The Freight Exchange Evolves

TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROUP

In association with

Taking Fleet Profitability to the Next Level

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contentsTRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

Welcome to this in-depth look at our services produced in association with Road Transport Media. We’ve come a long way in the 15 years since Courier Exchange first opened its doors for business, providing sameday couriers with a solution for better use of their empty return journeys. It was the era of

dial-up internet and everyone had a Nokia; the mobile web was just a glimmer in the eyes of the marketers. Fast-forward to 2015 and we now see that the technology being touted at the turn of the century has become an everyday part of our lives, with consumer expectations driving the demand for modern industry solutions. This ‘any place, any time’ technology has made it increasingly possible to fulfil our original vision of a connected freight transport industry, with information and data moving seamlessly between logistics operators to wherever they need it – in the office or on the move, desktop or mobile device.

From that standing start in spring 2000, Transport Exchange Group now has 3,500 member businesses, trading some £70m-worth of freight transport between themselves annually across our two key freight exchanges. The usage of the Exchanges is increasing strongly, a testament not only to the improving UK economy but also the result of our new Exchange 2.0 launched in summer 2013, which made it easier to engage with the platform on every type of device. The updated Exchange has provided the foundations for our growth, turning it into an information gateway that connects everyone involved in the transport supply chain. We are pleased to have formed partnerships with leading vehicle telematics providers such as Navman Wireless and TomTom Telematics. These integrations make the location-based vehicle data in the Exchange more accurate and up-to-date, automates the data input and have the potential to give all parties excellent visibility of their loads during the carriage of a consignment. It has been satisfying to see the resulting increase in business for our members, with new enquiries about fleet availability reportedly coming in within minutes of each new integration going live.

We are committed to a strong investment programme to enhance the scope and reach of the platform. Please take a few minutes to read through the articles and case studies in this supplement to see if we could make a difference to your business.

Happy Exchanging!

The logistics solution3 More than just backloadsFreight exchanges have evolved into more than just a source for backloads 4 Bring on the benefitsUsing the system brings a range of benefits including more profit, saving time and never saying “no” to a customer again 5 Ambitions fulfilledBelonging to Haulage Exchange has helped family haulier AE Hancock expand and boost its workload 6 Innovation and integrationTransport Exchange Group’s integrated relationship with telematic providers could be an asset for your company 8 Collaboration is keyCollaborative logistics is key to easing the driver shortage issue 9 Case studiesWe catch up with two operators that have tried, tested and signed up to Courier Exchange 10 Business solutionsEnsure you stay agile and meet customers’ needs 11 TechnologyWhile Transport Exchange has been operating online freight exchanges for 15 years, technology advances have enhanced the services it offers to members

Transport Exchange Group – The Freight Exchange Evolves is a free supplement with Commercial Motor and Motor TransportEditor: Steve Hobsonsteve.hobson@roadtransport.comDesign and production: Tim Noonan and Clare Goldie

Managing director: Andy Salter

Published by Road Transport Media Ltd, 2nd Floor, NINE Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4SZ Tel: 020 8259 2170

In association with

Lyall CresswellFounder

www.courierexchange.co.uk

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You can see the exact position and

status of your subcontracted loads

at all times

More than just backloadsMisconceptions abound about the role freight exchanges play in logistics. They are evolving into more

than simply a way of minimising empty running, says Luke Davies, Transport Exchange sales manager

Exchanges are just about backloadsWhile this may have been true of the first generation “load boards” and other freight exchanges available, we see things differently at Transport Exchange Group.

Collaborative working is becoming an ever more important and necessary aspect of our industry. We realised some time ago that the Exchange has a critical role to play in optimising the workflow and experience between trading partners to make this as seamless as possible.

With this goal in mind, the Exchange acts as a ‘gateway’ by providing a comprehensive set of collaborative tools including integrations with vehicle telematics providers and third-party transport management software. These services improve the flow of information between trading partners, cut down on manual data entry and save time for all those involved.

Can we trust the membership?When the reputation of a business is on the line, it is understandable that operators may be cautious when putting customers’ goods in the hands of a third-party carrier. We understand this concern so we have implemented a range of checks and safety measures to ensure we have reliable bona-fide operators trading on our platform. We have a 17-point accreditation process before any business can be set up on our system including full document checks, background checks and reference checks.

