Unlocking the power of data and analytics: 5 key ways to optimize your fleet utilization and efficiency

Gaining enhanced data visibility is a key component for transportation companies as they seek to grow and become more efficient in today’s ever-evolving supply chain. This is crucial for both fleet utilization and overall fleet efficiency.

As the supply chain grows more complex, the more data is generated - from vehicle and driver data to key information related to load planning and asset maintenance. But this massive amount of data is only valuable if you know how to properly manage and interpret it. Fortunately, having the right technology can help you achieve this while enabling decision-making for efficient fleet management.

Regardless of what kind of transportation organization you operate or your role within the business, technology is helping fleets of all shapes and sizes to gain valuable data-driven insights to increase productivity and safety, streamline processes and, ultimately, improve decision making. The right tools can help you improve fleet utilization and boost your bottom line.

Some of these technical applications are helping to reimagine:

1. Coaching drivers to improve fleet efficiency

Did you know that 10 percent of a fleet’s drivers can account for up to 65 percent of their total accident risk? Without the right data, how can you uncover which drivers most need coaching so that you can work to eliminate risky driving behaviors before they cause an accident?

Technology like Risk Management can help fleet safety managers pinpoint where they need to focus their coaching efforts. By harnessing detailed analytics and reports on driver behavior, incidents, and compliance, safety managers can more readily understand where to intervene and how. This is a core component of efficient fleet management. The data allows managers to identify patterns and areas of concern, enabling targeted coaching to address specific safety issues and improve fleet efficiency and safety.

Fleet managers can use Trimble CoPilot data to coach drivers by analyzing real-time navigation and performance metrics. The goal is to improve fleet efficiency through targeted, data-backed interventions. This data provides insights into driving behavior, route efficiency, and adherence to planned routes, allowing managers to identify areas for improvement and provide targeted coaching to optimize fleet performance.

2. Managing driver retention to improve fleet utilization

Not only do fleets care about keeping their drivers safe behind the wheel, they care about keeping them behind the wheel. Unfortunately, in an industry that can average 80 percent driver turnover rates, this can be a constant challenge for carriers to keep their driver base full. This is a crucial factor in achieving high fleet utilization.

The traditional approach to driver retention has been largely informed by gut feel, with fleet managers relying on metrics such as how many miles a driver has driven, load types and personal interactions. While this insight is better than nothing, it can be a time-intensive and manual process to keep tabs on drivers who may be most at risk of leaving.

Technology is enhancing this process, too, with analytics platforms that can help fleets utilize data and machine learning to predict why a driver might leave and prescribe actions to help intervene before they do. Not only does this help simplify the driver management process, it can do so with a high degree of accuracy. Using data to improve fleet utilization by retaining drivers is a key benefit.

3. Matching drivers and available loads for efficient fleet management

It’s not just a fleet’s drivers who can be positively impacted by advances in data and analytics. Key back office functions such as dispatch can also utilize technology to improve how work is done.

Each day, a fleet’s dispatchers and load planners spend hours to manually match drivers with freight loads. The manual nature of this process and high volume of loads can result in matches that might not be ideal fits for a fleet, its drivers or its customers. This leads to more efficient fleet management.

Trimble Dispatch Advisor is one example of advanced technology that can help to better the load matching process. Trimble Dispatch Advisor analyzes a fleet’s vast number of loads and drivers to identify the best matches based on factors such as location, available driver hours and time windows. This is a powerful way to optimize fleet performance.

By utilizing a load matching platform like Trimble Dispatch Advisor, users can receive recommendations on a primary match as well as secondary matches, empowering load planners to quickly review recommendations and choose the right one for their fleet.

4. Optimizing Vehicle Uptime and Maintenance

Keeping a fleet up and running can involve monitoring driver availability and available capacity, but it also has to do with ensuring the maintenance of your trucks and other equipment. As technology advances, the wealth of data available from today’s trucks can help you and your maintenance teams better plan for routine repairs and potentially avoid breakdowns in the first place. This directly contributes to improving fleet performance.

Utilizing a fleet maintenance platform such as TMT Fleet Maintenance can enable you to track and define key performance indicators (KPIs) to enhance performance and asset availability. This is a crucial part of improving fleet performance by reducing downtime. From preventing equipment breakdowns and tracking parts and labor to identifying underperforming assets, technology is helping maintenance professionals make more informed decisions - whether they are at their desk, in the shop or on the road.

5. Allowing for Supply Chain Visibility

Frost & Sullivan notes that supply chain visibility is the most sought-after service by shippers and is a priority capability for logistics service providers. Advances in technology mean that supply chain visibility is more than just simple track-and-trace functionality, it is now about providing access to details of the condition of cargo in transit to help enable more informed decision making across the supply chain. This directly impacts overall fleet efficiency.

This enhanced view isn’t just valuable for shippers and carriers but for brokers and 3PLs, too. By harnessing data from an integrated transportation management system (TMS), visibility solutions like trimble Freight Visibility can provide trend analysis, performance metrics and actionable insights that lead to better planning, reduced costs and a higher level of customer service. This is a key strategy to increase fleet efficiency.

Ready to increase fleet efficiency?

They say knowledge is power and properly utilizing data is key to your business’ continued success. For decades, Trimble has provided these data-focused solutions to companies just like yours, regardless of where you are in the transportation supply chain. Our goal is to help you improve fleet efficiency and achieve optimal fleet utilization.

Contact us today to learn more about how you can more confidently back up your decision making with tangible data to optimize fleet performance and productivity.