Terminus Fleet Management System - White Paper

7/28/2019 Terminus Fleet Management System - White Paper

1/17

What it is, what benefit it offers,

and how to successfully implement it


2/17


3/17

1

Content

Introduction 2

Stakeholders 3

Situation before and after TERMINUS Fleet Management System 4

TERMINUS Fleet Management System - how it works 8

Implementation Steps 9

Results and Recommendations 10

Conclusion 14

About Freewill FX 15


4/17

2

Introduction

TERMINUS Fleet Management System has been implemented with one of Thailands largest ready

mix concrete companies controlling over 300 trucks, in August 2011.

In June 2012, Freewill conducted an online survey addressed to all involved management and staffmembers of the Concrete Company and their third-party Transporters. In addition Freewill

conducted interviews using the approach described hereafter.

The aim of the Post implementation review was to:

Obtain feedback from Management and users

Evaluate the extent of improvements realized through the implementation of TERMINUS

Fleet Management System for both, the Concrete Company and Transporters

Identify areas for further improvement of the system and/or integration of additional work

processes

Based on the findings and inputs received, we have compiled this post implementation review

summary as a non-technical guideline for a successful implementation without omitting to illustrate

how the system works, what benefits it offers and what improvements have been achieved ten

months after implementation of the first two phases.

CONCRETE COMPANY

Discussion meeting withProject Sponsor to receive an

overall feedback from

Management level.

Discussion meeting with

Supervisors of the Dispatch

Operation

Discussion meeting with usersof the Dispatch Operation

Observe actual operation of

users of the system in Dispatch

Department

TRANSPORTERS

Select five transporters with

different size/usage parameters.

Discussion with Management

of each of the selectedtransporters.

Observe actual operation ofusers of the system


5/17

3

Stakeholders

There are four stakeholders. Each of them has its specific core operation and administrative duties

(back office).

CONCRETE COMPANY Core Operation Back Office

Receive Orders

Plan deliveries

Dispatch trucks

Monitor truck movement

Order to Cash

Purchase to Pay

HR & Finance

Reporting

CONCRETE PLANT Core Operation Back Office

Receive Orders

Produce Concrete

Plant traffic logistics

Load trucks

Raw material procurement

Plant maintenance

CUSTOMER SITE Core Operation Back Office

Order concrete

Prepare site for delivery

Receive delivery

TRANSPORTER Core Operation Back Office

Provide trucks

Provide drivers

Payroll

Truck maintenance


6/17

4

Situation before and after TERMINUS Fleet Management System

The concrete companys operation covers all of Thailand. The company sources its cement from its

parent company and uses its own network of approximately 33 batching plants to process the

cement to ready mixed concrete which it then delivers to its customers through a fleet of more than

300 trucks.

The concrete company does not own any ready mix concrete trucks. It obtains them from a number

of third party transporters under wet lease arrangements (hires vehicle and driver on a dedicated

basis).

The following table illustrates the business process and the supporting systems used:

Table 1: Business Process and Supporting Systems before Terminus Fleet Management System

Customer orders are received and registered centrally and then distributed to the appropriate

batching plant based on the customers location. The concrete company uses an ERP system to

register and manage the orders. An operator splits the orders into individual loads (tickets) and then

assigns them to a truck at the designated batching plant.

Based on the customers requested delivery time and an estimated transit time between plant and

customer site, the product is batched at the batching plant and the batching status is sent back to the

central ERP system using the concrete companys network.

Before TERMINUS Fleet Management System was implemented, the only way for the dispatcher

to track the status of a delivery was to call the truck driver on his mobile phone and ask for an

update on where he and the truck is, how far the discharge has progressed and when he expects to

be back at the plant for a next load. After the product was delivered, customers signed a delivery

ticket paper to confirm receipt of the product.

When the truck returned to the batching plant, one copy of the delivery ticket was returned to the

concrete company staff while one copy was retained by the driver and subsequently sent to the

transporters office who may have used it for different purposes such as to cross check the bi-weekly

summary delivery report received from the concrete company or for internal payroll purposes.

