The turbulent times we’re living in, has shown everyone in the world of transport and logistics that one of the greatest dangers for the industry is the rise of instability, unpredictability and increase of supply delays. That’s why a lot of companies are turning to real-time transport visibility as the answer to these challenges.

Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms (RTTVP) have become one of the most important software tools used by leading players in the transport industry. According to Gartner Report, by 2023, 50% of global leading enterprises will have invested in real-time transportation visibility solutions.

Real-time tracking allows companies to follow the route of their shipment live, showing what is actually happening with it and what are the current conditions of transport. Why is it so crucial though? And why is the ‘real-time’ factor so significant here? 

Live information allows a company to act immediately to fix the problems faced on the route of their shipment. Whether it’s traffic on the road, delays at a distribution center, changing weather conditions or a truck’s broken cooling system – real-time data makes it possible to find the best solution on the spot. 

Through our experience of working with some of the biggest transport companies in the world, we have defined the key benefits of implementing Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms and we would love to share them with you. And if visualizing data on maps is something that sounds interesting to you – don’t forget to check our previous article on the subject!

Later on in this article we will also show you some of the companies that are getting excellent results thanks to RTTVPs’ implementation. Let’s jump right into it!

Key benefits of Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms

ETA forecast. One of the most important key benefits of RTTVPs is the live calculation of the estimated time of arrival (ETA). By taking into consideration weather conditions, traffic and driver breaks, self-learning algorithms can be a source of excellent data for the company, its partners and its clients.

Dealing with the labor shortage. As the whole transport industry faces labor shortages, companies are looking for ways to reduce the amount of unnecessary work that can be either abandoned or automated. Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms are perfect tools to do so! RTTVPs are reducing labor needs in many ways – employees are freed from spending time on track-and-trace activity, customer service agents don’t have to waste their time on answering ETA calls, and shipping staff can reduce the time spent on waiting for trucks. 

Reduction of OTIF penalties. On time, in full (OTIF) penalties are imposed on shippers when certain stringent criteria of amount of product and delivery time are not met. Thanks to RTTVPs, on-time delivery (OTD) metrics can be significantly improved, which means less OTIF penalties. Reducing the amount of OTIF penalties directly leads to driving bottom line saving for the whole organization.

Improved cooperation with partners. Especially in the times of disruption, it is becoming more and more important to share the data and use increased visibility between multiple companies from the same supply chain. This way the whole network can be quickly improved and adjusted by a joint effort. RTTVP is a perfect tool to do so.

Excellent customer service. As customer service is becoming increasingly important in the transport industry, transparency and visibility is the key to provide a top notch service. By providing your customers with complete route visibility, dedicated notifications and estimated time of arrival (ETA), you can drastically improve customer service which leads to client retention.

Decreasing drivers’ detention. When a truck driver’s route is delayed at either origin or pickup, that pause causes a trickle-down effect on the entire supply chain. The increased visibility and ETA can help to make the whole process more efficient, drag down the detention rate and help the company save a lot of money.

Reduction of CO2 emissions. Thanks to real-time transport visibility platforms, companies are equipped with a tool that helps them to better plan their routes and act quickly in a case of route disruption. This increased efficiency not only saves time but also helps to reduce CO2 emissions, which is one of the most common goals of the transport companies nowadays. 

Increased capacity. We have already highlighted the benefit of reduced drivers’ detention. But it leads to another positive effect – when wasted time is reduced, drivers are able to be on the road more, which leads to increased capacity of the whole system.

Reduced need for safety stock. As the visibility, transparency and improved ETA leads to a more efficient supply chain operation, companies can reduce their safety stock buildup. RTTVPs are some of the best tools to reduce uncertainty and stimulate the efficient use of resources.

Further automatization. Real-time Transport Visibility is a key component of automatization efforts for transport companies. Things like electronic proof of delivery systems (ePODs) are only working efficiently when RTTVPs are also implemented. Transport reports, delivery notices and other documents can also be linked with live transport visibility tools. 

Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms: Success Stories

As RTTVPs are becoming more and more common, it is easier to learn about the benefits of such systems by looking at some of the examples of companies that have already implemented them. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest companies that benefited from the use of Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms:

Coca-Cola. One of the most recognizable brands in the world is a perfect example of a company that benefits from implementing a live tracking tool. They were able to improve their stock performance to 99%! This number is a direct result of improved information sharing. Thanks to their RTTV platform, Coca Cola succeeded in improving labor efficiency and productivity. There’s no more waiting around for delayed shipment – Coca Cola’s distribution facilities now know exactly when to expect their next shipment and they can better organize their work for constantly changing conditions. 

Leroy Merlin. A leading home improvement chain in Europe has also successfully implemented their own RTTVP. It is crucial that in-store employees are now able to get the information on the exact live location of a delivery, as well as estimated time of its arrival. For Leroy Merlin it really helps to organize their work better as we are talking about over 100 000 deliveries a year, carried by more than 100 shipping companies. 

Technicolor. Technicolor is a French multinational corporation that provides services and products for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Their real-time transport visibility platform helped to merge different data sources to create one place where the company and its customers can look for live information on shipment. It has also successfully helped Technicolor to increase labor efficiency – over 100 employees were reassigned to higher value work thanks to RTTVP implementation. 

Nestle. This multinational food and drink processing conglomerate has reported several benefits of implementing RTTVP. The customer satisfaction level increased. The labor need for manual operations to identify and handle transport journeys decreased. The whole supply chain became more stable and predictable. Live visibility of transport units also helped Nestle to become more environmentally sustainable.

Land O’Lakes. This American agricultural cooperative is a great example of how RTTVPs can be used to improve cooperation with company’s partners. Thanks to increased transparency and visibility, Land O’Lakes was able to build a partnership with a major food wholesaler. This collaboration led to cost savings of 25% for Land O’Lakes and reduced empty miles for their partner by over 800 kilometers per trip. 

Smithfield. Smithfield’s RTTVP implementation resulted in an increased on-time delivery rate of 7 percentage points!

C&S Wholesale Grocers. C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocery supply company in the U.S., was able to decrease the number of check calls by 65%, thanks to more proactive management of customer needs and expectations – none of it would be possible without an efficient RTTV platform.

Rockwool. This multinational manufacturer of mineral wool products was able to cover 95% of its transport operations by RTTVP in only 3 months. Real-time visibility of the shipment helped them boost their customer service, speed up processing of queries and improve the internal communication. Implementing RTTVP also opened the door for further automatization as it proved to be an efficient tool of making administration processes leaner. 

Recap

Our experience of working with transport and logistics companies tells us that very soon Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms will become a necessity for a well-functioning supply chain company. 

Whether your company’s goal is to improve labor efficiency, provide reliable ETA forecasts, reduce CO2 emissions or decrease drivers’ detention, Real-time Transport Visibility Platforms is a way to go. In today’s world of ever increasing transparency, real-time information on shipment is no longer a nice, shiny yet unnecessary object. It is becoming a standard that shows if a company is truly focused on delivering the highest quality possible.

If you want to learn more about Real-time Transport Visibility solutions, how they work, what are their possible features, what is the cost of their implementation, and if they are the right thing for your company – don’t wait any longer and contact us! And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to not miss other IT solutions for the transport and logistics industry!