Once a business begins trading on the Exchange, our unique

‘member-rates-member’ feedback system kicks in. This is a fully managed service that ensures that you are always aware of how a business is trading.

There are separate ratings for both delivery performance and invoice payment, with a dedicated in-house team of account managers handling and assessing any negative ratings as they arise to ensure they are fair and properly handled. For situations where a closed user group is more appropriate, we also enable existing trading groups to work together in our ‘Preferred Partners’ programme.

Will I lose control?It can be embarrassing for a customer to call asking for the ETA of a delivery only for you to be unable to contact the subcontractor that is carrying out the load for you. However, with our new telematics integration programme this is not a problem. Providing the subcontractor carrying out the load for you has integrated its fleet (or is using our mobile app) you will be able to

see the exact position of your load at all times, with the added bonus of pro-active alerts sent to all parties at key milestones.

I don’t have time for an exchangeA freight exchange should be a time-saving tool, not another hassle to fit into your already busy day. We’ve developed several tools to make the Exchange as ‘hands off’ and pro-active as possible, from integrations with third-party transport management systems through to our Live Maps that automatically update with new loads and vehicle positions.

What if a subcontractor tries to approach my customer?This is a valid concern but in our experience one that rarely occurs on the Exchange – we make it clear to new members that we have a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of “poaching”. If any member is found to be contacting a customer of another member that they have worked with through the exchange, we will suspend and revoke their membership if the complaint is upheld.

Exchanges can depress ratesThis is not the case on our Exchanges: our reports show a consistent level of rate per mile over an extended period of time. Unlike other freight trading platforms, we only allow bona-fide transport and logistics businesses to trade on our system. We do not open membership to shippers to post work and essentially cut out the haulage operator.

DispELLing MyThs TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

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With the right freight exchange system

you can see where a load is at any

given time

Bring on the benefitsJoining a freight exchange such as Haulage Exchange or Courier Exchange brings a range of

benefits over and above just getting more work, explains sales manager Luke Davies

AgilityEvery businesses has seasonal peaks and troughs, and this can make managing your assets while still remaining profitable in low demand periods a challenge. With our system you can find that capacity sweet spot much more easily, by using the exchanges to handle excess work during peak demand periods and fill empty assets when demand is low.

Manage relationships with trading partnersWe have included many tools to help manage the administrative process of managing multiple trading partners. Not only do these tools cut down on wasted administrative time, they also help you work with the most relevant partners, which generally means the most profitable for your business at all times.

More profitsEverything we do at the Transport Exchange Group is designed to make your operation more profitable. The suite of features available on our exchanges are designed to improve fleet utilisation or the efficiency of your subcontract operation and therefore the overall profit of your business.

Save timeOur system can save you a huge amount of time by streamlining many time-intensive tasks. What’s more, our system has been designed to be as intuitive and easy to use as possible, not to become another chore you need to shoehorn into your busy day.

Never let a customer downBy using the on-demand network of 30,000 vehicles provided by fully accredited exchange members available to you, letting a customer down with that last-minute urgent load is a thing of the past – even if it 4pm on Thursday before Easter.

More controlWhen using subcontractors it is unavoidable that you lose some control over the load. We have created many features to minimise this concern. With our new integration with popular telematics systems you can see where your load is at any given time. This allows you to provide accurate location and ETA information back to your customers, just as if the load was on one of your own vehicles.

Protect your business Our system is designed to be a safe and secure place to trade with other businesses. We have implemented processes and tools to make sure your business is protected when dealing with other members, but still allowing you to select the most appropriate load even if you have never dealt with a member before.

Firstly all members have to go through our very strict 17-point accreditation procedure, making sure only the best operators are allowed access.

Our dedication to a safe trading platform doesn’t end there though. We have the most comprehensive member-rates-member feedback in the industry, allowing you to pre-check every member before deciding if you want to work with them.

wHy Join an ExCHangE?TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

www.courierexchange.co.uk

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Ambitions fulfilledFamily haulier AE Hancock, based in an 8,000ft2 warehouse in Stockport, is run by Tony and Dawn

Hancock. They operate six vehicles delivering throughout the UK and to the continent

rganic growth, rather than forcing expansion by chasing work, has been the

approach for Tony Hancock since 2002, when he quit his job with a local courier and bought a 3.5-tonne flatbed and started doing deliveries for a local steel door manufacturer.

