Key Challenges in the Transportation & Logistics Industry
Today's pain points in the daily operations for fleet managers
Commercial fleets are under increasing pressure from regulations, the need for quicker deliveries, and evolving customer needs. This provides a number of opportunities to hauliers and transportation companies, allowing them to pick up more custom through increased e-commerce orders, reduce their impact on the environment, and go above and beyond for existing clientele.
Because of the volatile demand due to the current pandemic on one side and increasing complexity overall, fleets of all sizes look for ways to run their operations in the most efficient and sustainable way to increase up-time and control costs.
To capitalise on the opportunities of the digital age, there are a number of areas that need addressing; both from a time-pressure point of view as well as in terms of controlling costs. It's important that fleets are preventing downtime as much as possible and increasing winter mobility while also controlling fuel costs, reducing tire wear, and cutting the costs of maintenance and admin.
There are plenty of technological advancements that help fleet managers achieve maximum operating efficiency but on top of tyre sensors and time-saving tech, having the right support can do just as much to help fleets keep up with the demand of the modern world.
Implement time-saving technology
Taking note of ongoing repetitive tasks can help to identify areas where technology might save some time. Whether it's checking tyres, admin jobs in the office, or getting time sheets from drivers, there's a solution out there that could save both time and money.
For example, a drive-over-reader installed at fleet depots and will automatically check the condition and load per axle of all tyres as a vehicle drives over it. This is a piece of technology that drastically reduces the need to manually check tyre pressures and tread — for 50 vehicles, that brings the time spent checking from 20 hours down to just one. For Swiss bus company TPF, which has 55 city and 170 regional buses, this saves an enormous amount of time.
Every bus coming in at the TPF site in Givisiez drives over the reader. The Goodyear Drive-Over-Reader scans the tyres and automatically checks the pressure and tread of each tyre. The tyre data is instantly sent to our offices into a management tool. At a glance, we can tell which bus needs a tyre service. It's as simple as that.
Control fuel costs
Most new vehicles are more efficient than their predecessors but to upgrade an entire fleet can be costly. In the interim, there are a number of ways to control fuel costs, from economic driving through to sensible tyre choices.
The correct fuel-efficient tyres have helped the fleet of Omega Pilzno to substantially reduce fuel costs.
We use fuel-efficient tyres and, along with other measures, they have helped us to significantly reduce fuel consumption and to cut CO2 emissions by up to 20%.
Reduce tyre wear
Cost-management is just as important as increasing revenue when margins are becoming more and more squeezed — reducing tyre wear can play a big part in cutting costs.
In these particularly difficult times, cost management is as important as revenues. Thanks to improved tyre choices, we have managed to cut the cost per km of the tyres by 3%.
Prevent downtime
Whether its about preventing downtime of vehicles back at base or trying to minimise breakdowns and other issues out on the road, it's clear that reduced downtime leads to increased revenue. The more vehicles can be out doing their jobs, the quicker customers are served — plus no one likes having to wait when timelines are already tight.
A transport company's reputation lies in the ability to do the job they’ve promised.
Every truckload is a promise to our customers, and fulfilling that promise helps us to build our reputation.
But of course, things don't always go to plan — and it is down to Jean-Pierre to ensure that trucks get moving again as soon as possible.
It is important to be able to react fast and effectively to understand and solve the exact pain point of the customer. It's all about the savings we can bring. This requires a comprehensive and customisable one-stop approach including tyres, smart tyre monitoring, and management solutions. This helps to avoid issues before they can happen or, in the event of a breakdown, gets the truck back on the road within two hours — thanks to the support of an expert network like TruckForce, 24/7. That is what we call Goodyear Total Mobility.
Looking for ways to increase efficiency is paramount to surviving these challenging times and will open up even more opportunities to excel customer excellence, reduce costs and optimize revenue. It's worth taking a step back to look at operations with a critical eye to see areas where key technologies or partnerships could improve an area of the business.
