Desert Flower

Counting the cost: poor handling was costing $1,500 per incident and the costs were multiplied across the fleet.

To prove PMV isn’t just about big grunting machines, we go flower shopping with fleet management software gurus Arab: IT

Keeping tabs on a delivery fleet for a flower company in a Middle Eastern climate is a lot tougher than it first sounds. For a start, you’re dealing with all the problems of keeping a fleet of truck operations moving plus the product you’re delivering has to be protected from an entirely alien climate.

Being late can not only be costly, it can also be highly complicated to rectify. Flowers are not easy to find in the desert.

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When fleet management company Arab:IT was approached to provide a fleet management software to a Dubai vegetable, plant and flower grower and seller, the solution was not immediately obvious.

The first task was distil the challenge into its fundamentals; a list of specified problems, many of which will be familiar to any fleet manager in the region.

The company told Arab:IT that it was suffering from unacceptably high level of accidents and accelerating maintenance costs. It also felt that its existing monitoring methods had led to poor control over fuel consumption.

Drivers were regarded as loose cannons and poorly managed. The company often did not know how the vehicles were being used with some drivers suspected of abusing their access to them.

Finally it had realised that loose control of its operation was starting to hurt its revenue. Loss of whole consignments of flowers due to doors on chilled units being left open too long in high temperatures was estimated to be costing an average of $1,500 per occurance. With ten trucks in operation the problems were being duplicated and multiplied ten times over.

Perhaps entering the relationship with Arab:IT cautiously the client insisted the software company provide a proof of concept for the whole fleet. It wanted to be reassured that the potential benefits were clear before it invested into a complete AVMS (Advanced Vehicle Management Systems).

One of the first steps Arab:IT took was to install an advanced GPS tracking system to trace the movements of the ten trucks. Almost immediately it became clear where many of the problems lied. Using an integrated 3-dimensional data logger, within a week it was apparent the majority of problems arose from the way vehicles were being driven especially on the frequently rough and treacherous farm drives.

Together with the client, Arab:IT designed a system to measure the problem by allocating penalty points. The drivers were not told of the existence of the installed devices for two weeks.

At the end of the initial two week period drivers were averaging 1,426 penalty points per driver per week. The majority of these penalty points were incurred by drivers for poor driving. The GPS could show how on the harsh bumps of the farm drives drivers were recording speeds up to 95kph, taking vehicles and the precious cargo to the limit on the extremely uneven surfaces.

Armed with the data, the drivers were called in and told that they were being monitored and their driving standards were totally unacceptable. For the next seven days the client dedicated an internal resource to monitor and inform drivers each time they incurred a penalty, so that they knew the monitoring devices were giving accurate alerts. A penalty and reward scheme was then installed.