Did you know that truck drivers average 130,000 km a year? Five million truck drivers use Europe’s roads daily to deliver and collect goods. Too often, the experience is not pleasant for most of these drivers. So, how can we make life easier for them with Peripass yard management solutions?
Did you know that trucks are idle almost half of the time? And not just because they get stuck in traffic. When they arrive, they generally queue at reception to check in with dozens of other drivers before loading or unloading their vehicles. After being checked in, they return to their truck to wait their turn to drive up to the warehouse gate, which can take hours. Once there, it can take up to an hour before they are on the road again.
What causes this situation? These delays are common due to the lack of visibility on present drivers and available docks and easy communication with drivers. A Yard Management System is the easiest way to solve this problem. Mobile communication, real-time insights in the trucks on the waiting parking, digital dispatching, and accurate data to make better operational planning decisions… now drivers don’t have to wait around aimlessly!
By improving the productivity of your distribution centres, you can reduce the time trucks spend on-site. When done effectively, this could reduce the number of trucks and drivers on the road by up to 20%.
Does this mean that drivers will be out of work? Most certainly not. In the next 10 to 15 years, 40% of all European truck drivers are expected to retire, resulting in a shortage of 150,000 chauffeurs. The UK even expects a shortage of 52,000 drivers in the next two years. Such a steep reduction in transport capacity may lead to empty supermarket shelves and would majorly impact industrial production. Therefore, logistics and industrial companies must deploy their drivers as efficiently as possible.
A truck cab often resembles an office on wheels. Drivers spend much of their time filling out documents, registering, checking in, etc. These papers are time-consuming to complete, both for drivers and site employees. Another frustrating and complicating factor is the language barrier between drivers and reception staff. When a driver is standing at the check-in desk, and something is incorrect, it can be difficult to determine what caused it. Is the transport too early, too late, or simply wrong?
So why not do things more efficiently? With Peripass, a driver can check in digitally with the PO number of their shipment in their preferred language. All other communication takes place in this language. Every driver receives a text message with a personalised access code and instructions or assistance to get to the correct gate. Arriving drivers and your staff will get along much better now.
When you spend long days on the road, knowing where to go once you arrive at your destination means a lot of peace of mind. This starts before the driver is even on site: make sure they can easily find your company by displaying clear signage and indicating which entrance is for trucks, even from the road.
Once on-site, it has to be obvious how to drive to the correct location, whether a parking lot or a reception area. Digital and visual signage can help guide a driver to the right gate, regardless of language. For example, dynamic LED screens can indicate whether trucks must turn left or right on your site to reach the loading docks.
If you take the time to consider the traffic flow in your yard, you can surely devise multiple ways to reduce the administrative burden for your own employees and for drivers. The best way to be successful in this regard is by aligning the administration with the movement. What does this mean? Avoid drivers needing to prove their identity to a guard to get onto the yard, after which they need to park, walk to reception, give their PO number, go back to the truck, wait for the knock on the cabin, drive to the dock, drive back to the parking lot and then walk again to reception to get their completed paperwork. Perhaps there is even a weighing bridge sprinkled in this process.
Instead, use digital check-ins, where the PO number is immediately given. The drivers receive SMS messages that guide them through your flow, like loading dock locations and reminders to pass the weighing bridge. They can get their filled-in paperwork from the check-out kiosk right before driving off the yard. This whole process takes less time and fewer employees to complete.
Every company has different safety regulations. These are often posted at the entrance, but drivers generally do not pay that much attention to them. This can lead to dangerous and non-compliant situations!
Address the rules in each driver’s language to ensure perfect understanding. With Peripass, you can simply add a brief reminder or a test to the check-in process, so drivers have no choice but to refresh their memory. Do you have a supplier who needs to be on-site regularly? In that case, you can easily add an expiration date to the security test, so the driver must only take it once every three months.
Are you ready to make the loading and unloading process easier and more pleasant for your drivers?
Find out why companies like Bridgestone, Alpro, and Saint-Gobain use Peripass to manage their yards. Please fill out the form to see how our software works.
