How to Complete More Deliveries with Fewer Trucks & Drivers – All While Remaining Compliant

Online shopping has altered consumer and business expectations around standard delivery times. Carriers face increased demands to transport goods faster and more reliably as a result. This, coupled with the seemingly endless driver shortage, creates an almost impossible situation for fleets. They must do more with less – more deliveries and miles with fewer drivers and trucks. At the same time, they must also comply with a host of regulations.

It’s no surprise then that customers and prospects welcomed our new partnership with PTV Group’s transport planning and optimization solution, handing fleets the keys to dramatically reduce the time and manpower needed to plan, optimize and execute delivery routes. Together, our solutions bring efficiency to route mapping, and better connect every step in the workflow, including the imminent requirement for drivers to electronically log their hours.

Benefits of Integrated Route Planning

It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day demands of fleet management, and executives agree they too often lose sight of their long-term, strategic goals. Many still rely on spreadsheets and print-outs and those that have moved their activities online complain of disparate technologies, with information spread out across multiple systems.

That’s why we’re so focused on integrating with third-party platforms – to create the single pane of glass our customers and prospects are looking for. For route planning, that integration is absolutely essential, as it helps carriers complete more deliveries, including last minute requests, in the same amount of time.

For carriers, our latest integration with PTV Group offers:

• Single interface to optimize the list of stops drivers need to complete in a given time period, taking into account vehicle dimensions, load capacity, road restrictions, hazardous materials and other configurations that may affect the route.
• Real-time updates, including vehicle location, speed and mileage.
• Greater insights into overall trip duration, handling and driver time and stops completed to measure against internal goals.

For drivers, the integration not only provides turn by turn directions, offering them the same technology they’re accustomed to using off the job, but also eliminates the need for paper invoices and proof of delivery. The digitization of fleet management streamlines tedious tasks that lower job satisfaction and also helps prepare drivers, dispatchers and managers for the impending ELD mandate, when they’ll be forced to electronically log hours.

What to Look for in a Fleet Tracking / ELD Solution

Many fleets have already embraced technology to manage their business operations and assets, and are now integrating those fleet tracking solutions into a single platform for greater insights and fewer administrative headaches. For them, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) electronic logging device (ELD) rule is not so scary – they’re already using AOBRDs and are accustomed to tracking all their activities online.

For those carriers that have not digitized yet, there are three vital characteristics to keep in mind when looking for a telematics / ELD solution:

1. Flexibility to accommodate for evolving compliance and business needs
2. Ease of use so even the most non-technical person can use and benefit from the technology
3. Access to real-time, actionable data with easy to use dashboards and configurable reports

The ELD mandate is the latest regulatory hurdle fleets must overcome, but it’s not the last. In many ways, it will expedite behaviors that would have happened with or without a push from the FMCSA, as all fleets eventually retire the pen and paper. Carriers should choose a partner that’s committed to serving the transportation industry for decades to come, one that truly understands the challenges they face, from route planning to compliance, and can help them overcome these with technology they can actually use.

To learn more about our ELD solution, visit: http://www.teletracnavman.com/our-solutions/compliance/eld