Note: This post was written for Truck & Bus Magazine in December 2020.
The transport sector operates with historically low profitability, with an increasing number of companies flirting with the breakeven point. This seems paradoxical given the continuously growing demand for transport. The need for a structural solution to the optimization challenge at the heart of this industry is, therefore, greater than ever.
While the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an acceleration in digital transformation for many companies, this was not the case for most transport companies. This is unfortunate, as the industry stands to gain significantly from digitization. Digitization enables fleets to optimize their operations further, allowing them to ship more with fewer vehicles, thus addressing their profitability issues and facilitating a transition to a more sustainable future.
Currently, most transport planners schedule their fleets based on rules of thumb, gut feelings, or, worse, pure guesswork. This often leads to suboptimal results, negatively impacting productivity and, ultimately, profitability. However, data can be the solution. By leveraging traffic and weather data, fuel consumption data, shipment data, and more, transport planners can elevate their role, achieve real route and load optimization, and significantly increase their value to the company.
Accessing the necessary data may be challenging, as open data sharing conflicts with the intense competition among industry players. However, the substantial value that business and industry optimization could unlock should incentivize fleets to participate. After all, how often do you get the chance to overhaul an entire industry in a way that benefits everyone?
The more you measure, the more you know, and the more you can optimize. Here’s to the transport planner evolving into a data analyst!