Over the past few years, many truckload carriers expanded their regional and dedicated operations for various reasons, including driver recruiting and retention. In addition to addressing turnover issues, this trend also has had consequences for mobile computing.
“The guys that used to use in-cab systems are seeing their business model changing,” says Kevin Moore, manager of business development for Intermec Technologies, a manufacturer of mobile computing systems. “It’s really a blending of what used to be the sole domain of LTL carriers. Truckload is moving toward more regionalized distribution and fulfillment.”
Motorola, which acquired Symbol Technologies in January, also has seen a push by truckload fleets to capture real-time information from the driver.
“We’re now seeing that really start to proliferate broadly within the trucking environment,” says Jerry McNerney, Motorola’s senior director of enterprise mobility for transportation logistics. “There is more effort with that in some of the long-haul activities.”
A few years ago, a truckload carrier likely bought an in-cab system to satisfy its principal need: monitoring and communicating with the driver. Today, that same carrier may be picking up products and tracking their delivery down to the stock-keeping unit (SKU) level.
Consider a flatbed carrier that offers dedicated contract carriage of building materials from Home Depot or Lowe’s to jobsites. The fleet may use an in-cab onboard computing and communications system for most of its trucks, but the customer may have more stringent information needs than is capable with the fleet’s existing system.
For example, the customer may want to track inventory, such as floor joists, in and out of trailers down to the SKU level. And when delivering to a new construction project, the customer may want the exact time and location of the delivery at an unmarked street address. They also may want to capture a signature, or an image of any damaged freight, on the spot.
