With all of the new pressure to take responsibility for anything and everything that happens when your name is on the door, how can this be achieved without working more hours in a day?
A story: Our last Waikato Transport breakfast happened to be on Back to the Future day – 21st October. Which lead us inevitably to a group discussion on transport today vs what anyone could have envisaged 30 years ago. In summary, 10 years ago, we opened the doors at CCS Logistics and most operators we spoke to hadn’t yet been exposed to GPS tracking. Today, barely a fleet operates without it. In 30 years’ time, it is predicted that this technology will be leveraged to allow trucks to drive themselves. Will the railway corridors be subject to a change of use, allowing convoys of driverless trucks to operate Auckland – Wellington and Picton – Christchurch – Dunedin? Will this see the end of monotonous 14 hours shifts and a new model with “driver stations” at each end, collecting a truck from the convoy and piloting it to the point of delivery? Perhaps, but what 2016 will bring is a more immediate question.
In 2015 alone, we have seen major organisations promote, subside, or insist on, the active use of GPS data to improve the safety, productivity and efficiencies of your fleet. When insurance companies, fuel suppliers and even the government starts actively promoting the analysis and interpretation of your data to demonstrate measurable gains are being made in your fleet, this is no longer “new technology” – this is now business as usual. The evidence is there to be seen with Operator safety checks affecting your ability to gain or renew HMPV and 50 Max permits, customer contracts stipulating a minimum ORS rating to gain or retain a contract and your ACC levies varying dependent on the outcome of an audit requiring active employee engagement in your Health and Safety processes.
During this year, we have seen a much higher take up than ever before in our weekly and monthly support plans:
• Analysis and interpretation of your GPS data
• Using the reports available within your GPS system, or using our own at-a-glance reporting formats
• 5 point action plans
• TV Screens mounted in your depot broadcasting the latest safety information and your current performance statistics to your drivers to keep them up to date
Whether your aim is to reduce your fuel bill or increase your ORS rating, cut out idling or improve speed limit compliance, knowing where your management time is best spent is crucial. You can’t be everywhere all of the time, so how do you micro manage the operation to meet the demands of the new legislation?
Outsourcing the legwork really is the new normal. They say an expert is someone who has made all of their mistakes in a very narrow field, and in the last 10 years, here at CCS Logistics we have observed, experienced, or narrowly avoided a number of pitfalls in the use of data to improve your business. We’re still learning every day, but we are more than happy to share the knowledge we have gained by providing you with a customised action plan each month that allow you to spend your time where it is most needed.