Trailer fleet optimization is a growing industry. In fact, there are 6.9 million trailers in North America — and that number is expected to grow five to ten percent in the next five years. Want to be on the at the forefront of that growth? Improve the utilization of your fleet with trailer tracking technology and you can do just that.
But how can you do that? The answer is simple: Eliminate the hold-ups that make the trailer industry frustrating, and that hinder growth and profitability.
It all comes down to idle trailers and the inability to connect to the correct trailer quickly. Worse, incorrect pick-ups do happen, and they can be disastrous for your business. Lost time and lost money are always the result.
Using Technology to Solve Problems
Trailer tracking technology helps your resolve those problems. You can use it to keep all your trucking headaches at bay. What’s not to like about that?
Now you can know the location data of all your trailers, even when they’re tethered to tractors and on the move. What’s more, you can access all this real-time data right from your computer, helping you operate a more responsive business. These were not the kind of technologies available to trucking companies from many years ago. It would be a waste to not take full advantage of it.
The first step is in reducing wasted time and fuel, of which both are very hot commodities. After all, is time not money in another form? If your trucking company can utilize tracking trailer technology to save time and fuel, the answer is right in front of you.
Constantly looking for a trailer in the lot is frustrating for everyone, especially for your conscientious drivers who want to do their jobs and stay compliant with Hours of Service regulations. With trailer tracking technology, you know exactly where the trailer is sitting, cutting the driver’s scavenger hunt time in half.
Don’t you want to provide your truck drivers with an easy and painless experience when they are trying to find and tie down their trailers? The trailer hunt doesn’t just waste driver time, of course. It’s also a killer for your fuel consumption.
Just think — your truck driver is driving around your yard for 30 minutes searching for her trailer, she’s burning fuel and she’s not driving that trailer to its next destination. With trailer tracking technology, however, you can cut the fuel lost in your yard by half. In the end, you’re saving money, preserving drive time, and keeping drivers happy. Why not make their lives easier and save money in the process?
The Keys to Getting Your Trailers Moving
You probably have an average of three trailers for every one driver in your business. Most do. But what if you could reduce the number of trailers you owned just by optimizing usage with trailer tracking technology? Your trailer doesn’t have to be a money suck when it isn’t being used. Yet, more often than not it is.
When a trailer sits, you lose money. But, with trailer tracking technology, cargo sensors tell you when the trailer is unloaded, when the door opens, and what its load capacity is. This kind of reporting capability lets you communicate to your drivers when their trailer is ready to go. And, that means you can create more intelligent plans that utilize driver time better.
In the long run, this not only increases profits, but it decreases the time you spend wondering when the trailer will be ready to move. When it comes to running a trucking company, removing uncertainty from the equation is critical to keeping your bottom line in check.
That’s not your only challenge, of course. Sometimes trailers flat-out go missing. This is especially true for carriers experiencing high driver turnover. And we aren’t talking about trailers getting stolen. We are talking about a simple matter of not being able to find it in the yard.
With solar panel charging, however, you can count on pings that let you know exactly where your trailer is. And, it continues to deliver that data even when it’s not being used. Many units must be connected to a charger to deliver this information to your computer.
Units equipped with solar charging mean the trackers will deliver data even when trailers sit in the middle of New Mexico. Even better, you’ll be able to see if your trailer is moving to help prevent theft, and that’s one less thing you must worry about.
Making Your Back Office Happy
Your time in the office is important. This is a challenging industry and running a safe, profitable fleet gives you more than enough to do. Worrying about missing trailers and inventory? It’s time consuming and takes you away from managing your drivers.
New tracking technology gives you back time you’d otherwise spend on physical trailer counts. Not only does it allow you to improve the accuracy of your inventory management with real-time data, it also eliminates the scramble of driver and staff yard counts. Equally important is that we know yard counts are often error prone — and having tracker technology removes the potential for error.
So, how much time can you really save? It is estimated that trailer tracker technology can reduce hours spent doing physical yard checks by 80%. In short, it’s a huge time saver.
Trailer Pick-up Accuracy. The fact of the matter is that it increases trailer pick-up accuracy. Using technology prevents needless headaches. A truck driver picking up the wrong trailer is a costly mistake. Sure, mistakes happen, but we don’t think they should happen in your business.
You can prevent that with a trailer tracking system that talks to your office and the driver. If a driver grabs the wrong trailer, you’ll be alerted so you can contact your driver immediately and correct the mistake. Not only will this save you and your driver time, money, and wear and tear on the truck and trailer — it will prevent an embarrassing encounter with your customer.
This technology can also prevent mistakes that would otherwise break the law. Consider what might happen if a driver hooked up the wrong trailer and started making his way to the Canadian border. With the wrong trailer in tow, that accidental hookup could appear to be a smuggling attempt. Again, trailer tracking technology comes to your rescue, alerting you so you can step in and correct the trailer pick-up immediately. What’s not to like about that?
This functionality can be custom integrated into your Omnitracs workflow, so that it perfectly fits your needs and improves accuracy. It automatically validates proper connection with the truck and alerts drivers when they have an incorrect connection.
Trailer
Improving Customer Relationships
Trusting customer relationships are important. And, you can foster that trust and deliver a more positive experience for your customer with the data trailer tracking technology provides, including:
• Drop off locations • Hookup locations • Load times • Unload times
Not only can you provide a better experience, you’ll also be able to utilize your trailers more intelligently.
Sometimes customers simply don’t understand that the trailer needs to move on and be used for another delivery. Where that becomes a problem, tracking technology provides substantial accurate documentation for trailer detention billing. So, if a customer is taking too long or you think she’s using your trailer for storage, you can show her the specifics and have a frank conversation.
In the end, this technology protects your fleet and helps you turn a quicker profit.
Advantages All Around
Profitability and efficiency are among your primary goals. And, when you consider one Omnitracs customer reported having saved more than 2.7 million dollars with Omnitracs trailer tracking technology, the ROI is significant.
What can you expect?
Our solution promises:
• Position and event reporting in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that protects your fleet and helps you better manage your drivers • Multi-mode cellular coverage so you will always be able to contact drivers and know their locations • Web-based services portals that allow you to do your job efficiently • Configurable reporting options that put you in the driver’s seat with your data
The benefits keep rolling in.
In Conclusion
With trailer tracking technology you will increase trailer and driver security, optimize your inventory, and improve driver productivity. And, all of these things help you foster an efficient fleet and drive greater profitability.
You know what your business needs to grow into the future. Want to discuss implementing trailer tracking across your fleet?
We’d be happy to talk to you about your needs and how you might integrate solutions to positively impact your bottom line.
Let us work for you.