Mapping Shines In Precision Trucking
JOHN BENDEL
TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
Imagine running a fleet of trucks that keeps auto assembly plants operating with only four to six hours of critical parts on hand. That's what Transfreight Inc. does for Toyota Motor Corp., among others. Toyota is the Japanese company that pioneered something called "lean manufacturing" half a century ago. It's an idea that turns on what we know as just-in-time logistics. Transfreight Inc. is a logistics company based in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, with U.S. offices in Erlanger, Ky.
Transfreight keeps essential parts for Toyota and other customers moving with sophisticated logistics planning and state-of-the art operations, communications and mapping technology. The company's fleet provides inbound transportation to assembly plants in the eastern U.S. and Canada from suppliers mostly in the eastern U.S.
"If you take the I-75 corridor down to Atlanta and you go 150 miles on both sides of it, that's really our core. We don't go into Florida but we do go into Texas. It's the automotive corridor on the eastern side of the U.S." said Bob Hilhorst, general manager of information systems for Transfreight.
Transfreight works from 16 North American locations with a fleet of approximately 400 Volvo tractors and 53-foot van trailers. The fleet runs on tight schedules that involve pickups as many as four times a day from individual suppliers. The company also cross-docks some freight for consolidation.
"A lot of just-in-time systems have 24 to 48 hours of inventory at the customer's manufacturing facility. We have four to six hours," he said.
EARLY CAN MEAN TOO LATE
Such tight margins require precise schedules.
"Being early is just as bad as being late," said Hilhorst.
Hilhorst cited the example of a problem with a supplier component. The assembly people will ask for new parts, creating what Hilhorst called "an order adjustment" in the supply chain. Transfreight's system enables the customer to know exactly where trucks are and the times they're supposed to be at supplier locations — their pick-up windows.
"So if a truck leaves a supplier before it's supposed to leave, the freight won't make it onto that run," he explained.
"In our business of just-in-time inventory, we actually mean it," Hilhorst said.
That need for operational precision led Transfreight to conceive Integrated Satellite Intelligence, an operations system the company developed working with Synergistic Systems Inc., Neptune Beach, Fla.
"We wanted some intelligence in the truck besides the driver — a computer that knows where the truck is all the time and communicates when it gets to locations, when it leaves locations and when it crosses borders. We want to know where the freight is within the system," Hilhorst said.
"We decided to go with Synergistic Systems about three years ago. It was a major venture, a major expenditure. It was something no other carrier had at the time."
Previously, Transfreight drivers used cell phones for mobile communications.
"Our drivers phoned in from each location to our dispatch or traffic center and said, ÔI'm here now, I'm leaving now.' We completely removed that system," said Hilhorst.
Cell phones were replaced by computers, satellite communications and a software system that Hilhorst claims pioneered what we now refer to as "event driven" communications. Messages from the truck to dispatch are generated automatically when defined parameters are reached or events take place. For Transfreight, those events frequently mean arrival and departure from specific supplier sites as defined on digital maps and monitored by GPS.
DATA MOVES AUTOMATICALLY
Transfreight's Integrated Satellite Intelligence begins with an onboard computer — in this case an MG Plus Mobile Gateway from Symbol Technologies. The MG Plus offers GPS locating, onboard computing power and various communications links. One link is to a dash-mounted cradle where the second onboard computer rests when not in use.
That computer is a handheld Symbol SPT 1800 with bar code scanning. The SPT 1800 runs in batch mode, meaning it stores data in memory to be downloaded later. On the customer's dock, the driver uses this handheld to scan bar codes on pallets often containing mixed freight. When he replaces the SPT 1800 in the cradle, freight data is downloaded into the MG Plus, which then relays that information to Transfreight's servers via satellite.
Transfreight uses TMI Communications, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for wireless service over the MSAT-1 geostationary high-orbit satellite. With satellite quality, near-universal coverage and close to real-time communication, Transfreight knows where its trucks are and exactly what freight is on them — information the company shares freely with customers.
"As soon as we pick up the freight we send the customer an ASN (Advanced Shipping Notice) so the customer knows right then what we've picked up. But more important, they know what we didn't pick up," said Hilhorst.
"Let's say the customer ordered 100 widgets and when we got to the supplier there were only 75 widgets. The customer will know of that exception right away."
Transfreight's onboard computers also communicate to wireless systems at terminal facilities. When a truck enters a terminal gate, onboard data is automatically downloaded using the 802.11b short-range radio frequency standard.
Hilhorst said Transfreight's computer system updates customers on the status of operations every five minutes.
"It's pretty intense, but it's important when you reduce inventory in the pipeline because if you don't pick up freight and the customer doesn't know until the truck arrives at the plant, it's usually too late."
MAPS TELL THE STORY
Transfreight also provides its traffic people and customers with maps that show the location of company trucks in near real time. Canadian mapping data is supplied by Microsoft MapPoint. On the U.S. side, the system uses data from Tele Atlas. Mapping is provided down to street-level detail for the customer's benefit.
"They want to know where the truck is exactly. We have some cases where there's more than one tier-one supplier within a block. Some are right across the street from each other and customers want to know if the truck is at supplier A or supplier B," Hilhorst explained.
Transfreight uses the maps internally to analyze routes.
"Mapping is the key to logistics design," said Hilhorst.
Replaying trucks over their routes, for example, allows comparison of schedules with reality.
"This software allows you to see actuals of how long it took. For example, going through Atlanta at midnight is certainly different than going through Atlanta at 8 a.m. It's seeing actuals versus schedules," he said.
Driver evaluation is another mapping benefit.
"For example, going through Cincinnati you're not supposed to take I-75. You're supposed to take 275. On the map we can see where the truck is right now; we can also replay to see where the truck went yesterday," Hilhorst said.
Customers can also see replays of truck movements.
"The customer can see if a truck was at a supplier when it was supposed to be. If the window time was between 2 o'clock and 2:30 and the truck actually arrived at 2:05 and left at 2:45, the customer can see that. There is no smoke and mirrors."
Transfreight stores about 45 days worth of detailed operational data.
Hilhorst said Transfreight's Integrated Satellite Intelligence system interfaces with other company software, including its TMS (Transportation Management System).
"It's all one system," Hilhorst said.
Creating Transfreight's Integrated Satellite Intelligence wasn't easy. Planning actually began five years ago and the return-on-investment studies took three years.
"It was something we had to produce for our customers. And because we're the pioneer in some of this technology, we were a little bleeding-edge making all this stuff happen," said Hilhorst. "Other companies are just starting to produce the same types of things that we already have."
David Lee, Synergistic Systems' sales and marketing VP, said Transfreight's Integrated Satellite Intelligence closely resembles a Synergistic Systems product called Synergy Dispatch.
