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Organization Gains
100% Fleet Visibility

From Real-Time Management System Built By Programmers

Managers need full visibility of their fleets to ensure freight is on track for its targeted delivery. This also lets fleet managers see if drivers take all their required breaks, drive safely, and utilize certain “golden routes” that get freight to its destination faster.

Despite these advantages, some organizations still try to work with suboptimal visibility. For example, a multinational beverage company gave fleet managers a daily report of what happened over the last 24 hours.

This lag put the beverage company’s managers in an unenviable situation. They had to respond to delayed shipments, unexpected stops, and unsafe driving countless hours after these problems emerged.

The organization knew it needed up-to-the-minute information to maximize on-time loads and improve both efficiency and safety. That’s why they turned to Programmers. We built a real-time fleet management system that gave them real-time visibility of all their trucks.

Trucking fleet pulling over to side of road near sunset.

Progress by the Numbers

The real-time fleet management system that Programmers built:

Number 1

Boosted fleet visibility from 30% to 100%

Number 2

Reduced delivery time by 20%

Number 3

Increased deliveries by 15% while needing 20% fewer vehicles

By its completion, our fleet management system was so comprehensive that people within the beverage company called it their NASA Mission Control Center.

Mission control center for monitoring trucking fleets

Welcome to the Fleet Management Equivalent of Mission Control Center

With a simple glance at the screen, fleet managers could track all the real-time information they needed. That included drivers’ on-time deliveries for the day, current driving speed, and breaks taken vs. anticipated breaks.

If something was wrong, managers could reach out to the driver, discover the problem, and quickly get everything back on track. This ensured more on-time deliveries and gave drivers peace of mind that they would have rapid support if they encountered problems.

The beverage company also wanted to know how the third-party carriers they hired compared to in-house drivers. The fleet management system allowed the company’s leaders to see the ROI of each third-party fleet.

A Look Under the Hood: The Technology Behind Programmers’ Solution

What technology did Programmers leverage to make this solution possible? The process began with IoT devices that collected important data from each truck, including GPS location, speed, and time spent idle.

These devices then sent information to the Azure cloud. Once received, Azure Stream structured the raw data and re-calculated important KPIs related to each haul. Then, fleet managers could see this structured data with Power BI’s user-intuitive interface on their impressive “mission control center” screen.

NASA’s Mission Control Center was not built in a day, and neither was our real-time fleet management system. However, we knew that we needed to show value early to encourage strong buy-in from the people who would use this tool every day: fleet managers.

From Single Data Point to Mission Control Center: Iterative Development Process

We began by tracking loading and unloading times, which the company noted as the most vital data points. Loading and unloading times let managers know which drivers made their scheduled deliveries and which ones are falling behind in real-time.

With just loading and unloading times, our fleet management system looked more like a departure board at an airport than Mission Control Center. Still, this proved to be a fast-to-value version of the solution that we could iteratively build upon. We then began adding more functionalities, always prioritizing the ones that most benefitted the organization.

Trucks driving on highway after sunset

Consulting with Companies Across the Industry

Every day, Programmers helps logistics companies like yours become more data-driven. We bring a fast-to-value approach tailored to each organization’s specific needs. Learn more about our dynamic approach to logistics data analytics solutions.

Ready to work side-by-side with a team of experts to uncover more insights? Contact us today to learn how we can guide you through your data analytics journey.

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