With Reveal, you can:

Promote driver safety, satisfaction and productivity
Be immediately notified of harsh driving and use real-world events to coach safe habits. Plus, in-grade commercial navigation systems, automated mileage and fuel tax reporting can help make life easier.

Tackle the tachograph
Add live tacho technology to your Verizon Connect solution so that compliance doesn’t get in the way of staying productive. Download data remotely, automate driver rest, break and hours reports, and receive notifications whenever drivers may exceed permitted driving periods.

Make your customers happy
With data on vehicle location and traffic status, you can offer more accurate delivery windows and proactively warn customers of possible delays. You can also reroute drivers to new jobs or return site visits in just a few clicks.

Keep your vital assets secure
With asset tracking as part of your GPS fleet management solution, you can keep tabs on vehicles, equipment and more. In the event of theft, location data can be used to find and recover stolen assets.

Verizon Connect – fuelling the freight industry

Once connected, the Verizon Connect solution can help you improve and automate your business, reduce fuel spend, increase efficiency, boost safety and simplify compliance. Our portfolio of applications can give you:

• Hassle-free compliance: With a digital tachograph solution, you can download data remotely and automatically, and monitor driver hours to assign new jobs within safe limits.
• Intuitive dashboards: Get better visibility on how much, when and where your vehicles are used. Pull reports and analysis in seconds.
• Proactive maintenance: Automated tracking of engine hours and diagnostics improves the accuracy of your maintenance schedule while helping to prevent unnecessary servicing.
• Safe driving features: Promote safe driving behaviours with in-context training and near real-time harsh driving alerts.
• Intelligent automation: Data gathered on start and finish times, time on site and much more can be used to automate processes like payroll and billing.

To hear more from our customers, read our latest customer case studies. Or, to try the solution for yourself, book a free demo.