Advanced Information Technology Case Study

Problem: Tracking trucks and trailers on the road and in the distribution centers.

 

Background:

In the past, this baking company had no way to track the numerous trucks and trailers in their inventory other than perform a “hard” count in the yard. With so much activity taking place, it was next to impossible to account for all of the assets.

 

 In addition, to merely tracking the assets, management also wanted to provide the ability to determine if the deliveries are being made on time. Lost or late deliveries were a major problem which led to customer dissatisfaction.

 

Solution:Compass Systems Incorporated designed a fully automated system to track these assets using GPS technology and customized software to enable management to track all equipment.

 

Using commercially off-the-shelf tracking devices, Compass Systems Inc.  was able to install these devices onto both the tractor and trailer. Next, Compass Systems Inc recommended a very inexpensive data plan to provide the ability to “ping” these assets in the field.

 

With these tools, management is now able to go to any computer and utilize Google Earth™ to locate the trailers and tractors and any given moment.  This also allowed the dispatchers the ability to determine if the deliveries were going to be made on time. This in turn led to dramatically less late deliveries which greatly improved customer relations.

 

Compass is also investigating the add-on capability to track all Department of Transportation reporting as it relates to both vehicle safety and hours on the road.