8 Key Challenges in Truck Management at
Manufacturing Plants and Facilities

An efficient logistics network is a key pillar of growth for industries like retail, manufacturing, and consumer goods. In a nutshell, logistics efforts are involved in enabling the smooth movement of raw materials from different collection points to diverse processing or manufacturing units and then quickly transporting them to sales channels closer to customers. Irrespective of the geography, trucks are the forerunners in fulfilling the needs of such a high-performance logistics engine irrespective of the domain or geography of operations.

Over the years, truck management has grown from a business support function handled by the operations team into a strategic value enablement entity that even finds its place in the boardroom discussions. In the past, when technology was first leveraged by businesses to modernise their truck management practices, real-time fleet tracking was the gold standard that every business wanted to achieve in the process. However, today real-time tracking is not just a desirable feature, but a basic necessity of a truck management strategy. It is the minimum feature that every business expects to be in place irrespective of the size of operations.

The biggest challenges for truck management often occurs when trucks enter and leave the factory or logistics facility.

Let us examine the top 8 challenges that they encounter here:

• Manual Paperwork: When done manually, documentation of any type will be prone to errors and may be misinterpreted. They also cause significant delays during the evaluation and verification of credentials as erroneous data may trigger warning signs or separate processes to handle consignments in trucks without proper documentation.
• Drivers Caught Off Guard: Many a time, drivers of trucks have limited awareness of the situation within the factory premise or at their respective reporting bays within the facility. They would drive to the bay only to find that there is a bottleneck or delay due to some reason and, hence, contribute the chaos in the process by extending the queue of trucks waiting for clearance.
• Slow Turnaround Time: A logistics or manufacturing facility may have to handle hundreds or even thousands of trucks daily and in varying schedules depending on the business’s production commitment and market trends. To avoid congestion caused by trucks parked or moving within the premises, it is important to have a very minimal truck processing window from their entry to exit. However, with irregularities and manual processes and documentation, the turnaround times for trucks may be relatively slow. This can be a huge challenge that will escalate many folds as the volume of goods handled increases.
• Unorganised Truck Movement: Once entered, trucks may be parked idle and far away from their destined reporting bays to manage congestion. There are chances that ground handlers of trucks may miss such parked away trucks and forget to add them to their charting plans while scheduling bay utilisation plans for the day.
• Bay Availability: Without any transparent and clear reporting of truck movement across different loading or unloading bays, it is impossible for drivers to ascertain the availability of bays for their quick dispatch or delivery.
• Time Wastage: A lot of productive time gets wasted in the factory premises as drivers wait for long hours due to the lack of availability of bays for loading or unloading.
• Bottleneck Delays at Bays: When too many trucks come into the facility and are erratically scheduled to their reporting bays, there is a high probability for bottlenecks to occur at the bays, or even at the entry points of factories when too many trucks come in at the same time disrupting the schedules of employees tasked with verifying entries.
• Irregular Operational Time Frames: Loading and unloading activities in the bay may face erratic schedules and take varying time frames due to the cascading effect of all the above-mentioned challenges mainly caused by the unorganized movement of trucks as well as other critical resources within the factory premises.

Challenges like these can create significant overheads and disruption in daily operations which can further impact end customer-facing channels that depend on efficient logistical fluidity in the supply chain. Luckily, for businesses, truck management today can be empowered with technology to solve their most complex challenges and prevent disruption of business.

By leveraging advanced technology platforms that combine RFID enabled codes, Weighbridge modules at entry/exit points or at bays and automated data entry and updating with business ERP at all interfacing points for truck drivers, these challenges can be seamlessly mitigated.

By accurately sequencing events from entry to exit and recording consignment information digitally through a combination of weighbridge data as well as scannable RFID smart tags, truck management becomes an effortless practice. This saves time, reduces overheads, and improves overall logistical efficiency within the supply chain.

If your business requires more streamlined truck management and logistical efficiency enabled, get in touch with us to see how our world-class solutions can be the game-changer for you. Get to know how we help some of the world’s best brands automate their truck management initiatives and drive greater value with faster ROI.