Close SalesOrder & BillTransac

tion

Proces

sing

System

DeliveryMonitoringBatchingSchedulingSplit LoadRegistering Sales Order

ERP System BatchingSystem ERP


7/17

5

As the above table shows, all processes of the companys business operation were already

supported by a decent system, either ERP or the Batching System; all but one. The absolutely

crucial process of delivery monitoring was left to the old fashioned technology of telephony whose

capabilities are basically limited to a simple hello, where are you? which could never support

todays business requirements emphasizing speed, accuracy, and up to date information. Aside theaforementioned business requirements of the company, a truck fleet owner requires a whole set of

information to manage and control his fleet and his drivers. Information he will never get by a

phone call. The below table 2 shows the business process and the supporting systems after the

implementation of TERMINUS Fleet Management System.

Table 2: Business Process and Supporting Systems including Terminus Fleet Management System

As Freewills Post Implementation Review reveals, this minor change in the System landscape has

had a considerable improvement impact on the process of Delivery Monitoring including a positive

secondary effect on scheduling and bringing information to the Transporters that they never had

before. Table 3 hereafter lists the ten main differences between an operation without TERMINUS

versus an operation with TERMINUS.

Item Without Terminus With Terminus Benefit Beneficiary

Customer wants

to know where

the truck is

Dispatcher calls

truck driver on his

mobile phone to

ask location and

calls back the

customer

Dispatcher looks at

the TERMINUS map

screen, locates the

truck and answers

the customer

immediately by

giving the exact

position of the

truck

Dispatcher does not

depend on driver's

accuracy of

information.

Customer is impressed

with the speed and

accuracy he receives

the information.

No need to spend

telephone call charges.

Request can be

handled in one activity

loop: take the call,

answer the question,

end the call. Then go to

the next duty.

Customer: immediate

answer, no need to wait

for a call back

Company: Reduced

telephone bill, improved

time management of

dispatchers

Driver: no hassles with

answering mobile calls

while driving resulting in

increased safety

Close Sales

Order & BillTransaction

P

rocessing

System

Delivery

MonitoringBatchingSchedulingSplit LoadRegistering Sales Order

ERP System BatchingSystem ERP


8/17

6


Truck availability The dispatcher

cant know

whether a truck

has reported to

work or not

without a

considerable

communication

effort.

The dispatcher

immediately sees

on the computer

screen when a

truck reports to

work or goes

offline for break

times or at the end

of the working

hours.

Instant visibility of

available or not

available trucks,

reduced

communication

effort/cost, improved

planning and

dispatching

opportunity

Company: Trucks can

immediately be used

when they become

available

Driver: No need for

phone calls, less waiting

time before being

called for a loading

Transporter: better

truck utilization

Truck is waiting at

customer's site

before it can

discharge

Unless the driver

calls, the

dispatcher has no

idea when the

truck arrives at the

site and whether it

is waiting there

before discharge

or not.

Dispatcher

immediately sees

when the truck

arrives at the

customer's site and

is alerted by the

system if the truck

is waiting longer

than the agreed

waiting time.

Dispatcher knows the

status of the truck at

all times.

Dispatcher can

intervene if any

irregularities occur as

he is immediately

made aware of it.

Dispatcher does not

have to manually

follow up by calling

every truck to find

out whether there is

a problem or not.

Company has

accurate information

in case it wishes to

claim additional

cartage fees from thecustomer due to

delays.

Company: Problems can

be handled before it is

too late (deterioration of

the product quality)

Driver: No need to call

the dispatcher

Transporter: Avoid risk

of ready mix concrete

ending up dry in the

truck

Truck discharges

slower than

expected

Unless the driver

calls, the

dispatcher does

not know and may

plan the next

delivery based on

assumed

dispatching and

backhaul times.

Dispatcher can see

the progress of the

discharge and is

alerted by the

system if the

discharge takes

more time than the

agreed standard

Dispatcher has full

visibility and can

immediately follow

up if delays occur.

Dispatcher sees

actual status and can

plan the next load for

this truck more

accurately.

Company: Action can be

taken to avoid delays

Driver: No need to call

the dispatcher

Transporter: can help

monitor the status of his

trucks and call the

company's dispatch

center if necessary

Truck is waiting at

customer's site

after discharge is

complete

Unless the driver

calls, the

dispatcher does

not know about

this unexpected

delay

The dispatcher is

immediately aware

if a truck doesn't

leave the

customer's site

within a reasonable

time

Dispatcher can follow

up to speed up the

process.

