The importance of data sharing

I came across a survey called State of Last Mile Logistics recently. As the title suggests, the survey focuses on the last mile in the supply chain. However, I think some of the survey results are applicable beyond just the last-mile market segment.

The most significant things that stood out to me were the desire for visibility and the connection between visibility and excellent customer service.

I think fleets feel they have more control when they have visibility into where a vehicle is in the repair process.

Given the cost of downtime, truck owners and operators want insight into the maintenance process so they can know almost in real time the status of a repair. This allows them to make more informed decisions about what to do with a load if the repair is the result of a roadside breakdown. If it's scheduled maintenance or repair, having visibility into the repair process lets the fleet know when they can put the asset back in service.

The good news is that there is technology that can be leveraged to give truck owners greater visibility into repair status.

Even when the news is bad—traffic is delaying a truck, a needed part is on back order so the repair can’t be completed—I believe knowing is better than not knowing. There is that old adage: Knowledge is power. Normally it is applied to education, but I think it makes sense in truck repair, too.

We are lucky to be living in a time where data is readily available. But just having data may not be enough to provide the proper visibility. We have to be able to help customers understand what that data means—what are the patterns, what are the trends? If we fail to do this, it is likely they will be seeing the same repair issues over and over again, and it could also affect fleet productivity.

    See also: Keeping supply chains transparent more important than ever

Sharing data with fleets—making it visible—will have a number of benefits. It can assist with optimizing asset utilization, improve routing, assist in making smarter spec’ing decisions, and help set proper maintenance intervals.

Maybe it’s time we all got visible.

Gino Fontana, CTP, is COO and EVP at Transervice Logistics Inc. Prior to this recent promotion, he was VP of operations at Berkeley Division and Puerto Rico. He has more than 35 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry with both operational and sales experience.