Logistics company, DHL Supply Chain SA, has introduced Central Control Tower, a software aimed at monitoring logistics services, giving customers a bird's-eye view of all transport needs.
DHL Supply Chain is the contract logistics unit within DHL Group, which offers logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management in more than 220 countries worldwide.
According to the company, the Central Control Tower is a service which integrates systems that provide for real-time end-to-end fleet management monitoring.
It provides order information, fleet planning and execution, health and safety information, driver behaviour statistics, fleet management and electronic proof of deliveries - all of which are managed on the system from a central location.
Marco Teixeira, DHL Supply Chain's automotive director for SA, says as fleets grow in size, there is a greater need to understand where vehicles are, what the conditions of stock loads are, and whether or not drivers are performing as well as they are expected to, under tough road conditions.
"The time between an order sent in to a logistics provider and the load being delivered to its destination, has traditionally been completely "blind" for a transport manager. The industry is now realising that it has to take a more holistic approach to transport and start to implement technology systems that can give transport managers full end-to-end visibility, with as granular detail as possible," he explains.
The Central Control Tower makes use of software applications designed to seamlessly interact with drivers via a mobile device, notes DHL. All real-time data captured via the mobile device, gets routed to the DHL Supply Chain Control Tower, where staff members are able to view and track orders in the field, monitor driver behaviour, and provide accurate up to the minute information on the status of the order to clients via the ConnectedView portal.
Paul Stone, CEO of DHL Africa and MD South Africa says: "DHL is committed to delivering the optimal transport offering to our customers by utilising technology and our global expertise to ensure service excellence."
DHL says it also offers the solution to clients looking for greater visibility of their transport operations, companies looking for a managed transport service or any transporter that does not necessarily have the resources to create and maintain such an offering.
For DHL customers, it's a value-added service and allows for the creation of additional relevant product, adds Stone: "We can now offer managed transport services, which we weren't able to do in the past, becoming the trusted transport advisor to our clients who don't use DHL vehicles."
Share