Why Trucking & Logistics Fleets are Adopting Automation

Like most industries, trucking and logistics companies are feeling the impact of supply and labor shortages and increased fuel costs. Not to mention the rise in e-commerce over the past few years has become an added obstacle. With trucks putting in more miles per year, fleets are seeing an increase in maintenance and repair spend. Additionally, “[v]ast item selections, same-day shipping options and advanced order tracking have all become necessities to compete for business,” according to Cimcorp.

Why Turn to Automation?

Because there are so many moving components to the industry, logistics automation is becoming increasingly popular, as it allows companies to switch from manual processes to improve their operations. Some automation solutions include:

• Warehouse management software
• Data capture software
• Inventory management software
• Fleet maintenance and management software

Cargo tracking with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) is also growing in popularity due its time-saving benefits, such as rerouting drivers for both speed and safety and allowing for more precise departure and arrival times.

With the increase in available automated technologies geared toward trucking and logistics fleets, even third-party logistics (3PL) partners are turning to automation to improve end-to-end management and help streamline processes to improve productivity for their clients. When it comes to managing the fleet side of things, fleet automation features provide a host of tools and granular data collection that help keep assets on the move and provide insights to improve cost management.

Automation Challenges and Where to Start

Despite the advantages and availability of automated solutions, there remains a notable gap between recognizing the opportunity and knowing where to begin. For example, according to Supply Chain Digital, a recent study of warehouse leaders found that while the vast majority (84%) believe automation is essential and 82% say it enhances productivity, 62% report being unsure how to initiate automation in their operations.

Turning to automation can consist of upheaving your entire standard operating procedure, either department-wide or company-wide, which can be quite a hefty lift. On top of that, there can be resistance to change or struggle with adapting to change, making the onboarding part of the equation crucial to get right — preferably the first time. These factors can make companies hesitant to adopt automation or, as mentioned above, just unsure where to start.

Of course, if you ask me, a pretty good place to start is with trucking fleet automation or, rather, fleet management automation, which helps fleets achieve both improved time and asset management.

[Our] biggest operational challenge [was] documentation and scheduling. Just keeping up with [all of] our weekly information, you know, spending eighty hours a week on doing that one task was probably the biggest challenge [before automation]. Abby Brunner, Operations Manager, Trantham Equipment

Fleet Automation Benefits

There’s been quite a bit of chatter around autonomous vehicles (AVs) over the past few years, so when talking about fleet automation, that can often be the first thing that comes to mind. Digital fleet solutions with automation features — like Fleetio’s fleet optimization platform, just as a totally random example — provide fleets with process automation that improves preventive maintenance (PM) compliance, streamlines service workflows, simplifies operational communication, offers automated reporting for easy benchmarking, all while helping fleets improve uptime and cost control.

PM and In-house Service Workflow Automation

For fleets servicing all or a portion of their trucks in-house, process automation takes a lot of the stress out of managing service workflows. Account admins can set reminders based on a truck's (or group of trucks’) PM schedule, including assigning the reminders to both drivers and technicians. This allows fleets to optimize maintenance scheduling to decrease downtime and improve compliance.

Drivers can use digital inspections in trucking software to improve issue resolution, as any failed item will alert admins to the issue in real time to quickly kick off the service workflow. Technicians can use digital work orders to clock in and out of jobs and add comments or suggestions as needed. Fleets can use this data to measure active time on service jobs against service durations (the time a truck has spent in the shop from drop off to pick up) to surface any inefficiencies that are causing increased downtime.

PM and Third-party Maintenance Automation

For fleets outsourcing a portion or all of their maintenance, you can still improve fleet productivity with a software’s shop integration feature. Shop integrations, like Fleetio’s Maintenance Shop Network, allow you to streamline the service approval process; when a work order line item is entered into the software, you receive instant notifications to approve or reject the order, expediting the service workflow.

All maintenance is under your full control, eliminating surprise line items on invoices, and you can further expedite maintenance by setting auto-approval or rejection rules based on shop, cost or service code, or review all requests manually. Once approved, shops can complete the maintenance quickly and have your driver back on the road for improved uptime. Payments are handled automatically, and maintenance data is, likewise, automatically captured in your management software, eliminating manual data entry.

Enhanced Operational Communication

In digital fleet solutions, users can quickly and easily communicate via commenting, and use tags to ensure the proper person is notified of the comment — including third-party maintenance shops. Additionally, in-house techs can comment directly in digital work orders to quickly communicate any issues or suggestions, ensuring communication around specific tasks are easily retrievable and in a consolidated location (i.e. work orders, inspections, etc.).

Real-World Automation Benefits

Digital fleet solutions don’t just automate workflows, they automate the collection and aggregation of fleet data for maximized reporting and analysis. Highly visible fleet data means you’re getting a full view of your fleet operations, allowing better operational insights on which you can make data-driven decisions to improve uptime and productivity, as well as cost control and profitability. Plus, you can integrate other automation software, including finance, warehouse management and dispatch solutions for improved end-to-end management.

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