Customer: free up the

site of trucks standing

idle

Company: get the truck

back quicker for the next

load (shorten the cycle

time)

Transporter: the shorter

the cycle time the more

cycles per day ->

increased income


9/17

7


Truck gets caught

in traffic jam

Dispatcher does

not know and

plans the next

loading time based

on wrong

assumptions

Dispatcher can see

the position of the

truck and that it is

not moving

Dispatcher can adjust

the planning and

loading time for the

next cycle

Customer: increased

accuracy in planning

leads to an increased

number of on-time

deliveries

Company: a higher on-

time delivery rate results

in increased customer

satisfaction

Unauthorized

Product Discharge

Nobody knows

about it

The dispatcher is

immediately

alerted by the

system if a truck

discharges product

outside of the

specified customer

site

Drivers know that the

system is watching,

resulting in an

extinction of cheating

habits

Company: Reduced

losses, no waste of cycle

time due to 'extra-stops'

Driver: no feel of guilt,

no hassles of being

suspected to cheat

Transporter: no need for

investigations in alleged

fraud

Theft of gasoline

out of the tank

Nobody knows

until it's too late.

Difficult to prove

A graphic report

undoubtedly shows

sudden drops of

the gasoline

quantity in the tank

indicating date and

time and location

Wrongdoers can be

identified

Transporter: can put an

end to gasoline theft,

most likely saving a

considerable amount of

cash

Driver Behavior Unless somebody

calls to complain,

nobody knows

how politely and

safely the driver is

driving

A report shows the

drivers behavior in

regards of speed,

acceleration and

breaking habits.

Other options are

available.

Drivers awareness of

the system results in

better driver behavior

Company: improved

perception of the

company in public

(company logo is not

getting linked to badly

driven trucks)

Driver: increased road

safety, lower accident

risk

Transporter: lower

accident risk, less

damage on trucks,

reduced maintenance

and repair cost

Cycle Time Difficult to

influence the cycle

time positively as

delays in each step

of the delivery

process are not

visible

Process steps are

visible at all time

and corrective

interventions can

be initiated

immediately

Reduced average

cycle time and better

ability to plan

accurately which

again improves cycle

time by reducing

waiting time

Company: increased

efficiency, more tickets

with same or less trucks

Transporter: Increased

truck utilization more

tickets per truck per day

equals more income

Driver: depending on the

remuneration model,

usually increased salary

Table 3: Business operation without TERMINUS versus an operation with TERMINUS


10/17

8

TERMINUS Fleet Management System how it works

TERMINUS Fleet Management System comprises three hard- and software components as

described below and shown in table 4:

Vehicle-mounted equipment consists of a black box, drum rotation sensor, GPS antenna, fuellevel sensor and other optional sensors. These sensors collect data from various vehicle activities

and send it to the vehicle mounted TERMINUS black box. The TERMINUS black box receives the

data, performs some initial calculations and transmits it to the TERMINUS server according to a set

time interval.

Batching plant RFID readers and queuing software installed at each batching plant enable

drivers to clock in and clock out of the system thus enabling TERMINUS to recognize when

they are available to work.

Back-end servers and software receive data from the vehicles and from the batching plants andperforms relevant analysis. This data is then presented to users in the concrete company

(dispatchers and customer service representatives) as well as outside of the company (transporters

and customers) in easy to read status dashboards, and real-time tracking maps.

Table 4: Terminus Fleet Management System Overview

Vehicle mounted

Blackbox & Sensors

Data network

TERMINUS in Freewill

Data Center (Bangkok)

Dispatch Operation

Transporter/

Customer Portal

Batching plant with RFID

tag-in and queuing system Concrete CompanysSAP

Interface

to SAP

Mobile data

network

GPS

Satellites


11/17

9

Implementation Steps

The implementation of TERMINUS Fleet Management System can be divided into four steps as

shown in table 5 and described shortly hereafter.

