Telematics Report – Thurtrans AG

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100 vehicles in just two weeks: in this record-breaking timeframe, the trucks and motor units of Swiss company Thurtrans AG were fitted with telematics units from Trendfire in April 2020—including nine trucks powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). “That was a fantastic achievement, especially since our trucks are stationed at five locations and are almost constantly on the road throughout Switzerland,“ emphasizes Thurtrans Managing Director Andy Luginbühl.

Several years ago, the haulage company—which specializes in refrigerated transport—had already retrofitted its trailers with a telematics solution from a trailer manufacturer, primarily to provide customers with proof of the temperatures in the cargo hold. “With the newly installed Trendfire telematics units, we now also have live access to the position, tachograph, and CAN-BUS data of the tractor units, which has made dispatching and managing the vehicles much more efficient and straightforward,” explains project manager Nico Dubrau, who is responsible for the entire fleet at Thurtrans.

Avoid violations

The automatic remote reading and archiving of data from the 100 tachographs alone represents a significant time saving for Thurtrans. By transferring driving times in real time, drivers and dispatchers always see the current remaining driving times. This allows impending violations of the Working Hours Act or the driving and rest periods regulations to be identified and avoided in good time.

Should any infringements or operating errors nevertheless occur when using the tachograph, these are analyzed in the telematics portal and can be addressed specifically. With just one click, advisory letters can be generated for the respective driver, which then only need to be printed out, signed, and filed in the personnel file. Furthermore, each infringement can be precisely traced on a road map using the time of occurrence. In this way, during an inspection, regulatory authorities can be shown—even many months later—that, in individual cases, the exceeding of driving time was linked to searching for a parking space or other obstacles.

Motivation through good grades

Nico Dubrau also highlighted the wear and tear of brakes and tires, as well as his fleet's fuel consumption: „roadlox provides us with a comprehensive and objective driver assessment, which the drivers themselves can also access“. For this purpose, the drivers' smartphones were equipped with the Trendfire Trucking telematics app, which also manages the entire mobile dispatch process, right up to the delivery receipt.

Shortly after installation, Dubrau had noticed that the driving style of some colleagues had improved dramatically. “Even though we hadn't trained our drivers yet, some had noticed the driver rating with a leaderboard. That apparently sparked their competitive spirit,“ suspects Dubrau, who had worked with Trendfire to adapt the driver assessment criteria to Thurtrans’ requirements.

More economical travel

Anticipatory driving, along with the use of cruise control and the retarder, are key focuses here. The trendbeeTRUCK V4 telematics units, connected to the CAN-BUS interface, capture all relevant data such as speed, accelerator, pedal position, or engine RPM. Based on the information regarding driving style and route profile data, the result is a fair, transparent, and comparable driver evaluation across different tours and vehicles. Fuel consumption is not taken into account by Trendfire, as the numerous route and tour profiles, as well as the different drive concepts, do not allow for a fair comparison based on consumption.

The results for the entire fleet are clearly summarized in a ranking, with efficient drivers highlighted in green and their more “wear-and-tear-prone“ colleagues in red. The fleet manager can now see at a glance which drivers are particularly gentle on their trucks and where there is still a need for training. Against this backdrop, Thurtrans expects significant cost savings within the next few months.

Plan ahead

The benefits are also clearly evident in vehicle scheduling. The nine dispatchers can view not only the exact location data of the entire fleet in the telematics portal, but also the available driving times for each driver. Without having to ask the driver, local transport tours and pickup orders can be sent to the respective drivers at the click of a button from the transport management system. The driver then has all the information about the stop and can document arrival times, as well as delivered parcels, delivery documents, or any damage. The recorded shipment information is seamlessly transmitted from the smartphone back to the transport management system. This way, everything is clearly documented, and all steps can be traced and proven to the end customer.

To ensure seamless data exchange, Trendfire has developed a data interface to Navitrans's freight forwarding software, which was implemented at Thurtrans almost simultaneously with the telematics solution. Plans are in place to establish an even closer integration in the future to automate additional processes and provide dispatchers with an even better basis for planning.

Cooling data updated every 5 minutes

Another improvement involves trailer telematics for monitoring the cold chain: every newly purchased trailer will also be equipped with Trendfire's telematics solution, which stands out for its wireless sensors and highly granular configurability. With Trendfire, we receive cooling data every five minutes, which is very important in local transport with up to 30 stops per trip,” says Andy Luginbühl. The previous solution would only provide a current temperature reading four times per hour. He was also convinced by Trendfire's high flexibility and willingness to help.

The trendbeeTRAILER telematics unit, developed specifically for trailers, connects to the trailer’s EBS module and transmits data on temperature, axle load, mileage, tire pressure, and technical alerts. To ensure seamless documentation of the cold chain, multiple wireless sensors can be connected to a single telematics unit, allowing different zones within the trailer to be monitored separately. Additionally, the trailer telematics can be connected to the temperature recorder to document the setpoints and status messages of the refrigeration unit. The unit also includes basic functions for location tracking and monitoring.

All data in one portal

Data from the trailers is also transmitted via mobile networks to Trendfire’s data center and made available on the telematics portal. Data from the trailer manufacturer’s previous telematics solution follows the same path. This data is transmitted to Trendfire’s telematics portal via an interface. As a result, during the multi-year transition period to Trendfire’s trailer telematics, dispatchers do not have to search for information in multiple locations but can view all data for the entire fleet in one central location.

Conclusion: With the nearly simultaneous launches of a new transport management and telematics system, Thurtrans has taken several significant steps towards complete digitalization. The company, which belongs to the Schöni Holding, benefits from end-to-end processes in order management, comprehensive monitoring of temperature and vehicle data, and transparent and objective evaluation of driving behavior.