Are you and your employees overworked and overstressed? Are you losing money shipment after shipment? That’s not uncommon if you’re using outdated methods to manage your fleet.
When you’re looking for ways to optimize your operations and restore balance to your work life, consider adopting one of the modern fleet management systems used by today’s dispatchers. Learn more about some of the key benefits of fleet management technologies below.
Automatically Create Loads and Manifests
How quickly can you create a load manifest? Does it involve entering data more than once? For example, do you have to complete forms for each truck, customer, and unique request?
If so, think of the time you’d save using software that allows you to enter essential data only once and handles the process for you. What if your fleet management software utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to perform all the load and route planning for you, then automatically created the paperwork required?
Fleet management technologies can recognize inefficiencies on a level that’s too detailed for even the most experienced dispatchers to identify consistently. And in time, addressing those inefficiencies can add up to significant savings.
Optimize Routes
The days of mapping delivery routes by hand should be over. Standard consumer mapping software can create poor or even dangerous routes. We’ve all read countless stories of travelers in need of rescue because they followed the suggestions of their favorite mapping app.
Instead, dispatchers should use more sophisticated routing software that takes into account the fact that large trucks can’t travel all roads. It will also factor in the anticipated speed of your trucks and the traffic during designated times.
Good fleet management platforms will also direct your drivers along the most efficient routes. Those routes may exploit small differences in traffic counts or right vs. left turn-times, or other factors that may never have occurred to the dispatcher or the drivers. Computer algorithms function without being influenced by tradition or the “old way of doing things,” and are free to explore load and route combinations that result in the most efficient use of your fleet.
Monitor Driver Progress
There is a way to keep drivers and your customers all happy. Use technology that will schedule drivers according to the legally mandated maximum time behind the wheel. Doing so will prevent interruptions to delivery, such as when a driver en route reaches his time limit.
It will also endear you to drivers who recognize that your company treats them with respect and dignity. Proper scheduling will go a long way toward helping you retain your best drivers. In turn, you save money and time by keeping your drivers rather than dealing with high driver turnover that forces you to train and onboard new drivers frequently.
But how do you know who are your best drivers? Manually-kept records of their performance depend upon human memory or their discipline to create and evaluate data, all of which are notoriously unreliable. It’s better to trust software that will accurately keep track of driver performance.
Accurate records will help you explain to drivers where they need to improve and how to do so. You’ll know those who are your most reliable drivers based on the data. That information could pay dividends when you have sensitive and special assignments from VIP clients.
Find Affordable Supplemental Shipping Services
If you use supplemental shipping services such as 3rd-party common carriers, how do you choose the providers? Do you contact each company and review the manifest to see if it’s a load that the company can handle? How long does it take to speak to each candidate, receive their estimates, and then decide?
You can eliminate the time associated with sourcing freight with software that will simplify the process. For example, instead of approaching your usual three shippers via phone and email, the software could automatically present the load to a greater number of providers and collect their rates in real-time. The software may even include a bidding platform where providers compete for your business, resulting in faster responses and better pricing.
Not only do you save time from having to contact all the providers individually, but you’re more likely to save money as the bidding process drives down your costs and increases your profit margin.
See Your Fleet’s Movement in Real-Time
How long would it take you to identify the location of a particular truck? Do you know the amount of a specific item you have both in the warehouse and on the road? Do you know how many pickups are ahead of schedule, which transfers are on time, and the number of deliveries that are behind schedule?
These are just a few of the questions that you should be able to answer with a single glance at your computer screen. If your operation relies upon pen, paper, and a phone for vehicle tracking, you’re leaving much to chance.
You need software that presents all the relevant data in an easy-to-read format that allows dispatchers, drivers, executives, and other personnel to understand what’s happening in the field. This data should be presented visually and in real-time, because you need to know what’s occurring now, and without having to pick up the phone to do so.
Improve Your Fleet Management
Do you now see ways that you can improve your fleet’s performance with modern fleet management technologies? Headlight Solutions helps its clients become more efficient using both off-the-shelf solutions, as well as highly customized approaches. You can see how it works with a free demo.
When you choose Headlight Solutions, you can be confident that after engaging our team, we’ll make sure that you understand how to get the most from our fleet management solutions. We aren’t satisfied until our platform is fully integrated into your daily routine, making your job easier, reducing stress, and improving the efficiency of your operations.
Our fleet management software automatically creates loads and their manifests. It routes your drivers in ways that save both time and money. And it gives you all the information you need about your fleet in real-time.
Isn’t it time you and your team took advantage of the next-level fleet management technologies that are readily available? If you’re ready to jump to the front of the pack, contact us today to discover how our software can make a difference.