Dawn joined in 2007, passing the National and International CPC exams, and taking on the office management role to allow Tony to concentrate on driving the trucks.

With Dawn qualified as the transport manager, two more 7.5-tonne flatbeds joined the fleet, and in 2012, the company invested in a Scania unit and Euroliner trailer.

The artic brought with it new challenges. Tony explains: “Before the artic we went everywhere but we were so busy we always needed to get the trucks back so we were coming back with fresh air.”

Smaller trucks cost less to run so getting a truck back empty to do the next job can be more cost effective than looking for a backload. With an artic, the costs are higher, making the losses when running empty more apparent.

“When we went north or south we didn’t have the contacts to bring back a load, so we’d come back empty,” Tony says.

The solution was Haulage Exchange, which came highly recommended by an existing partner. “We had a look, and then we signed up,” says Dawn, who had tried something similar before without much success.

majority of its return journeys with a load and boosted company turnover. Dawn says it helped create a trusted network to provide access to nationwide and European opportunities.

“Haulage Exchange has become an integral part of our day-to-day operation, supporting our ambitions to expand the business,” she says. “The effect was almost immediate, helping us to effectively fill available capacity and make best use of our assets.”

AE Hancock joined Haulage Exchange in January 2014. By

gaining access to a network of more than 3,000 transport businesses across the UK, Ireland and the continent, the company has filled more than 90% of its empty return load capacity. This resulted in an impressive 20% increase in turnover in the first month on the Exchange, worth more than £8,000.

The company secures a significant number of loads a month through Haulage Exchange, using it to list available capacity on a daily basis and identifying suitable loads that match with the locations of vehicles from the company’s office in Stockport. It has been able to develop valued relationships with like-minded hauliers, including a core network of 20 operators that are responsible for an increasing proportion of the additional loads.

Meanwhile, the feedback system has enabled the company to make informed decisions about who they work with and have peace of mind that new partners will provide the expected levels of service.

The simple, responsive and intuitive nature of Haulage Exchange means AE Hancock uses Haulage Exchange without creating any administrative burden internally. Using the freight trading platform’s invoice system has helped the company save time and streamline its billing processes. And the added support provided by the dedicated customer management team means that any queries are answered immediately and issues quickly resolved.

Haulage Exchange has helped fill

available capacity on return loads,

says Dawn Hancock

OTony adds: “Once you get to

know these companies, Haulage Exchange is not bothered if you communicate direct with other members. That allows you to develop relationships and that is what transport is all about.”

Dawn agrees: “It has also helped us not just with backloads but also to help replace any jobs that might get cancelled so you can still use the vehicle.”

Joining Haulage Exchange helped AE Hancock fill the

cASE STUDy TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

www.haulageexchange.co.uk

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partneringTRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

Paul Walton (above), Giles Margerison (below) and John

Merrill (above right)

Innovation & integrationif it’s total visibility of vehicle locations and times your organisation needs, transport exchange

group’s integrated relationship with telematic providers could be the answer you are looking for

“This live vehicle tracking data integrated with data on the courier network and allows users to quickly pick up and see loads that are available around their vehicles,” Merrill says. “It is very easy to use and the notifications coming through are all in realtime, which makes everything a lot quicker than before the integration.

“Operators registered on the TEG platform can easily use their vehicle tracking systems to promote available capacity and match precise vehicle locations.”

Merrill goes on to say that there was “a gap in the market” for integration with a freight exchange that benefits both sets of customers and the wider industry. “We identified that integrating our telematics solutions into the freight exchange platform could optimise fleet performance and boost profit, and that is exactly what we are seeing,” he says.

Giles Margerison, sales director UK and Ireland at TomTom Business Solutions, says that TomTom’s online platform

ne of the key aspects that make Transport Exchange Group (TEG) different is its

innovative approach to integrating its exchanges with leading telematics systems to give total visibility of the locations of vehicles on the network.

Being able to see quickly and easily exactly where partners’ vehicles are is key to the success of a freight exchange, and here TEG is leading the field.

It has successfully integrated with leading telematics providers Navman Wireless and TomTom Telematics, and is about to announce more partnerships.

