FUELING THE ECONOMY
Fuel is getting more and more expensive. There is no doubt that this
reality is biting hard for the South African consumer, since the cost
of fuel is linked to the price of just about everything that has to be
transported. Dire though the situation may be, entrepreneurial South
Africa company eFleet provides a solution which leverages the value
contained in information to improve efficiency and reduce consumption
of this now precious commodity.
John du Preez, Sales Director at eFleet, points out that any
business which operates a fleet and which is not managing its fuel
consumption very carefully, is literally throwing money away.
“With the high fuel costs, smart company directors are looking
for ways to cut out costs related to logistics to remain competitive
and profitable. Information is key to achieving this goal where fleets
of vehicles are concerned,” he says.
However, harnessing that data has proven to be more easily
said than done in the field, where, as du Preez explains, traditional
methods rely on manual inputs from drivers. “Dirty data is a constant
issue for information-centric solutions. In this case, drivers come
back with handwritten sheets with a multitude of errors; even simple
ones such as inconsistent spellings of locations interfere with the
ability to use that information effectively.”
ELEGANT SOLUTION
Addressing the issue, du Preez says the eFleet solution allows for full
operational visibility in real-time throughout the operational
lifecycle in the transportation and logistics environment. He explains
that eFleet is provided as a hosted solution which incorporates the
fleet of vehicles, staff and shipment information into a central
database and includes mobile elements for monitoring and automatic data
collection. Paper-based processes such as the exchange of waybills and
Proof of Delivery (POD) documents are replicated with electronic
document workflows, allowing for real-time visibility of all supply
chain processes, which in turn provides for management and analysis.
du Preez explains the solution, consisting of two components:
the Web-based backend system and the mobile solution, which is built on
the Sybase technology platform. “All the mobile development work and
professional services for the solution was provided by Sybase,” he
confirms.
The solution addresses critical requirements such as:
- Resource utilization
- Fuel utilization and management
- Emissions—reporting and reduction
- Vehicle allocation
- Contract cost prediction and analysis
- Real-time information for collections,
deliveries, PODs, location
- Vehicle management
information.
But while eFleet provides complete functionality for fleet
management, it is the fuel saving component which is of interest given
the high cost of oil and the likelihood that the era of cheap fuel is
over. There is of course, another major benefit to improving fuel
consumption—it reduces the impact on the planet and therefore feeds
rather handily into the notion of improved responsibility.
GREEN THE FLEET
With the power of accurate information and analysis at their disposal,
companies that operate fleets can use the eFleet solution to achieve
substantial fuel saving costs. Based on the fuel volumes and on the
baseline analysis, a minimum saving is agreed, which in principle
ensures that the deployment of the solution becomes a zero cost
solution.
The fuel saving, as well as operational improvement in
efficiency, is
achieved through a focus on the full operational lifecycle of the
logistics process. From vehicle loading, delivery and collections to
returns management, the solution controls all aspects of the delivery
operation. Since the solution automatically collects information
relating to routes, loads, vehicles, deliveries and more, this data is
analyzed to provide for the optimization of the fleet, in turn
contributing to the promised reduction in costs.
Says du Preez, “The system maintains the workflow and prevents
the
driver from losing track of collections and deliveries since these are
communicated electronically and not printed on paper schedules or
communicated telephonically. The workflow of the drivers and the
delivery management system is streamlined, from loading of the vehicles
to final delivery, while providing real-time information on
collections, deliveries and any other driver related tasks and to allow
access for queries and reporting and subsequent passing into the
backend system.”
REPORT ON
EMISSIONS—ACCURATELY
Through the proven business intelligence capabilities, the solution
provides for complete reporting against key performance indicators and
service level agreements, while it is also fully capable of generating
a variety of management reports. Of interest is its ability to report
not only on fuel consumption but also on emissions, something that du
Preez notes is becoming highly relevant with the increased focus on the
necessity for environmental responsibility. “The management of
companies CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions is becoming an
increasingly important component globally,” he says.
However, du Preez says the process is extremely complex and
requires
the extraction of reliable data, to determine the work done for the
energy consumed. Furthermore, he warns that simply reporting
arbitrarily can be risky; companies can face consequences by taking
this approach. “Emissions are directly related to energy consumption,
which in turn is driven by a number of factors. Some of these can be
managed, others optimized and controlled, and others improved with new
technology,” he says.
Understanding base performance is critical if performance
change is to
be understood; du Preez says this allows for concise measurement of any
improvement gained. “The journey from accessing data to understanding
performance improvement in fuel consumption follows a disciplined
pathway with many touches points and which is intensely data-driven.
eFleet provides for this understanding through the automation of the
data collection, assimilation and analysis,” he explains.
By improving the efficiency of energy consumption, du Preez
says
companies benefit from the substantial reduction in costs while
simultaneously achieving in an improvement in emissions. “eFleet
delivers an overall cost reduction through improvement in operational
efficiencies, both in the form of tangible savings such as reduction in
fuel consumption and the elimination of time wasting logistics problems
such as re-deliveries. It also delivers intangible savings such as
reduction in loading of call centres, improved customer service,
customer retention and new customer acquisition.”
“The solution addresses the transportation and delivery
component of
the supply chain by harnessing the power of information,” du Preez
concludes.
