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Today's 'technology truck' is designed with two specific ongoing improvements in mind, namely, efficiency and safety. These two cornerstones of automotive engineering are also pivotal business disciplines that need to be properly managed if an enterprise wishes to remain competitive. With safer, more economical trucks arriving in South Africa every year, local fleets are able to reduce certain operating costs and risks. But the truck can't do it all. Not by a long shot. Additional technologies need to be added to the vehicle and installed at the depot to improve overall operational efficiency and safety. Tracking devices and Fleet Management Systems are now very much a part of local truck transport, empowering fleet managers with comprehensive and accurate data regarding vehicles and drivers. Many operations are able to integrate this data with other business systems, thereby gathering 'intelligence' on the overall efficiency of the fleet as well as individual vehicles and drivers. The challenge for all transport operators today is how to effectively leverage new technology to better manage their resources - human or otherwise. It all starts with the right sort of mindset; forward-thinking decision makers and a new breed of fleet manager, a 'techno-trucker', writes Paul Collings.

As far as change is concerned, South Africa's road freight industry has had a lot to deal with over the last ten or so years. Democracy has radically changed our politics and our economy. We are now 'the gateway to Africa' and our trucking industry is a vital link in the global logistics chain. Add to this new 'landscape', the arrival of new technologies and new business philosophies emanating from the First World, most notably, the Internet, cellular communications, 'Just-In-Time distribution' and the 'global village'.

Great raw ingredients
The fact that our trucking infrastructure has kept pace with the demands of our emerging economy (especially when one considers the dismal performance of rail in recent years), is testimony to its ability to adapt to change and 'turn on a ticky' if need be. Ultimately, the success of the industry is due to its people, from drivers all the way up to top management. 

Success has come though, with a fair amount of failure. Tales of truck transport casualties (humans and organisations) are legion and are part of local trucking folk lore. The lessons they offer serve those who choose to listen, who believe that there is always room for improvement; that we should never stop learning. It is this sort of mindset that should be cultivated in today's fleet manager. 
 

Fleet managers need to know how to operate and manage IT systems and personnel, as well as understand transport management

Rare breed
Truck transport in South Africa doesn't have one overriding problem. Rather, it is troubled by hundreds of 'niggles', many of which could be eradicated if management applied itself more 'holistically', with a well-defined strategy to become a 'best practice' organisation. From a fleet management perspective, the troubles lie not with the systems installed in vehicles/operations but often with the people these systems are supposed to serve.

Many transport operators buy FM systems under the illusion that these systems offer some sort of 'automated panacea' to the many risks and responsibilities inherent to commercial truck transport. This is obviously a serious misunderstanding of the role IT plays in an organisation. Basically, FM systems need to be 'driven', by an integrated transport/IT strategy (designed by top management) and by a tech-savvy fleet manager.

Fleet managers are the 'lieutenants' of the transport industry. Their task is to ensure the effective day-to-day running of the operation so that long term profitability is achieved. They are the interface between the yard and the boardroom. They have to understand trucks, drivers and technicians. They have to be good managers, speak management's language and be up to speed with the latest fleet management technologies. In a nutshell, good fleet managers are not a dime a dozen. Operators need to look at ways to cultivate this most crucial human resource.

	Bird’s-eye-view  Fleet managers need to  see the bigger picture as far as their operating environment is concerned, using FM systems to schedule the best routes on any given day.

Having the right tools
If a transport operation is fortunate to have this 'techno-trucker' in its employ, it should equip him/her with the necessary 'strategic framework' within which to work as well as the authority to implement necessary actions in response to the information delivered by the Fleet Management (FM) systems. Essentially, while FM systems are used to gather and interpret information, only people can take that 'intelligence' and respond in meaningful ways, like executing routines and interventions that positively impact on overall efficiency/safety/profitability.

The local FM system market is saturated with offerings that promise to improve bottom line performance by monitoring driver behaviour, fuel consumption, kilometers traveled, maintenance scheduling etc. Vendors of these products train trucking personnel how to operate the system. They do not train how to manage the system. This can only be the responsibility of transport senior management who, with a comprehensive 'systems-enabled' operations/management strategy in place, has also installed a manager who understands truck transport as intimately as IT, who can derive maximum benefit from the FM system by managing more effectively the people who work in the operation, be they drivers, technicians, administrators, suppliers or other managers. 

In-house necessity
The availability of outsourced fleet management via bureau services might present a solution to what is a skills shortage (where is that techno-trucker?). While bureau services may cover critical risk areas of a transport operation and deliver early warning signals to management via exception reports, there can surely be no substitute for an on-site fleet manager who not only has his/her head around the FM system, but around that most important 'computer', the collective mind of his colleagues. 

As management expert, Peter F. Drucker says, "The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product."
 

Asset Management Fleet Managers need to know which vehilces are due for servicing, which are being serviced and how many are on the road, at the touch of a button.