Reducing logistics costs is often the number one priority for any business. Mobile apps play a vital role in optimizing the supply chain and saving costs for the company. We have made a list of features that may significantly reduce transportation costs. The list is based on IntexSoft’s experience in the development of logistics mobile apps.
When using GPS monitoring apps, you can monitor the traveled distance and route compliance. The apps also enable you to monitor the idle time and high-speed modes. To use such app, you need to connect a smartphone to the vehicle’s on-board system. The program uses the smartphone location and thus can determine the location of the vehicle, its speed and the state of sensors. This information is then transmitted through a GSM mobile network to the data storage and processing center.
Through the GPS monitoring app, you can monitor fuel consumption. The app can take odometer and speedometer measurements, it can measure engine rpm and temperature, and determine the fuel level in the tank.
The app can be synchronized with the other sensors, for example, with cargo door open sensors, weight and axle loads, passenger flow records, temperature sensors, humidity, and CO2 levels.
This feature is especially crucial for truckers. The app can track and record the working time in transit and idle time. Thus, the driver is able to avoid large penalties for violating his working and resting regimes.
The IntexSoft team has developed such an app for truck drivers. Click to learn more.
With the help of your mobile device, you can use mix solutions. For example, a smartphone camera can be used as a barcode scanner. In this case, the barcode is generated for the back-end part of the project.
A modern software solution provides the API with the ability to interact with databases and obtain the necessary information that can be used, for example, for printing barcodes in the form of a label for goods packaging.
Drivers can use the specialized app to scan loading points and mark the time they spend loading the goods. A special barcode can be installed in the warehouses so that drivers can scan it, and thus, transfer unloading information. You can also track the time intervals by which deliveries were made from station A to station B.
Today, phone calls are used as much frequently as texts messaging. In many workflow situations, it is more convenient to write a message than to make a call. Therefore, to optimize its work, a logistics company can install a notification system on employees’ mobile devices. With the help of such messengers, you can easily notify employees about a new task. The main advantage of such apps is that they consume very little of Internet traffic.
This is a must for logistics mobile apps. The trucker can drive in a place, where there is poor Internet connection or there is no signal at all. But in such situations, he still needs to be able to use the app and access the database. Then, when the device is connected to the Internet, the driver will be able to synchronize and unload the data.
With the mobile app, you can organize or change the loading order for goods, considering the sequence by which your customers visit. You can also add a feature that sends SMS text notification about your visit time to customers.
Through the app, you can monitor compliance with the planned stay time at a particular point, customers’ visits order and deviations from the route.
Through this system, you can determine the list of apps that need to be installed on the mobile device. You can also work with the device remotely: update applications, delete any information. This is critical for data security: when an employee decides to leave the company, you can remotely re-save all data to another device.
The data that companies receive through the logistics mobile apps are very valuable. Such data can be analyzed in order to be able to select the most optimal routes, determine the methods of reducing fuel consumption and optimize employees’ working hours.
Keep costs down!
Ensuring maximum operational transparency as well as automating time-consuming manual processes is a real trend in the business world in recent years. You can see these changes virtually in all fields, and even in government sectors, but these advances can be especially useful in retail and e-commerce.
Any business is a combination of various processes that require effective control. The competent setting off the chain of necessary actions significantly speeds up performance and optimizes work.
Due to the 2020 crisis, many businesses suffered or were closed. However, many survivors caught the wave and went online. Other companies have been presented online for a long time, now looking to improve their services since customers have a much wider choice.