Trucking. It's a tough business. With high operating costs, government regulations, fluctuating fuel costs and razor-thin profit margins, the business rises and falls on operational efficiency and driver productivity.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Fleetmatics, a leading provider of onboard computing and mobile communications solutions for the transportation industry, particularly the trucking sector. Since the U.S.-based company's founding in 1994, Fleetmatics has been helping customers increase efficiency and get the most out of their technology investments. Today, more than 1,500 trucking companies across North America rely on Fleetmatics systems to increase safety and compliance, reduce operating costs, increase productivity and improve customer service.
The customer challenge
For its latest offering, Fleetmatics was looking for a technology partner that could deliver an ideal rugged tablet PC for its onboard computing platform; one that could be used both in the cab and as a portable computer for pickup and delivery.
"We have always been a customer-focused company. With each new product offering, Fleetmatics has been able to provide our existing customers with new features that help them reduce costs and improve the efficiency of their operations. For our newest system, we were looking for a partner that could provide a rugged tablet computer that would allow our fleets to use all the features of our system in the cab while taking the device out of the cab to capture signatures, bar code, take a photo and capture additional work, which increases ROI." says the CEO.
Accentec Technologies' solution
Fleetmatics selected the xTablet T7000 as the platform for its new TABLET solution. The open system architecture and processing power were just two of the many reasons Fleetmatics chose Accentec Technologies' xTablet.
Rugged Tablet PC for Transportation "The Windows 7 operating system on the TABLET is a real benefit to our fleets. Knowing that they have an open operating system, an operating system that can connect to a variety of systems, peripherals and applications, gives the fleet confidence that the device will not only meet today's needs, but also provide the ability to expand them over time," said the vice president president of product management at Fleetmatics.
"With the processing power of an Intel CPU on the TABLET, we can handle various CPU-intensive activities such as navigation, route data collection, vehicle geolocation information," Voda continued.
The portability of Accentec Technologies' rugged tablet PC was another deciding factor. The TABLET can be both locked and unlocked in a cradle in the cab, allowing the driver to take it outside the vehicle and perform work.
A key feature is the TABLET's optional portability. Trucking companies operate in a highly regulated environment, and fleets are finding that it's increasingly costly to be out of compliance. The ability to take the TABLET outside the vehicle to perform a vehicle and trailer inspection is an example of how technology can help ensure driver safety and fleet compliance.
Fleetmatics customer, a regional transportation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, agrees. The company recently implemented the Fleetmatics TABLET system and uses the xTablet T7000 for vehicle inspections to ensure driver safety and compliance with the CSA government initiative.
"The authorities have become much stricter since CSA came into effect. So we have to be more and more vigilant about our safety records. The TABLET helps us stay compliant and give our customers peace of mind that their freight will be delivered on time and safely.
The first thing a driver does after logging into the TABLET in the truck is to take it out of the truck and perform a pre-trip inspection. At the end of the day, the driver uses the TABLET to perform a post-trip inspection. Everything is done on the TABLET. No paper to get lost, no illegible handwriting to decipher
Robuster tablet PC for transportation "The Windows 7 operating system on the TABLET is a real benefit to our fleets. Knowing that they have an open operating system, an operating system that can connect to a variety of systems, peripherals and applications, gives the fleet confidence that the device not only meets today's needs, but also has the ability to expand over time," said Matt Voda, vice president of product management at Fleetmatics.
"With the processing power of an Intel CPU on the TABLET, we can handle various CPU-intensive activities such as navigation, route data collection, vehicle geolocation information," Voda continued.
The portability of Accentec Technologies' rugged tablet PC was another deciding factor. The TABLET can be both locked and unlocked in a cradle in the cab, allowing the driver to take it outside the vehicle and perform work.
"A key feature is the TABLET's optional portability. Trucking companies operate in a highly regulated environment, and fleets are finding that it's increasingly costly to be out of compliance. The ability to take the TABLET outside the vehicle to perform a vehicle and trailer inspection is an example of how technology can help ensure driver safety and fleet compliance," says Konezny.
Fleetmatics customer Direct Drive Express, a regional transportation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, agrees. The company recently implemented the Fleetmatics TABLET system and uses the xTablet T7000 for vehicle inspections to ensure driver safety and compliance with the CSA government initiative.
"The authorities have become much stricter since CSA came into effect. So we have to be more and more vigilant about our safety records. The TABLET helps us stay compliant and give our customers peace of mind that their freight will be delivered on time and safely.
The first thing a driver does after logging into the TABLET in the truck is to take it out of the truck and perform a pre-trip inspection. At the end of the day, the driver uses the TABLET to perform a post-trip inspection. Everything is done on the TABLET. No paper to get lost, no illegible handwriting to decipher," says Dudley Larson, president of Direct Drive Express.
In addition to improving driver safety and compliance, the mobility of the TABLET helps Fleetmatics customers speed pickup and delivery operations.
