Third Party Logistics – tracking the trailer not the truck

It was a member of the public that first alerted fleet control that a trailer was illegally parked on a residential street. Initially denying that it was their trailer the controller decided to consult the newly installed SmartTrack monitor. He discovered that not only was the trailer parked miles from where it should be, its trailer door was open. It did not take them long to verify that the parked trailer was being unloaded into another vehicle. Imarda’s SmartTrack fleet tracking solution, had not only enabled the company to retain its valuable cargo – but resulted in the thieves being prosecuted.

The story begins when a major Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) retailer began searching for a solution to give it 100% visibility of its stock in transit. Like many major retailers, the company employs a variety of contract trucking companies to pull the trailers they owned. Typically, fleet tracking devices are installed in trucks (not trailers) as they have a readily available, constant power source. The issue for the retailer was therefore multi-stranded:

• Owning and tracking the trucks would be uneconomic and less productive for the retailer; contracting the trucks minimizes capex, risk and downtime from empty loads
• The trucks are not exclusively contracted, so there is no value in monitoring the trucks when they aren’t actually pulling one of the retailer’s trailers
• The trucks are contracted from multiple sources, so there is no one system in place that can track all the trucks they need to monitor
• The value for the retailer is not in the truck but in the load the trailers carry – particularly if pharmaceuticals or alcohol is involved, these are high value, easily disposable items
• The greatest risk for the retailer is when the trailers are stationery i.e. not attached to the truck’s power source
• The retailer already runs comprehensive fleet management and load deployment solutions; the trailer tracking system needs to integrate seamlessly with this so the company isn’t running a multitude of independent systems.

Sun Powered Innovation

Imarda has devised a unique architecture to run Telematics devices on an unpowered vehicle. This meant adapting solar technology to reliably and effectively power the sophisticated Imarda Vector3 Telematics device. The solar panel sits on top of the trailer roof and powers a battery which sits with the device on the rear of the trailer.

Just as sophisticated is the door sensor configuration and reporting, developed by Imarda, that remotely identifies when a trailer door is open or closed. It doesn’t matter if the trailer is hard or soft sided, fleet control is immediately alerted if a door is open. This is a great safety feature if the door is accidentally unlatched as the truck leaves the depot or when a trailer is stationery at any venue outside of its official unloading and reloading points.

And if your trailer is out of balance an accelerometer within the Imarda Vector3 box alerts fleet control. This can be an indication of any number of issues:

• Excessive speed when cornering or stopping
• The trailer has rolled on its side
• The load is unbalanced or has become unsecured

This is particularly important when carrying fragile or easily damaged loads such as glass, soft produce or heavy goods. Fleet control is both instantly alerted and provided with a historic report that can identify patterns of driver behavior.

Inspired Integration

Imarda has been able to fully integrate its SmartTrack fleet tracking solution with the retailer’s load planning system. Through introducing a system of geo-fences around each supply depot and retail outlets, Imarda is able to introduce several productivity enhancing features – enabling SmartTrack to operate like an air-craft control system for trailers and trucks:

• As soon as a trailer passes through a geo-fence the reception committee is galvanized. A truck bay is appointed, staff assigned and fork-lifts or other equipment is made ready. The supply depot or retail store staff is able to know exactly what the trailer is carrying and when it is likely to arrive.
• Out bound bulk loads can be assembled into a bay ready for the arrival of an empty trailer.
• Loads requiring pick-up from multiple suppliers can be more efficiently managed.
• As soon as the truck drops a trailer it is immediately free to pick up another tracked load – there is no additional process or hook-up required by the driver.
• Fleet control has absolute visibility of where a trailer is, its load status and where any hold-ups are being incurred.

Imarda was selected from a number of potential contenders to conduct a major trailer trial with the retailer. It installed a solar powered Imarda Vector3 Telematics device linked to its Imarda SmartTrack fleet tracking solution, on site at the retailer’s fleet centre. The installation included training the fleet control managers to effectively track the trial fleet. The trial project ran for a year enabling the retailer to understand the full benefits of a final business case for the total trailer fleet.

Having successfully completed the trial period, Imarda was then invited to submit a tender to roll out the technology across the retailer’s extensive trailer fleet.

Now that there is an integrated trailer tracking solution tightly integrated with load deployment software the complete system provides real time end to end visibility of deliveries from Distribution Centre, to road, to store. Apart form the obvious increase in load security this solution now enables new supply chain efficiencies that can only be delivered through the use of integrated tracking technologies such as the status alert system