FDBusiness.com

‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is not an option for today’s managers of refrigerated fleets. Valuable time-sensitive perishable cargo, combined with a strong need to increase efficiency and mitigate risk, requires that companies who transport refrigerated and frozen product, know what is happening, when, and to which of their vans and trucks, along every mile of road — all in real time.

Last year telematics specialist Navman Wireless launched a temperature monitoring and tracking solution for refrigerated transport industry, largely in response to a growing demand from managers of refrigerated fleets to find new ways to maximise efficiency and simplify records, while doing everything possible to ensure temperature-controlled goods remain within set conditions.

Wrights Food Group has been one of the early adopters of the Navman solution and says it has “significantly improved” operational efficiency across its business after fitting temperature monitoring and vehicle tracking technology to their main fleet of refrigerated trailers and trucks.

Complete Visibility

Six months after signing up with Navman, the well-known baker and food-service supplier says it is making savings in fuel and manpower as well as improving customer service, and have extended the use of the technology across its 20 strong local delivery fleet.

“The critical extra variable provided by temperature monitoring and tracking is the ability to see the so called “complete picture,” says Wrights Food Group Logistics Manager, Nic Cuthbertson. “Improving operational efficiency across our entire fleet is the main driver for investment in the technology, but it is the knowledge and visibility the system data gives us that is of critical importance.”

Nic Cuthbertson says clear visibility of exactly where drivers are at any given time and accurate knowledge of trailer temperature, allows him to keep the customer ‘in the loop’ in real time, so the whole process of delivering time sensitive product is a transparent and efficient as possible. “We found that Navman offered the best combination of features and that the data was presented in a really usable way. There is also a long list of operational benefits,” he explains.

According to Nic Cuthbertson, having the knowledge of when engines are idling when they should be switched off has enabled Wrights to save a significant amount of fuel.

“The system also provides us with knowledge of when a door is open/closed, for example, and having this real-time visibility into our vehicles will also help prevent cargo theft,” he adds.

Improved Driver Behaviour

“We also wanted to reduce our environmental impact and improve driver behaviour. Previously, we sent drivers out and just assumed they were doing their jobs properly.”

With the Navman system, Nic Cuthbertson says any examples of bad driving are flagged up so he can immediately deal with problems such as harsh braking and errant behaviour.

“We have clear visibility of what routes are being taken, enabling us to improve routes, reduce delivery miles and avoid, if we can, traffic accidents and other issues. This improves our response to customers by identifying where vehicles are compared to their own loading/unloading schedule.”

Nic Cuthbertson continues: “We can also see how drivers are interpreting the working time directive by taking breaks, observing bad practice and drivers dragging the day out, allowing hours to be tightened up.”

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