Freight transport by road has been the most commonly used way of transporting goods in Europe for years. The latest Eurostat data shows that road transport accounts for 76.5% of total inland freight transport. As demand increases and road infrastructure and the intensity of its use changes, fleet management solutions play an increasingly important role in the organisation of the supply chain, helping to plan the vehicle routes (especially trucks), and ensuring their efficiency. The usefulness of route planning solutions is also recognised by the international freight carrier RIX Ltd. (hereafter – RIX), which has managed to facilitate daily work for both fleet dispatchers and drivers with the help of this technology.
Selection criteria – technological development and industry-relevant solutions
The main activity of RIX is road, sea and air freight. The company currently operates a fleet of significant size, which delivers customer goods throughout Europe on a daily basis.
The company has previously used fleet management solutions to offer high-quality cargo transportation to its customers. The decision to start cooperating with Mapon was made because the RIX team appreciated the company’s technological development and ability to offer the latest telematics solutions available on the market.
“Nowadays, technologies are developing very rapidly, and as a company, we want to grow along with them. Seeing that Mapon follows the industry trends and develops innovative solutions essential for the transport and logistics industry, we realized that they can also help us to grow and offer the latest solutions to our customers and carriers,” says Jānis Lovnieks, Head of Cabotage at RIX.
Most frequently used solutions – route planning, professional navigation and the communication tool
When asked about what are the most useful solutions in the company’s fleet management, the RIX representative points out that they use most of the functions available on the Mapon platform – from GPS tracking and fleet fuel control to the route planning solution, which also includes the use of the professional Sygic navigation app.
“It’s important for us that the fleet routing software also includes professional navigation because our fleet consists mainly of freight trucks and such a tool eases the drivers’ work and the route planning for our customers’ cargoes,”
explains Jānis Lovnieks.
The company’s representative considers the fleet communication tool to be an equally important feature in the organisation of daily work – it ensures convenient communication between drivers and fleet managers using Mapon mobile applications.
From route planning to driving with the push of a button
Fleet management software enables companies to improve the quality of freight transport and make everyday life easier for the whole team – both management and drivers. “With route planning, dispatchers have the opportunity to determine potential loading and unloading sites and cargo sizes, as well as accurately assess the possibility of delivering the goods. For example, we had a case when a customer had provided a delivery address that was in the city centre, which wasn’t accessible for a truck. With the help of the tool, we spotted this just in time,” Jānis Lovnieks shares his experience, adding that “many colleagues also appreciate the possibility to see tachograph data in the route planner as it allows to conveniently keep track of drivers’ working hours.”
When talking about the benefits for drivers, the RIX representative points out that they especially appreciate having professional navigation with maps created specifically for trucks.
“The functionality of the platform allows drivers to open the route directly from the route planner and start driving to the destination – this can be done at the push of a button, allowing them to save time and be sure that they’re headed to the right address,“
says Jānis Lovnieks.
He also points out that the company’s employees appreciate not only the functionality of the Mapon platform, but also that they can use a product that is in Latvian, saying: “This makes it easier for us to work in general, and we can provide the customer with high-quality, accurate information about the delivery of goods.”
Responsive team and modern solutions
When commenting on the cooperation so far, Jānis Lovnieks emphasizes that both the Mapon client project managers and client support team are very responsive and helpful.
“We highly appreciate the fact that we can seek help at any time and that Mapon, as a company, always follows industry trends and implements solutions that significantly relieve the daily work of dispatchers and drivers,”
the RIX representative says. The company also appreciates that Mapon performs the installation of tracking equipment in a place convenient for the client, which saves time that would otherwise be spent bringing vehicles to a service station.
He also points out that the route planning and optimisation solution used together with professional navigation brings significant benefits to the company, helping to optimise daily work processes and follow technological developments, which largely determines competitiveness in the market.
If you want to learn more about the possibilities of using the route planning tool, check out this blog article, which also features several video examples. Nevertheless, if you have any questions about this or other Mapon solutions, contact one of our client project managers and apply for a free consultation and platform demo!