Using application program interfaces (APIs) – software shortcuts that enable developers to quickly embed complex coding into other programs – TEG has tapped into the telematics fleet and vehicle location data. TEG commercial manager Paul Walton says: “This allows us to plot the location of any fleet vehicle of our mutual customers and display their locations on our Live Availability Map. This does not simply put a dot on a map; we use the location to match loads with these vehicles based on their location, vehicle size and type.”

This is important, as simply seeing the location of a vehicle is of little use to someone trying to find a vehicle suitable to carry their load. Other members can view the location of these vehicles and their status of availability,” continues Walton. “This development has proved to be

extremely successful. Every customer that has connected the two systems together is reporting an instant increase in obtaining work through the exchange. This improves the customers’ ROI for both their telematics

O

solutions and their Exchange membership.”

The integration also makes it much easier for larger fleets to post their empty vehicles on the exchange, making it a fully automatic process that requires no manual intervention. The operator can set parameters limiting what information about the vehicle is posted on the exchange and who can see it.

TEG chose to partner with Navman and TomTom first because they are two of the biggest names in the industry, between them holding the largest share of tracked assets. “They both have great products, and will provide a great service to our members,” enthuses Walton. “They are very well setup for integration and have dedicated departments that work very closely with partners.”

Navman European business development manager John Merrill says the partnership with TEG was the first-ever vehicle tracking integration with a web-based courier network.

www.courierexchange.co.uk

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s The integration between TEG and Navman Wireless has enabled Blue Whale Logistics to use its vehicle tracking system to promote available capacity and match precise vehicle locations with thousands of loads posted on Courier Exchange.

“This is about how technology can turn chance into success in an industry that often relies on luck to get back loads,” says Blue Whale owner John Adams, who got about 40 new jobs in the first month of integrating the company’s vehicle tracking solution with Courier Exchange.

“In the courier and haulage business, you hear people talking about how they got a nice long job, and then another one comes in collecting nearby and going in the same direction. That is the element of luck,” Adams continues. “But if you are a courier and haulage business that is not using capacity, using vehicle tracking with the freight exchange platform is a much easier and more reliable way to ensure you are in the right place at the right time.”

WebFleet takes in data from the vehicle telematics system and turns it into useful information such as vehicle location displays, reports, dashboards etc.

“All that data is exportable via APIs,” he says. “We have a whole library of those codes that make it easy to extract any data that exists in WebFleet. TEG liked the simplicity of our API, which allowed it to do what it wanted to do easily and quickly because it makes it simple to join systems together.

“TEG has quickly become a very successful partner of ours; we know at TomTom that the future for us is integration and partnerships.”

There are already about 100 customers using Navman or TomTom integrated with TEG, representing approximately 600 vehicles. “All these members have noticed an increase in work being offered to them,” says Walton. “Another benefit is that members who have integrated their vehicles can now view their vehicles from one screen in the Exchange.”

Margerison adds: “Our integration with TEG means its members who are joined up with the technology can see where every other members’ vehicles are. If you have 10 trucks you are limited in what work you can accept, but if you team up with lots of other transport companies with 10 trucks you might have access to 200 trucks anywhere in the country. So you can operate like a big company.

“You can accept more work and so become more reliable for their customers because when someone calls with a job, the answer is always ‘yes’. The vehicle only needs to have a tracking box, which is inexpensive.”

Navman’s Merrill says: “There are now 4,500-plus users all hoping to eliminate empty running and wasting capacity. All users are

reporting increases in efficiency and profit, and many say revenue has increased almost overnight as a result of picking up more work.”

As well as adding more telematics providers, TEG is continuing to work with its existing partners to enhance the service offered to members.

“The next phase, due for release in the second quarter of 2015, will allow bookings to be sent directly to a driver,” says Walton. “Navigation is instant from their location to the pick-up point and then from the pick-up point to the delivery location. The driver can then update the booking directly from their vehicle when they are on site, collected, at the delivery location and have delivered.

“This updates the Exchange diary of the customer and the

member that gave them the booking. In addition, updating these statuses generates an Exchange ‘pro-alert’, which offers a map link of the location as well as the status, plus the date and time this occurred. This can then be emailed by the Exchange automatically to several pre-entered email addresses, such as the end customer or the dispatch manager.”

TomTom’s Margerison says such developments will be made easier by the next generation of in-cab devices that can do more than just navigate or transmit telematics data.

