Abstract
This chapter defines a fleet management system (FMS), describes the functionalities, architecture, and modules of Transics FMS. The next topic is the role of a fleet management system in a transport company and areas of improvement of business processes. This is based on the presentation of selected Polish transport companies using Transics software. The chapter gives a comparison of the functionalities of the Transics solution with other similar commercially available FMS, like European freight exchange platform Trans.Eu. The paper presented the prerequisites for a successful implementation of fleet management software – the basic principles and conclusion from the experience of Polish companies. The chapter showed the impact of the Transics solution on the effectiveness and competitive advantage gained by transport firms, as well as the benefits offered to those firms and their customers.
TopBackground: The Role Of Fleet Management Systems
The increasing numbers of transport companies delivering both raw materials and finished products have given impetus to the development of systems supporting the management of these processes. According to Sehgal, fleet management is a field of transport management (Sehgal, 2011) consisting of the subsystems of transportation planning and execution as well as freight audit and payment. Ross enumerates the following elements of transportation management:
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Fleet and third party logistics management.
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Routing, tracking, optimization.
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Compliance with safety regulations.
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Transport management system technologies (Ross, 2011).
According to Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper, transport management systems (TMS) consist of the following components: calculating the optimum route, scheduling, load building, shipment consolidation, carrier rate management, documentation, claims management, and management of reverse logistics (Bowersox et al., 2002).
The role of solutions supporting fleet management is to improve the operations of transport companies. A “fleet management solution” is interpreted here as an IT system used for supporting the management of a transport company rather than software alone (Boyson et al., 2004). Indeed, contemporary supporting fleet management systems are something more than software. They are typically offered as software, but they could also be deployed as a service model that includes not only software installation and use, but also additional services, such as user training, uninterrupted access to the system, data storage, etc. Fleet management systems are also known as transport management systems (TMS) and traffic management systems (Hill, 2011). The main objective of fleet management is defined by Ross as effective use of transportation assets, appropriate technical maintenance, and reduction of overall costs at a given service level (Ross, 2011). Transport company management is affected by developments in its environment. The main factors of fleet management in transport companies, apart from those listed by Ayers (Ayers, 2010), include: increasing competition, growing customer requirements, safety regulations, etc. All of these factors encourage company specialization and process outsourcing, especially in the face of a turbulent environment, volatile trends, and pressure to increase effectiveness.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Trans.Eu: The second largest European freight exchanges platform. http://www.trans.eu/en/
Fleet Management Solution: IT system used for supporting the management within a transport company, something more than software.
Cabotage: A road transport by a motor vehicle registered in a country X performed on the territory of another country.
Wabco: A company specializing in the supply of technology and control systems for road vehicles. http://wabco-auto.com AU86: The URL http://wabco-auto.com has been redirected to http://www.wabco-auto.com/. Please verify the URL. .
Fleet Management System Implementation: Project related to the installation of hardware in the vehicles, installation and configuration of the software in the transport company, staff training, pilot tests.
Software for Fleet Management System: Software to support optimization processes and to reduce costs in the transport companies while improving customer service levels.
Fleet Management System: A system supporting fleet and process management in transport companies’.
Cloud Computing: The Internet-based computing that offers services, including software, storage that can be accessed by the Internet.
Transics: Transics is owned by WABCO, a company specializing in the supply of technology and control systems for road vehicles. http://www.transics.com .