Hard- and Software Installation

Back Office Integration

Reporting & Dashboard

Smart Planning

Table 5: The four steps to implement TERMINUS Fleet Management System

Step 1 Hard- and Software InstallationBy installing the hard- and software, we gain visibility. TERMINUS tells the Concrete Company

and the Transporters in real-time where the trucks are located and at what speed they are moving, as

well as arrival and departure time at customers site. Truck sensors monitor drum speed, discharge

progress and gasoline usage. RFID tags register the drivers availability (check-in and check-out

from work), arrival and departure at the Concrete Plant and eventually its movement across the

Concrete Plant.

It is crucial to carefully analyze the different stakeholders expectations and needs in regards of

process integration across all four steps at the very beginning in order to clearly identify the suitable

hard- and software to be installed.

Step 2 Back Office Integration

The back office integrations focus is usually on the integration of the concrete companys Order to

Cash process. There must be a link between customer orders received and registered into the

concrete companys own IT system (such as ERP) and TERMINUS Fleet Management System.

However, it is strongly recommended to carefully analyze all stakeholders expectations and needs

in regards of back office integration since the very beginning, to make sure that the system willbenefit and add value to all stakeholders.

- Truck Sensors

- GPS

- RFID

- Terminus

Smart Planning

Reporting / Dashboard

- Establish a link between

Terminus and Back Office

Systems

2. Cost Saving

4. Efficiency

1. Visibility

Hard- and Software Installation

- Add an interactive Planning

tool to further enhance the

dispatchers pla nning ability- Obtain Management level

visibility for analysis and

decision making

3. Analysis & Control

Back Office Integration


12/17

10

Example: it might not be of interest for the Concrete Company to know which driver drives the

truck. For the Concrete Company knowing which truck delivers which order is just fine. The

Transporter however could save a lot of time (and therefore money) in payroll calculation if the

system report did not only mention which truck delivered which order, but also which driver drove

the truck that delivered the order. While this linking of truck and driver may not be technicallychallenging, it requires a different batching plant equipment installation than TERMINUS standard

truck registering does, hence clarifying needs and expectations at the very beginning is important to

end up with a win-win implementation for all.

Step 3 TERMINUS Advanced Reporting & Dashboards

While order takers and dispatchers want to know what is going on now, today and tomorrow,

Management needs to know what went on yesterday, last week, last month, last quarter and last

year, based on different variables, such as country, region or plant, and how the data refers to the

companys KPI. Specific Management reports and a real-time dashboard will allow users to gather

the required data and to display it in an always up-to-date manner.

Step 4 TERMINUS Smart Planning

Smart Planning is an interactive tool that can be implemented on top of TERMINUS Fleet

Management System. By its interactivity, it is used both the day before delivery execution to

balance the delivery schedule among batching plants and trucks and also on the delivery day to

deal with unplanned changes (e.g., site delays, vehicle breakdowns, same-day orders). It will

reschedule concrete deliveries when the dispatcher squeezes a new delivery into the plan, or

delays or cancels an existing delivery. Smart Planning first shows what would happen to other

deliveries if the dispatchers intervention were to take place. The dispatcher then can confirm the

move or try a different scenario. Smart Planning helps to further increase efficiency by giving the

dispatcher an even clearer picture of the future plan based on actual events (delivery delays or early

deliveries) and a clear scenario visualization in case of manual interventions.

While Smart Planning is primarily a dispatcher tool, the increased efficiency also reflects on the

Transporters as it results in a better truck utilization with less waiting time and therefore an

increased number of concrete deliveries per truck per day.

Results and Recommendations

TERMINUS Fleet Management System has been well received and easily adopted by the users,

especially on the Concrete Companys dispatcher team side. As mentioned by the Concrete

Companys Management, the system implementation focused on the Concrete Companys benefits

and it is therefore not surprising, that some of the Transporters still appear reluctant in realizing

what benefits the system offers for them or even to use the system. We therefore would like to re-

emphasize the importance of including the Transporters since the planning phase and carefully


13/17

11

analyze all stakeholders expectations and needs in regards of back office integration to make sure

that the system will benefit, add value and substantially reduce cost for all stakeholders.

While some cosmetics and functionalities continue to be improved to make TERMINUS Fleet

Management System even more user friendly, the most appreciated features as well on the Concrete

Companys as on the Transporters side are Visibility, Tracking, Planning and Report Printing.