“The new TomTom PRO navigation devices are like tablets and developers can write just about any programs on those to make them do anything,” he says.

“This partnership is still at an embryonic stage. There is a big win in a very simple integration that allows members to see where other members’ vehicles are. But there is a lot more we can do. We can now start to develop electronic proof of delivery (ePoD) with signature capture and workflow technology that sends jobs out. Now we have the base platform all those things can be added on. Once you get operators using the system, they trust it and start to ask what else it can do.”

www.haulageexchange.co.uk

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Freight exchanges offer a flexible and simple solution to

sharing information about empty running,

says TEG MD Lyall Cresswell

uch has been said recently about the driver shortage that faces the road

transport sector, exacerbated by Driver CPC training requirements and seasonal peaks in demand. The problem has, for once, made it into the mainstream press, with talk of empty shelves in the high street and understocked DCs across the country. However, there have been few tangible solutions put forward that can tackle this potential effect on capacity in the UK supply chain within a reasonable timeframe or do not require a long-term change in how the industry is perceived by would-be new entrants.

Any initiative designed to attract new blood to the sector, even if successful, is unlikely to have much effect for years, so what are operators expected to do in the meantime to overcome this shortfall? There is unlikely to be a single answer, but improved collaboration in the marketplace could deliver immediate results by maximising efficiency and utilisation in the existing fleets of UK road transport operators.

A research paper published in 2014 by the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight, a joint collaboration between Heriot-Watt and Cambridge Universities, claims that almost a third of HGV miles are driven without a load, a 3% increase over the past 13 years. This suggests that much of the required capacity does exist, but the challenge is finding an effective means of tapping into this under-utilised resource.

Of course challenges exist and not all empty capacity will be accessible by any means, but companies have the opportunity to achieve more by having an open mind-set based around collaborative efficiency – as long as they are able to access the necessary mechanisms for sharing information and working together. Freight exchanges have been helping transport businesses to fill empty vehicles for a number of years and developments are making interactive co-operation between trusted business partners even more achievable.

Whether through providing access to the general transport marketplace or a more restricted closed user group of known trading partners, a freight exchange platform such as Haulage Exchange can help connect operators to take advantage of available resources at any given time. This approach also provides immense scalability to flex activity up and down where required. It encourages users to not just trade together but act collaboratively by providing the technological, billing and administrative support to develop relationships and share the necessary operational data.

And with the ability to integrate with complementary supply chain systems including vehicle telematics, freight exchanges are becoming a central hub that connect people, assets and data. By embracing and combining with the latest technology innovations and other essential business and operational tools, it is becoming

possible to create trusted networks, boost operational efficiency and increase profit simply by being better connected.

Integrating a freight exchange with vehicle telematics systems provides an effective way of increasing levels of trust as well as achieving confidence that any loads will be delivered on time and meet expected service levels. By making the live vehicle tracking data viewable via the freight trading platform, accurate location and status information of loads in transit can be shared between trading partners and customers in real-time. Meanwhile, it is possible to match precise vehicle locations with already posted loads or receive email notifications of new jobs that are suitable based on current or planned positions.

Freight exchanges can offer a flexible, responsive and simple-to-use solution that enables haulage and logistics operators to quickly and effectively share information about empty vehicle capacity and available work. All of this is making it easier to fill available space, eliminate wasted capacity and ease some the burden operators are facing because of driver shortages.

There is often a view that road transport is simply not set up to collaborate, but it has been robust enough in the past to adapt to changing market conditions. What is clear is that operators will need to find and deploy all of the unused or under-used capacity in the market if they are to meet demand, so effective collaboration could just hold the key.

Transport Exchange Group MD Lyall Cresswell explains how collaborative logistics is key to easing the driver shortage issue

Collaboration is the key

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MaxiMisE EffiCiEnCyTRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

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Integrating its TomTom Webfleet system with Transport Exchange Group’s Courier Exchange is helping Today Team expand its business at a phenomenal rate.

Since it was formed in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2005, Today Team has gone from nothing to a fleet of 20 vehicles and a sizeable customer portfolio.

Jamie Boyd started the business from scratch with a loan from the Prince’s Trust. He had a van, a willingness to work hard and ambition. It paid off and in the first 18 months the business expanded substantially. However, as both his customer base and their requirements increased, Boyd recognised that if he was going to compete on a level playing field and take the business to the next level he would need to have nationwide coverage.

