Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/949884
commercial carrier journal | march 2018 63 TECHNOLOGY: E-COMMERCE to expand into the domain of LTL carriers by offering local pickup-and-delivery services through their terminal network, says Robert Brothers, manager of product development for McLeod Soware. In response to this trend, McLeod add- ed a Final Mile module to its LoadMaster dispatch and fleet management system. e module handles additional order requirements for LTL movements and cross-docking, and business processes flow through the same LoadMaster sys- tem, Brothers says. The B2C formula LTL carriers have seen the most impact from e-commerce and are using new technologies to improve their route plan- ning and execution for B2C deliveries in residential areas. e cloud-based Facts freight manage- ment system from Carrier Logistics Inc. was developed for LTL clients and has expanded to meet the requirements of last-mile logistics, says Ben Wiesen, CLI's vice president of products and services. Carriers that make B2C deliveries have to follow a standard formula to meet customer expectations, Wiesen says. First, they must offer delivery scheduling options and provide accurate real-time visibility for an estimated time of arrival. e Facts system has a route planning and optimization component that fleets use to calculate ETAs and schedule deliv- eries. e system calculates the driving time to the route's first stop and between all subsequent stops. e time calculation uses standards for each type of delivery — business, residential, inside deliveries, curbside and more. Wiesen says more fleets could share real-time ETA information with their end customers, but most do not because it "tends to lead to disappointment" since routes never progress exactly as planned. Instead, fleets typically will pad the ETA time window by an hour or so, he says. Another factor of successful B2C deliv- eries is being able to reroute and redirect shipments on short notice. A business may ship the wrong product or place the wrong shipment label on the order. Rerouting shipments is "not easy with- out technology," Weisen says. Fleets that use Facts can use a scanning application that alerts dock workers to "take care of those things," he says. Final-mile deliveries also require drivers to capture information outside the cab, such as exceptions and elec- tronic signatures. Mobile data-capture systems are needed to create a more efficient and "clean" invoicing process, says James Stevenson, vice president of sales for TMW Systems. Pictures of deliveries have become criti- cal to help prevent cargo claims and speed deliveries when exceptions do happen, Robertson says. "You are trying to take the driver out of the process of negotiat- ing a settlement onsite," he says. TMW, Bolt and CLI all have developed mobile apps and have partnered with third-party developers to integrate mobile technologies into their dispatch and rout- ing systems for final-mile logistics. Schedule flexibility When ordering products online, con- sumers expect to know a delivery date and time so they can plan accordingly. Whereas most home deliveries can be dropped off at the doorstep at any time of the day, business-to-business carriers are expected to provide accurate shipment locations and ETAs. To meet this demand, B2C and B2B shippers and third-party logistics provid- ers need real-time visibility technologies, says Bart De Muynck, research director of transportation technology and supply chains for Gartner. Companies that provide shipment visibility systems include Project 44, Trucker Tools, FourKites, 10-4 Sys- tems and MacroPoint. These compa- nies have technologies for tracking shipments hauled by any carrier by using the GPS from drivers' phones, fleet telematics systems and ELDs. Some of these companies are starting to use predictive analytics to deliver accu- rate ETAs of shipments based on drivers' remaining hours of service and traffic and weather data. With real-time information on ETAs, shippers and carriers also are starting to use transportation management and routing systems that dynamically reroute B2C and B2B shipments to anticipate their customers' expectations and meet them, De Muynck says. Shipment visibility technologies now can be connected with cloud-based rout- ing systems that use artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies to make smarter and more responsive deci- sions as the workday progresses, he says. Grocery retailer Hy-Vee, based in Des Moines, Iowa, operates 245 stores in Midwestern states. ree years ago, Hy-Vee did not have an e-commerce offering, but "we saw the writing on the wall," says Kurt Hasson, the company's vice president of IT. e grocer responded by building its own platforms for e-commerce and order management. "ere is a lot of pressure to move quickly and maintain our market share," Hasson says. Last year, Hy-Vee created a dedicat- ed fulfillment center in Des Moines to route orders for its 20 stores that offer e-commerce delivery services. e goal from the beginning has been to automate Whereas most home deliveries can be dropped off at the doorstep at any time of the day, B2B carriers are expected to provide accurate shipment locations and ETAs.