"Fleets using the Fleetmatics TABLET get the best onboard computing platform with electronic logbooks, engine data and geofencing combined with the best portable proof-of-delivery system that includes signature capture, barcode scanning and image capture," says Konezny.
"Transportation companies will no longer be able to be successful by simply moving freight from point A to point B. They'll have to do the work. They will have to do work when they pick up the freight, transport it and then do work when they deliver the freight. With Accentec Technologies' xTablet T7000, drivers can access and capture more information, do work at the customer site and then update the supply chain," the CEO adds.
Larson of Direct Drive Express agrees. "When the driver arrives at the first location, the dispatcher in the office is notified. The driver doesn't have to make any notes about the location; it's all done automatically. The driver then takes the TABLET out of the holder and goes in. Sometimes the man at the ramp will say they have two more skids that need to be picked up and delivered. Then the driver just has to take the TABLET and process the order to accommodate the change. After they are loaded on the truck, the driver has the port staff sign directly on the TABLET to confirm the number of skids picked up. Then the driver gets back into his truck and docks the TABLET. This automatically sends a message to the office to notify shipping of the change in order, and the system is updated," Larson says.
Rugged tablet for transportation "Another great feature of the tablet is barcode scanning. We have a lot of products that get loaded and unloaded onto trucks quickly, and being able to track them is very, very important. It saves oodles of cost and paperwork, and a lot of time. By a conservative estimate, the TABLET saves the driver 10% of the time at each stop," Larson continued.
People Net customers also find the integrated color camera in the tablet very useful. If there is an accident, they use it to take pictures and send them back to the office in real time. They also use the camera at the customer site to photograph damage to pallets and freight. That way, if there is a dispute, they have proof of what happened.
Extreme ruggedness is another feature of the xTablet T7000 that is important to Fleetmatics' customers. It is built to meet Mil-Spec 810G standards, which means it has been tested to withstand 26 consecutive drops from a height of one meter onto concrete. It is also sealed to IP65 to withstand pressurized water. So it can withstand bumps, drops, rain and dust common to almost any harsh environment.
"Some other vendors of similar technologies in the industry have recently launched non-rugged standard tablets that use the Android platform. Fleets take these computing platforms to the oilfields, they make deliveries in warehouses, they get in and out of trucks frequently - all environments that can cause damage if these consumer-grade devices are dropped. Drivers spend their days in harsh environments, and the ruggedness of their onboard computing platform is absolutely critical," says Fleetmatic's COO Brian McLaughlin.
"We were obviously concerned about ROI, we were concerned about how it would hold up in a harsh environment. We had a vendor literally drop it on the floor, walk over and pick it up - and it ran. These things get dropped occasionally, and we want to eliminate that damage factor as much as possible," Larson confirmed.
Fleetmatics' onboard computing platform not only helps Fleetmatics' customers comply with regulations and increase efficiency, but also gives carriers an edge over the competition by providing better service to their customers.
"We needed something that would set us apart from the competition, to show our customers that we could do something that was better than the other guys on the block. Now we have customers asking for pickup and delivery times, and we can give it to them. Customers love that," Larson says.
The xTablet T7000 also gives Fleetmatics a competitive advantage by opening up new markets. In the past, the company offered a fixed-mount system for drivers who spent most of their time in the truck. Accentec Technologies' rugged tablet PC allows Fleetmatics to offer a solution for trucking companies whose drivers spend much of their time out of the vehicle.
"What we're seeing early on are the multi-stop and multi-drop markets for food, beverage, some petroleum carriers, a lot of private retail fleets that want to do signature capture and bar coding, cross-town fuel carriers that need to be able to print receipts, and specialty carriers that need to turn in permits and view them on the tablet screen. These are all things that Accentec Technologies and the TABLET can do for us that we couldn't do before, and it really opens up a whole new set of addressable markets," McLaughlin says.
The results
Trucking has always been a tough business with low margins. But demand for moving freight from one place to another has never been higher. Trucking companies using rugged mobile tablet computers and fleet management software solutions are reducing costs, increasing productivity and improving customer service.
According to Fleetmatics, some of the ROI benefits their customers achieve by using the TABLET system include the following:
Reduction in days out of the office from 12 days to 2 days
Improvement in inventory accuracy by 10
Reduction in time at each stop by 10
Saving $5,000 per driver per year (an average of 100,000 miles per year) by reducing out-of-route mileage
Enables remote training on the TABLET, eliminating travel costs
Reduces back-office resources from one employee per 20 drivers to one employee per 50-100 drivers
It is clear to see that these trucking companies are beating the odds. By using F
Robuster tablet PC for transportation "The Windows 7 operating system on the TABLET is a real benefit to our fleets. Knowing that they have an open operating system, an operating system that can connect to a variety of systems, peripherals and applications, gives the fleet confidence that the device not only meets today's needs, but also has the ability to expand over time," said Matt Voda, vice president of product management at Fleetmatics.