In 2006 he took the plunge and joined the Courier Exchange – and hasn’t looked back since. “Courier Exchange has done a great job. It has given us the level of coverage that we needed and some of the contracts we have today wouldn’t have been possible without the Exchange,” he says.

“It suits our business. The speed of pick up works well and the level of service replicates that of our own – it is a seamless operation and one in which we have total confidence to provide a level of service commensurate with our own.

“Courier Exchange has been good for our business and gave us a strong foundation on which to build. We have built

our business on delivering personal service. No matter what we are asked to do, we always try to find a solution and the Exchange helps us deliver that.

“The Exchange feedback system offers total transparency and is immensely valuable. It is just like using one of your own drivers.”

To better use its fleet, Today Team has recently integrated its TomTom Telematics’ Webfleet system with Courier Exchange.

The initial trial involving two vans and an HGV quickly proved its value in terms of reduced administration, increased revenue and improved customer service according to Boyd. “TEG has worked closely with members to ensure the vehicle

tracking integration meets our operational needs to help achieve real performance benefits,” he says. “We estimate that the business has generated in excess of £40,000 of profit as a result of this approach in our fleet operation.”

Pioneering family firm Redhead Couriers, based in Colchester, Essex, was one of the first to trial the integration of its Navman Wireless telematics system with Transport Exchange Group’s Courier Exchange – and was therefore one of the first to reap the benefits.

Redhead Couriers was set up by MD Andy Ling and his wife Celia as a partnership 15 years ago. Since then they have built up a reputation as a fast and reliable same-day express courier company.

The company operates a fleet of 14 vehicles from 18-tonne HGVs to vans and motorbikes, specialising in same-day express courier deliveries throughout the UK and on the continent.

After being introduced to TEG by several business partners, Andy decided to join Courier Exchange in February 2007. Redhead Couriers was the first member company to volunteer to take part in the trials of the integrated advanced vehicle tracking (see page 6). By integrating its existing Navman Wireless telematics solution with the Exchange, the company can provide complete visibility and status of its vehicles to more than 4,500 fellow operators in the UK, Ireland and the continent.

As a result, Redhead Couriers is able to better promote its available fleet capacity, match its precise vehicle locations to

new load opportunities and offer the ability for trading partners to monitor the progress of loads while in transit.

Andy says: “We have been a long-standing member of the Exchange, but we were looking at ways of simplifying our internal processes while seeing where we could pick up additional work. The added visibility and control we see from the vehicle tracking integration enables us to work closer with

our partners, streamline our transport planning and boost our profit. The integration also has the benefit that we can publish our available fleet capacity without having to enter this information manually into the Exchange website.”

The company uses the Courier Exchange from

two sites in Colchester and London, with about 10% of loads coming via the freight trading platform. By taking real-time locations of available capacity direct from the tracking software, the company has seen an increase in job enquiries, while trading partners are able to view the exact whereabouts and progress of their loads while in transit to provide added peace of mind.

case studies TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

www.haulageexchange.co.uk

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Agility without the risksEvery business would like to think that it is agile – let’s face it, no

business wants to see itself as being slow and cumbersome

address these concerns we could provide members with a platform that could significantly improve the agility of their businesses while at the same time cutting down on operating costs and improving their own vehicle utilisation.

How can you be sure a carrier will be in the right place at the right time to take your load?

How can you be sure the carrier will be up to the standard you and your customers expect?

How can you be sure you can provide an expected feedback loop of information to your customers in an efficient and timely manner when their goods are on a third-party’s vehicle?

How can you be sure you can cover the work you have just won from a new customer without purchasing more expensive vehicles and the additional associated costs?

The simple answer to all these questions is to make the Transport Exchange Group your first and only choice when choosing a freight exchange to complement your existing suite of transport systems.

ften the trade off between being certain you can service your customers at the

required level and keeping agile leaves businesses erring on the side of caution – damaging their profit in the process.

Freight exchanges provide a means of staying agile while at the same time ensuring customers’ needs are met. By limiting yourself to using only vehicles in your own fleet there is no guarantee you will have a vehicle in the right place at the right time. The knock-on effects of letting down a customer by turning down a last-minute job or load can be costly.