Dispatchers also have emphasized that customers were highly impressed and satisfied when the

dispatcher was able to tell them immediately and exactly where the truck delivering their concrete

was located at the moment they called. That said, TERMINUS Fleet Management System is not

only benefitting the Concrete Company and the Transporters, it also provides tangible benefits for

the Customer.

Quantitative Data Analysis

The quantitative results from the user survey show that from the Concrete Companys participants

60% feel TERMINUS Fleet Management System makes their job easier, 75% think it makes their

job more efficient, 71% believe it reduces cost, 62% confirm an improved operational visibility and

76% would recommend TERMINUS Fleet Management System to a friend.

Quantitative analysis of data gathered by TERMINUS Fleet Management System and the

Customers own ERP system, show a significant improvement of efficiency.

Average Number of Tickets per Truck per Day

Since the time TERMINUS Fleet Management System has been installed gradually on the 300

trucks in the entire fleet, the number of tickets per truck per day has increased from 1.9 tickets to

3.3 tickets which represents an improvement of as much as 75%, hitting a peak in May 2012 with

3.5 tickets per truck or a 83% improvement (blue and red line in the table 6 below).

This of course could have been due to an increased demand for concrete in the customer market.

We therefore compared the numbers of the entire ticket quantity over the same time frame and

found out, that the market demand for concrete accounts for only 4% of the increase in tickets

issued (green line in the table 6 below).

Another scenario could have been, that for some reason, the average concrete quantity in m3

delivered per ticket has dropped, resulting in an increased number of tickets to deliver the same

overall quantity of concrete. This assumption has been proved invalid. Indeed the average quantity

of concrete in m3 over the same period of time has increased from 4.255 m3 per ticket to 4.412 m3

per ticket or by 3.69%, representing another increase in efficiency (table 7 below).


14/17

12

Table 6: Average Number of Tickets per Truck per Day

Table 7: Average quantity in m3

per ticket

1.9

2.6 2.7

2.1

2.7

2.5

3.2

3.53.3

3.53.3

100%

137% 140%

111%

143%132%

165%181% 174%

183% 175%

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Aug-11 Sep-11 Oct-11 Nov-11 Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12 Mar-12 Apr-12 May-12 Jun-12

Av

eragenumberofTicketsperTruc

k

Month of Operation

Average Number of Tickets per Truck per Day compared to Total Tickets in SAP

Average number of tickets/truck/day

Variance from initial value in %

100% 99%74%

60%77% 76%

91%106%

78%

103% 104%

Number of Tickets (from SAP) Variance in %

4.255 4.2434.271

4.3474.305 4.309

4.2714.330

4.3794.341

4.412

4.200

4.300

4.400

4.500

2011

Aug

2011

Sep

2011

Oct

2011

Nov

2011

Dec

2012

Jan

2012

Feb

2012

Mar

2012

Apr

2012

May

2012

Jun

Average m3/ticket (data from SAP)

Average m3/ticket

100.00% 99.72%100.37%

102.15%101.18% 101.27%

100.37%101.77%

102.92%102.01%

103.69%

96.00%

98.00%

100.00%

102.00%

104.00%

2011

Aug

2011

Sep

2011

Oct

2011

Nov

2011

Dec

2012

Jan

2012

Feb

2012

Mar

2012

Apr

2012

May

2012

Jun

Average m3/Ticket - Variance in % (data from SAP)

Average m3/ticket - Variance in % since initial value


15/17

13

Other indicators analyzed

In addition to the above, we also analyzed

Average Loading Time per m3 (Table 8),

Average Waiting Time before Product Discharge, the time between the truck arrives at thecustomers site until it starts discharging the concrete (Table 9),

Average Discharge Time per m3 (Table 10),

Average Waiting Time after Product Discharge, the time between the end of discharging

the concrete until the truck leaves the customers site (Table 11).

Even though the graphics at first sight are not as impressive as those in above Table 6, it needs to

be said that a decrease in the Average Loading Time of 1 minute can be substantial for a fleet of

over 300 trucks. In essence it adds up to 16 hours of truck idle time that has been saved including

the fuel a truck consumes over 16 hours of idle time as well as its exhaust emissions. Or in other

words, 16 hours less in standing and loading can be turned into 6.6 more tickets delivered that day.

