Bakker Transport & Warehousing uses Performance Portal, Trimble's platform for driving style analysis and coaching, and Tachotime Manager for further improvement and monitoring of its driver’s performance and rest times. The fast-growing logistics service provider was already using Trimble’s on-board computer and payroll software. Performance Portal allows a fair comparison of driving behaviour regardless of the make of the truck drivers are driving. Auke Frankena and Marco Dijkstra are seeing clear progress: "In the first six months the average score for driving behaviour increased from 6.9 to 7.6."
Bakker Transport & Warehousing is growing fast. For the past five years, almost every year the logistics service provider has put a new warehouse into operation. This growth is also visible in the fleet, which is mainly used for domestic trips, international trips in the Benelux and Germany, night trips and the supply of supermarkets throughout the country. Bakker has 40 trucks and 53 trailers, which are driven by a team of 85 drivers.
"When I started working at Bakker seven years ago, we only had 15 trucks. Our growth has everything to do with the strong focus on food," said operational coordinator Auke Frankena.
Digitization at a Fast Pace
During this growth period, Bakker has also digitized their transport operation at a fast pace. The first trucks were already equipped with a Trimble CarCube on-board computer around 2010. However, drivers also had to submit a paper trip log. That permanently changed with the implementation of the cloud version of FleetHours a few years ago. “We no longer need to manually check and process the paper timesheets. It saves a lot of time,” said Frankena, who now compiles a weekly overview of the working hours from both the transport and warehouse employees. This overview is checked by the controller and the payroll administration and then processed automatically.
Fair Comparison of Driving Performance
The fact that Bakker now also works with Performance Portal has everything to do with the multi-brand strategy of the Frisian family business (the Netherlands). The fleet includes trucks from Volvo, Renault, DAF, MAN and Mercedes. Each brand has its own system with different calculation formulas to monitor the driving behaviour of drivers. “That makes a fair comparison of drivers' performances impossible,” said mentor driver Marco Dijkstra.
Dijkstra works two days a week on analysing driving behaviour and coaching drivers. With Performance Portal, he gains insight into the roll-out and idling of the trucks and the use of the cruise control and the brakes, for example. Performance Portal translates driving behaviour into a score to one decimal point.
“Every month the drivers receive a printout with their score. If we differentiate between drivers who use shuttle services, nationally, internationally or at night, we can make the comparison fair.”
A Change in Mentality
Using Performance Portal can lead to a change in mentality. Drivers see their current score every month and that of the previous three months. They can see how their score develops and whether they score above or below the company average.
“If a score clearly deviates from the average, we ask the driver to come in for a meeting. We have noticed that the scores now also raise questions for the drivers themselves. They want to know why they score high or low and how they can continue to improve their driving behaviour. We give the drivers extra training or we ride along with them for a day,” explained Dijkstra.
In the six months since Bakker started using Performance Portal, the average score has increased from 6.9 to 7.6. Dijkstra is confident that the improved driving behaviour will also be reflected in a lower fuel consumption in the long term.
“Especially keeping the engine idling, that continues to be a challenge. Drivers often leave the engine running when they get out to have paperwork signed. But if they have to wait for another driver and if they linger for a little chat, it adds 15 minutes before you know it. That is a waste of fuel, while the solution is so simple: just turn the key.”
Seamless Integration
Choosing the Trimble portfolio is all about the benefits of more seamless integration. FleetHours, Performance Portal and Tachotime Manager are geared to the CarCube on-board computer that is built into every truck.
“Thanks to the link with the on-board computer, we can read both the driver cards and the mass memory of the tachograph from a distance. We no longer have gaps in the information flow. If a driver has not driven for more than a week because they were on vacation, the system takes that into account,” explained Frankena.
The logistics service provider uses the results from Tachotime Manager the same way as those from Performance Portal. Dijkstra analyses the data and discusses violations of the driving and rest time laws with the drivers.
“A common mistake was that drivers had already started driving before logging into the digital tachograph with their driver card. Thanks to the link with the on-board computer, this hardly ever occurs anymore.”
One Point of Contact
Another advantage of standardization on the Trimble portfolio is that Bakker only has one point of contact for a large number of systems. Frankena:
“If we have a question or a problem, we contact them and they provide immediate assistance.”
About Bakker Transport & Warehousing
Bakker Transport & Warehousing is a family business from Heerenveen that specializes in food logistics. The logistics service provider now has a warehouse of 32,000 square meters, which thanks to the use of semi-automatic, compact storage systems, now offers space for no less than 50,000 pallets. Bakker Transport & Warehousing also provides transport for food retailers. Certificates such as IFS (temperature-controlled transport and storage), SKAL (organic food) and COKZ (dairy) prove that quality comes first. For more information, visit www.bakker-transport-warehousing.nl.