At the Transport Exchange Group we are taking the concept of the freight exchange to the next level by introducing features that truly aid your business’s quest for agility and, ultimately, maximum profitability.

The real issue with relying on a freight exchange is the “being sure”

factor. You know the concept makes sense, you know that working corroboratively will increase your agility and you know that operating a lean, agile business will increase profit. But your concerns over customer service and the loss of control when dealing with third parties prevent you from optimal operational efficiency.

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Sometimes, membership of our general Exchange isn’t suitable or possible for a business – that’s where our ‘Preferred Partners’ programme steps in. This gives logistics operators all the advantages of the main Exchange but within a closed user group environment. The programme is suitable for an organisation that only contracts with approved suppliers or maybe a freight network or consortium that wants to increase its collaborative efficiency by using the tools and support that we offer. Preferred Partners can also be used in an organisation or company, unlocking the data silos that so often hinder a more efficient way of working across diverse business units. It’s certainly a truism that your existing trade networks hold huge value to your business. The Preferred Partners programme improves the visibility of the available capacity of suppliers and network partners and allows demand to be advertised throughout the network. The business rules can be flexed to suit specific situations, with control over who sees what. It is also possible to integrate with third-party software, including TMS, to create an efficient, paperless, exchange of information between trading partners. Other options include the ability to create a branded customer portal that reinforces the value of any network.

www.courierexchange.co.uk

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Top telematic technologyWhile Transport Exchange Group has been operating online freight exchanges for 15 years,

technology advances enable it to enhance member services. Steve Hobson talks to Lyall Cresswell

ne such development has been the seamless integration of telematics data from

vehicles with the Exchanges, explains MD Lyall Cresswell.

“We are integrating with popular telematics providers, both large and small, starting with TomTom Telematics and Navman Wireless,” he says. “This enables the automation of publication of vehicle capacity onto the Exchange – though the operator can always specify whether that is on the general exchange or just distributed to a select group of other operators. We also match advertised loads to available vehicles based on their fleet location.”

Telematics enables the Exchange to provide much more information about a vehicle than just its location. “If I have a load I don’t just want to see dots on a map,” says Cresswell. “I want to see the availability of that vehicle, where it is going, its status and ETA. The Exchange enables users to add that data for each integrated vehicle.”

FunctionalityCresswell believes that this valuable functionality will encourage the take-up of telematics and that most vehicles run by members will make use of this integration facility.

“Over a period of time, we believe that the majority of transport businesses will have that ability,” he says. “It is already the case that most OEMs now send their vehicles out with telematics pre-installed and the general move towards ‘the internet of things’ means that it won’t be long before

Exchange they have had calls about their vehicles, generating extra revenue for their businesses.”

Basic location information can also be provided by a mobile phone running the Transport Exchange Group app. “This is proving popular,” says Cresswell. “Operators can manage bookings and proof of deliveries (PoD) through the app and add information such as destination, loaded status and ETA.”

The visibility provided by integrated systems doesn’t just help match loads with vehicles. “It really comes into play during carriage of the consignment,” says Cresswell. “When goods are shipped, we

encourage users to send their booking straight from the shipper’s transport management system [TMS] via the Exchange to the carrier’s own TMS, and even onwards to the in-cab device of the assigned vehicle. We give everyone in the chain complete visibility of the load from 60 minutes before collection through to 60 minutes after delivery. So our users can work with any other business on the Exchange and still have the same consistent level of visibility of the load which improves the service and raises the level of trust between all parties.”

One of the next steps in this move towards this type of “frictionless” trading is to integrate with in-cab electronic PoD systems so signatures confirming safe receipt of the load can be immediately visible to the customer without the usual paper chase of order, PoD and invoice.

“We have recently completed this with an in-cab device from Navman Wireless so that shippers can get that PoD back from the vehicle in real time,” says Cresswell. “We have always had electronic billing as an inherent part of the Exchanges and use of that has increased rapidly in the past two years as we have added more functionality. Now a carrier can raise an electronic invoice that carries all the PoD information, order references etc and that can also be approved and paid online.”

So, as connected technologies become more commonplace, there is a bright future for forward-looking businesses that embrace the opportunities to improve both their efficiency and profit.

Operators can raise electronic

invoices that carry all the PoD

information

Oeverything is connected in the logistics environment.”

Cresswell argues that the opportunities to pick up more work will encourage take-up of telematics among smaller fleet operators and owner drivers.

