Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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TECHNOLOGY: DRIVER INTERACTION technology to accomplish more with less effort. Forms control In the past, communications between the offi ce and cab were limited to voice and free-form text messaging. To improve effi ciency, fl eets and technology providers de- veloped specifi c message sets or "macros." When a driver arrives at a pickup location and presses an "arrive" key, he would enter data such as a bill-of-lading number and piece count, and send the message. This generic style of mes- saging created problems for Cardinal Logistics and its drivers. In the past, Cardi- nal had to develop custom applications and use a variety of onboard comput- ing systems for each project as some customers want electronic signature capture at the point of delivery, while ments are sent to the CAT application on mobile devices as soon as drivers download their daily routes. Through integration with a CARDINAL LOGISTICS' CARDINAL ACTIVITY TRACKER INCLUDES A DYNAMIC WORKFLOW FEATURE TO PRES- ENT DRIVERS WITH CUSTOMIZED FORMS THAT MATCH THE SETUP, OR PROFILE, OF EACH CUSTOMER IN ITS DISPATCH AND ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SYSTEM. others also want to capture specifi c details such as trailer temperature and excep- tion codes. The company's programming and training costs were high. "If I moved equipment between two dif- ferent locations, the way the macros were set up didn't match the way the projects worked," says Clay Holmes, chief information offi cer. Cardinal decided to create a software application for vendor-neutral Windows Mobile devices. Its appli- cation, Cardinal Activity NAVIGATION, ELECTRONIC LOGS AMONG PREFERRED FEATURES his past summer, Jimmy Keller was hired by Rand McNally to drive for its Moving America Tour. Keller, a veteran driver, had his first experience using what a growing number of fleet drivers now have in their cabs. With an earlier mobile computing system, Keller needed to carry a "cheat sheet" to learn its many functions and soft keys. Technology has changed a lot since. During the Moving America Tour, Keller drove a truck equipped with two fleet management sys- tems from Rand McNally: the TND 760 Fleet Edition and TruckPC. Both systems have touchscreen dis- plays – a feature that Keller says makes it simple for any driver to use navigation – as well as electronic logs, messaging, performance monitoring and other features designed to make a driver's work easier. The TND 760 combines navigation, electronic logs and mobile communications for less than $800. The Truck PC is a full-featured system that adds in-cab scanning, backup cameras, tire pressure moni- toring and other options. T Navigation was the most beneficial feature to Keller. At the start of each day and as the day pro- gressed, he knew what time he would arrive at each stop so he could plan in advance how to use his remaining driving hours. Another feature Keller rated highly was electronic logs, which gives drivers and fleet managers real-time visibility to the same information. "It keeps everyone on the same page," he says. 68 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MARCH 2012 Tracker, includes a Dynamic Workfl ow feature to pres- ent drivers with customized forms that match the setup, or profi le, of each customer in its dispatch and enterprise software system. With a few mouse clicks, one set of customers can be set up with electronic signature capture for proof of delivery. For another set of customers, drivers scan bar- codes on packages at pickup and delivery and capture load temperature. Each of these unique workfl ow require- third-party navigation system, CAT also provides turn-by- turn directions to each stop so that deliveries must be made in sequence for employee drivers; for contractor drivers, the setting is turned off to allow nonsequential deliveries. At each stop, Dynamic Workfl ow guides drivers through the steps to complete and provides dispatchers and customers with real-time detailed order and shipment information. PeopleNet's Pacos auto- mated workfl ow system stores planned route information on the onboard system through integration with fl eet dispatch software. The onboard unit compares current location with the stored locations of each stop. Pacos automati- cally updates the load status in the dispatch system as the truck arrives or departs from a planned stop within a pre- scribed radius or geofence. Besides automatically cap- turing arrivals and departures, Pacos prompts drivers to complete work forms for each event. Work forms can be cus- tomized with a Decision Tree tool to map the sequence and logic for the data entry. "We simplify some things for the driver to make the process more accurate," says Randy Boyles, vice president of tailored solutions for PeopleNet. Pacos can be customized to include documents or videos