Table 8: Average Loading Time per m3

Table 9: Average Waiting Time before Product Discharge

00:05:34

00:04:00 00:04:0800:04:41

00:04:00 00:04:0100:03:41 00:03:33 00:03:42 00:03:33 00:03:31

00:00:00

00:01:26

00:02:53

00:04:19

00:05:46

00:07:12

2011 8 2011 9 2011 10 2011 11 2011 12 2012 1 2012 2 2012 3 2012 4 2012 5 2012 6

HH:mm:ss

Year/Month

Average Loading Time per m3 (Overall over time)

00:17:15

00:14:50 00:14:3400:13:08

00:12:00 00:12:14 00:12:15 00:11:5400:12:34 00:12:45 00:12:28

00:00:00

00:02:53

00:05:46

00:08:38

00:11:31

00:14:24

00:17:17

00:20:10

2011 8 2011 9 2011 10 2011 11 2011 12 2012 1 2012 2 2012 3 2012 4 2012 5 2012 6

HH:mm:ss

Year/Month

Average Waiting Time before Product Discharge (Overall over time)


16/17

14

Table 10: Average Discharge Time

Table 11: Average Waiting Time after Product Discharge

Conclusion

Even though we expected to see an increase in efficiency after implementing TERMINUS Fleet

Management System, the improvements documented by the quantitative data is far beyond our

keenest expectations. While the actual benefits achieved by such a system may vary from company

to company depending on existing practices, dispatching organizational model and other factors,

the present assessment clearly demonstrates that TERMINUS Fleet Management System is not just

a nice to have tool; TERMINUS Fleet Management System is able to substantially increase the

efficiency of the business operation.

00:10:22

00:19:24

00:11:57

00:07:2400:08:00 00:07:35 00:07:22 00:06:50 00:06:20 00:06:27 00:06:38

00:00:00

00:02:53

00:05:46

00:08:38

00:11:3100:14:24

00:17:17

00:20:10

00:23:02

2011 8 2011 9 2011 10 2011 11 2011 12 2012 1 2012 2 2012 3 2012 4 2012 5 2012 6

HH:mm:s

s

Year/Month

Average Waiting Time after Product Discharge (Overall over time)

00:08:47

00:07:12 00:07:05

00:08:2900:07:27

00:07:4500:07:11 00:07:07 00:07:05 00:07:12

00:07:25

00:00:00

00:01:26

00:02:53

00:04:19

00:05:46

00:07:12

00:08:38

00:10:05

2011 8 2011 9 2011 10 2011 11 2011 12 2012 1 2012 2 2012 3 2012 4 2012 5 2012 6

HH:mm:ss

Year/Month

Average Discharge time per m3 (Over all over time)


17/17

15

About Freewill FX

Freewill FX is an affiliate company of Freewill Solutions Co., Ltd. its mission is to help people

have better lives and to help businesses to become more effective by using mobile and wireless

technologies. With comprehensive know-how in wireless technologies, mobile enterprise solutions

and mobile network infrastructure, the company offers products to serve in four business aspects;

Mobile Network Testing Systems, Enterprise Mobile Solution, Advance Fleet Management

System, and App Studio.

Freewill Solutions Co. Ltd. is a leading software developer and professional services provider.

Established in 1991, the company has built an extensive portfolio of in-house developed software

systems, becoming a dominant market leader in the provision of solutions to the securities

brokerage industry both locally and regionally with, additionally, a distinctive position in the

provision of total solutions to the non-life insurance and business sectors. We offer our clients

technology and business solutions to improve our clients business and to help them to be morecompetitive in the market. Freewill implements the know-how to improve business performance of

companies operating in Thailand and the region by implementing world class and leading edge

technologies, concepts and practices. Freewill is uniquely positioned to address both, the technical

and people issues associated with implementing new technologies. This enables Freewill to offer its

clients integrated end-to-end business solutions.

The present white paper was written by Niklaus Stucki, a Managing Consultant of the Business

Consulting Unit of Freewill Solutions (email: [email protected] )

Website:http://www.freewillsolutions.com/introduction/advance-fleet-management-system-

145.html(you may need to copy the link and paste it into your web-browser in case you receive a

not-found error page)

Date post:	03-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	niklaus-stucki
View:	224 times
Download:	0 times

Terminus Fleet Management System - White Paper

Documents