The Importance of Data in Industry and Transport

More and better information for better performance.

The constant acceleration of digitisation in industry and society in general has undoubtedly led to a huge production of all kinds of data. More and more companies are digitising their processes and this generates a constant flow of data and information, which has justified the design of new data management strategies. These strategies have been designed with the aim of improving the functioning of companies, the processing of information and the improvement of processes.

In this context, data processing has become a competitive advantage for any company and even more so if it complies with a series of keys such as goods management, transport, geolocation or the exchange of information between the different actors in a goods and transport management process.

In this sense, transport in general and industrial transport in particular, are benefiting from the use of software and systems that have data and information as protagonists, and that make it possible to act on vectors such as costs, communications, tracking of goods or customer service.

With digitalisation and the processing of information and data, many of the industry´s requirements have been met, and many of the concerns expressed by customers regarding the processing and tracking of goods have been solved in recent years, and have now become definitive factors in generating value.

The focus has been placed on tracking goods, managing transport routes, generating competitive processes in the field of logistics and in general, with the customer at the centre, improving operations and information between the customer and the supplier. All of this has considerably improved the way in which industry and commerce manage the flow of goods by integrating with transport and distribution, the importance of data in industry and transport is indisputable.

Telematics as the basis of the new industry.

Telematics is a discipline that encompasses the technology related to data communication and the software or systems that manage it, its main characteristic being remote data telecommunication, which in many ways has revolutionised industry and transport.

The new industry is characterised by the use of all kinds of systems, software, automation, robotisation, IOT, Artificial Intelligence, etc. that aim to digitalise processes and improve communications.

Related to the systems of the connected industry are the strategies focused on transmitting the data generated by these systems remotely and, in the case of transport, managing the data of the goods and vehicles that are in motion. In this aspect, telematics is the basis on which the design of these systems is based, in which we can find global and particular tasks such as:

• LAN type network management.
• Mobility and geolocation.
• Real-time data transmission.
• Data analysis and dashboards.
• Multilateral integrations.
• Etc…

All this forms the basis of the new industry, which moves between physical processes and data management and analysis processes. All in all, it has a clear focus on process improvement, customer service improvement and the very interesting factor of cost improvement.

The importance of fleet management.

Transport has always operated on the basis of the following three key management principles:

• cost management.
• service management.
• fleet management.

The importance of fleet management as a global element that adds the three key elements of transport management is the very survival of the company.

A transport company that does not manage or know and administer its costs, that does not provide a good, adequate and organised customer service, and finally, that does not manage its fleet resources optimally, both material (such as vehicles) and human (traffic equipment and drivers), is doomed to disappear.

In the context of fleet management, digitalisation has been playing a fundamental role for more than a decade, and every day computerised fleet management systems go one step further, providing the manager with precise tools for monitoring and control of the three key areas of management, i.e. monitoring and control of costs, service and customer management, and fleet management in general.

This results in a significant improvement in transport processes, which in turn generates cost savings and provides the company with a competitive element that adds value to its processes and its offer to the market.

Some telematics fleet management applications.

The use of telematics engineering in transport management and in industry in general has been discussed previously, being a speciality that is aimed at the processing of information and data flows, which come from different devices or systems. Basically, the applications related to telematic fleet management could be summarised as follows:

• GPS y GPRS: as fundamental elements of telematics, allow direct communication between the vehicle and the company. This communication offers the possibility of transmitting a wide variety of data related to the vehicle itself, the driver, positioning, etc…
• IOT: telematics related to the Internet of Things allows connecting all kinds of systems, objects or elements, ensuring the exchange of data and information between them and the system through the network.
• Maintenance and repair: many software packages that integrate telematics as part of their functions allow vehicles to be connected to workshops, company systems or integrated with industry standard applications.
• Merchandise: increasingly, goods are integrated into telematics applications to provide traceability.

Increasing productivity.

Productivity in transport is directly linked to the management of resources on the one hand and services on the other.

The transport company is a service company and its profits depend on the mobilisation of services and the balance between the management and consumption of resources. In other words, costs and revenues, so productivity will define what the transport company can or cannot do from an internal point of view.

Accurate knowledge of costs and resource management is one of the main keys to increasing productivity. In this sense, more and more transport companies are using specific fleet management software to control, analyse and make decisions in search of productivity.

Transport of sensitive goods.

One of the ongoing challenges in transport is the management of goods that require special care and special transport conditions.

From foodstuffs, medicines, chemical products, dangerous goods, to the transport of live animals, it is necessary to comply with a series of legal obligations and also to transport and conserve the goods in an adapted manner. There are different systems, such as controlled refrigeration, which must be used for this type of transport.

All these systems have been improved through technology, as in the case of controlled cold transport, which has benefited from the control of traceability through specialised software, which is generating extra value for the customer and consequently for the company.

The importance of information for vehicle fleet maintenance.

One of the fundamental pillars of fleet management is the maintenance of vehicles and the control of operations and maintenance programmes.

A poor maintenance policy leads to unscheduled vehicle downtime and thus to the generation of extra costs, customer service failures and low productivity, which is why it is so important to handle a solution that allows for digitalised control:

• Preventive maintenance and driving programmes.
• The maintenance programmes agreed with the workshops.
• Breakdown monitoring and its costs.
• The monitoring of related activity.
• Cost control on spare parts and accessories.
• Supplier tracking.
• Etc…

This can be framed by the use of specialised fleet management software, which works with the applications needed in this particular part of fleet management.