“Traditionally smaller fleets have not purchased a telematics solution but we have given them a powerful reason to adopt it, with a quick return on investment” says Cresswell. “Members have told us that within minutes of switching on the fleet integration with the

TECHnoLoGy TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

www.haulageexchange.co.uk

TRANSEX 010-011.indd 11 30/03/2015 08:39:33

11

Top telematic technologyWhile Transport Exchange Group has been operating online freight exchanges for 15 years,

technology advances enable it to enhance member services. Steve Hobson talks to Lyall Cresswell

ne such development has been the seamless integration of telematics data from

vehicles with the Exchanges, explains MD Lyall Cresswell.

“We are integrating with popular telematics providers, both large and small, starting with TomTom Telematics and Navman Wireless,” he says. “This enables the automation of publication of vehicle capacity onto the Exchange – though the operator can always specify whether that is on the general exchange or just distributed to a select group of other operators. We also match advertised loads to available vehicles based on their fleet location.”

Telematics enables the Exchange to provide much more information about a vehicle than just its location. “If I have a load I don’t just want to see dots on a map,” says Cresswell. “I want to see the availability of that vehicle, where it is going, its status and ETA. The Exchange enables users to add that data for each integrated vehicle.”

FunctionalityCresswell believes that this valuable functionality will encourage the take-up of telematics and that most vehicles run by members will make use of this integration facility.

“Over a period of time, we believe that the majority of transport businesses will have that ability,” he says. “It is already the case that most OEMs now send their vehicles out with telematics pre-installed and the general move towards ‘the internet of things’ means that it won’t be long before

Exchange they have had calls about their vehicles, generating extra revenue for their businesses.”

Basic location information can also be provided by a mobile phone running the Transport Exchange Group app. “This is proving popular,” says Cresswell. “Operators can manage bookings and proof of deliveries (PoD) through the app and add information such as destination, loaded status and ETA.”

The visibility provided by integrated systems doesn’t just help match loads with vehicles. “It really comes into play during carriage of the consignment,” says Cresswell. “When goods are shipped, we

encourage users to send their booking straight from the shipper’s transport management system [TMS] via the Exchange to the carrier’s own TMS, and even onwards to the in-cab device of the assigned vehicle. We give everyone in the chain complete visibility of the load from 60 minutes before collection through to 60 minutes after delivery. So our users can work with any other business on the Exchange and still have the same consistent level of visibility of the load which improves the service and raises the level of trust between all parties.”

One of the next steps in this move towards this type of “frictionless” trading is to integrate with in-cab electronic PoD systems so signatures confirming safe receipt of the load can be immediately visible to the customer without the usual paper chase of order, PoD and invoice.

“We have recently completed this with an in-cab device from Navman Wireless so that shippers can get that PoD back from the vehicle in real time,” says Cresswell. “We have always had electronic billing as an inherent part of the Exchanges and use of that has increased rapidly in the past two years as we have added more functionality. Now a carrier can raise an electronic invoice that carries all the PoD information, order references etc and that can also be approved and paid online.”

So, as connected technologies become more commonplace, there is a bright future for forward-looking businesses that embrace the opportunities to improve both their efficiency and profit.

Operators can raise electronic

invoices that carry all the PoD

information

Oeverything is connected in the logistics environment.”

Cresswell argues that the opportunities to pick up more work will encourage take-up of telematics among smaller fleet operators and owner drivers.

“Traditionally smaller fleets have not purchased a telematics solution but we have given them a powerful reason to adopt it, with a quick return on investment” says Cresswell. “Members have told us that within minutes of switching on the fleet integration with the

TECHnoLoGy TRANSPORT EXCHANGE GROuP

www.haulageexchange.co.uk

TRANSEX 010-011.indd 11 30/03/2015 08:39:33

How many subbies do you need right now?

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Transport Exchange Group Ltd, The Perfume Factory, 140 Wales Farm Road, London W3 6UG.

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We have a network of 3,500 accredited transport businesses with more than 30,000 vehicles waiting to deliver your loads – on time, at the right cost.

See how easy it is. Call Haulage Exchange on 0208 896 6725 or go to www.fi ndsubbies.co.uk for a personal demo.

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TRANSEX 004-005.indd 6 30/03/2015 10:03:47