In an exclusive webinar panel organised by MOTORINDIA in association with HERE Technologies, industry veterans and technology experts discussed on the need and relevance of location intelligence solutions and platform integration in making the trucking operations more cost-efficient and competitive, especially in the critical areas of vehicle and driver management, route optimisation, last-mile and back-haul handling, and customer satisfaction, reports Dhiyanesh Ravichandran
The digital era we live in and do business revolves around an over-whelming amount of location-based data. However granular the location data is, it can provide unprecedented and critical insights into the offline world, and businesses are fast realising its value and scope, especially the trucking logistics. Trucking businesses generate and use essential data sets related to location, geo-spatial, and vehicular attributes to gain new leverage and competitive advantages in the market. Location intelligence sounds fascinating for the domestic trucking and logistics industry as well. It’s actually a big opportunity knocking! We at MOTORINDIA and HERE Technologies wanted to be part of this big break, so we organised a live panel discussion involving experts from transport, OEM, and technology segments of the industry to discuss on its potentialities and emerging trends unfolding in this direction.
The session was moderated by Ajay Srinivasan, Director – CRISIL Research, who set a firm context for the webinar, and asked for experiences of the trucking businesses so far in utilising locational intelligence identified as the starting note for the discussion. Speaking on the evolving shift from mere GPS-based track and trace of vehicles to other areas in his company, R. Shankar, CEO – TVS Supply Chain Solutions, listed real-time asset management including cargo, journey optimization to suit the specific SLAs and KPIs of the operator, and accurate mapping of last mile delivery as the emerging directions. “It adds significant value to our services and to our customers as well, because processes are carried out in optimal manner”, he added.
Taking the lead further, Sushil Rathi (COO) of Mahindra Logistics shared his observation that location-based technologies facilitate end-to-end visibility of various processes and applications. “It plays an important role in optimization of costs and customer SLAs. In our experience, we could achieve greater excellence in backhaul management and planning”, he said, while adding that there is also a greater scope for these technologies with regard to supply chain management and sales and marketing in logistics industry.
Ajay Mittal, Head – Digital and Analytics, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) claimed that OEMs leverage location data to devise aftermarket and service strategies, especially on the lines of proximity to customer base and 24×7 breakdown assistance to its vehicles. “For CVs, location services ensure uptime management – a key priority to vehicle manufacturer and operators. Further, data on vehicle location and movement can offer significant insights on driver productivity, may it be in terms of fuel economy, driving behaviour, or any particular point of interest in priority”, he noted. He also revealed that every VECV product being rolled out post August 2020 are enabled with connected and location technologies for the benefit of the customers.
To broaden the scope of location intelligence on trucking, Nikhil Kumar, Director (Sales – South Asia) at HERE Technologies, pitched in innovative applications like customised route extension, yard and warehouse management, and mapping of parking or resting spots for truckers during the journey. “It’s time to extend a passenger vehicle navigation-like experience to CVs as well, which is accommodative to the needs of the drivers and operators with features like parking guidance, adaptive cruise control, curvature and gradeability assistance, and so on. We have to develop systems that are effective, adaptive to varied needs, and cost-effective to make some difference”, he said. Nikhil also spoke on the importance of platform centricity of the location technologies, as no single service provider can offer all services on their own. “Because both historical and real-time status data have to be normalised to create valuable insights and offer certain customised location-related services”, he averred.
The speakers also delved on some critical challenges that needs to be addressed in location-related data regime, including standardisation of services, need for offline services when vehicles enter remote areas, cost of GPS services, and concerns on data privacy. “Local and ground-level issues pop-up often, but a larger mind-set change is happening in the industry with regard to use of connected technologies. The ecosystem is evolving, and the realm of digitization in logistics is simply interesting”, opined R. Shankar in his closing argument. “Risk management is becoming an integrated pattern in the industry, with better understanding of the customer’s priorities, thereby driving better data analysis”, noted Sushil Rathi. He further identified fraud detection at various stages and trip-wise environmental impact assessment as two areas of improvement for connected technologies to evolve in the coming times.
Ajay Mittal claimed that location intelligence has tremendous opportunities in the domestic market in the next 5 years. “I foresee a greater role of regulation in this endeavour, while trip analytics and preventive maintenance can further the growth of location-based telematics in the Indian trucking industry”, he opined. Nikhil Kumar, on the other hand, recognised mobile-platform integrated applications as killer solutions that can further the growth of these technologies, “which can ensure real-time data sharing and ease of customers in accessing the analytics and insights”. In his closing remarks, Ajay Srinivasan stressed on the importance of logistics cost in the sustainability of the trucking logistics industry. “If we are able to optimize costs in a better way using these technologies with value-additions, that’s where the future is. Reduced costs will improve competitiveness, while also encouraging multi-modal logistics and local manufacturing in the country”, he remarked. The live webinar also featured an exclusive presentation by Danny Savla, Director of Engineering (South Asia) at HERE Technologies, on the complexities of estimated time of arrival (ETA) calculations in supply chain management and how location intelligence can simplify it with real-time map and geo-spatial data, fleet characteristics, and route optimization, to make the ETAs more realistic. He also spoke on various strategies to enhanced driver experience and engagement all through the entirety of a trip, along with a briefing on various location intelligence-based tools and solutions offered by HERE Technologies, especially on the areas of driver productivity, safety, and last-mile delivery.