More visibility and control over transport with a smart control tower

Just as important as good transport planning is the execution and follow-up. This is becoming an increasingly significant challenge given the growing number of disruptions in the supply chain. PTV provides a solution with PTV Axylog, a control tower that provides planners with real-time visibility into the status of orders, trips, and vehicles and provides the tools to intervene as necessary.

Without proper planning, it is impossible to establish a streamlined transport operation. However, a good plan is only half the work. The biggest problems arise after the plan has been completed and the vehicles have departed. For example, a phone call from the delivery location requesting a change in the delivery time, or a delivery that takes half an hour longer than planned, causing delays for the rest of the trip. Not to mention accidents causing traffic jams or other external factors that come into play.

Keep control of the execution of your transport planning.

To create an efficient and effective planning, a trip planning system such as PTV Route Optimiser ST is essential. This ensures that all drivers are well-prepared with their itinerary before hitting the road. And if drivers have to deviate from their planned route due to traffic or roadblocks, they can rely on the alternative route that PTV NavigatorG2 quickly calculates and maps out for them.

But how can planners maintain control over the execution of the trips? How can they see if the execution of the trips is ahead or behind schedule? What options do planners have to switch with their drivers for deviations and disruptions, and to adjust the planning in real-time? And what are the new ‘estimated times of arrival’ (ETAs) that can be communicated to clients and receivers? A new solution is available for this: PTV Axylog.

Control tower: complete visibility of transportation.

PTV Axylog is a control tower that offers complete visibility of the transport operation, just as air traffic controllers have complete visibility of air traffic from a control tower. The control tower enables planners to closely monitor orders, trips, and vehicles and to intervene immediately when necessary. The control tower solution is continuously fed with real-time data from telematics devices of the own fleet or those of other carriers. A standard API connection with PTV Route Optimizer ST makes it possible to check if the execution of trips is proceeding according to plan. PTV Axylog can also be linked to TMS, WMS, and ERP systems via APIs.

But that’s not all. If a trip is delayed during a stop, PTV Axylog calculates what that means for the estimated times of arrival (ETAs) of all subsequent stops. Of course, PTV Axylog takes into account time windows, stop times, driving and rest times, and other restrictions. The beauty of it all is that not only planners can see the adjusted ETAs, but also the senders and recipients of the relevant shipments, if desired. This way, the entire chain stays informed of changes in delivery times.

Mobile app for communication with drivers

PTV Axylog also offers the additional feature of a mobile app for drivers. This app not only allows for continuous transmission of the vehicle’s coordinates to the control tower, but also enables digital proof of delivery (ePoD) by allowing recipients to sign digitally for delivery. This ePoD is immediately available in the control tower and can trigger various automated processes such as sending notifications to clients and recipients or initiating invoicing.

Of course, planners are in direct contact with drivers through the mobile driver app. They can chat with drivers, exchange data and documents, and provide and receive feedback. They can also use the app to inform drivers of changes in the planning. From the app, drivers can directly launch PTV NavigatorG2 to navigate to the next stop.

More satisfaction, less stress, lower costs

Yes, it is true that the transport planning is actually outdated as soon as the first vehicles have left. And no, a control tower like PTV Axylog does not help to prevent deviations and disruptions from the plan. However, the control tower does help to quickly detect problems and minimize their consequences. The result: more satisfaction among clients and recipients, less frustration among drivers, less stress in the planning departments, and ultimately lower transport costs.