Scope Technologies helped develop a solution to effectively manage the logistics of time sensitive ready-mix delivery.

Fleet Telematics: The Challenges

When it comes to ready-mix transportation, shipment and delivery times are crucial. These include how long it takes to get from the concrete plant to the customer. Due to the nature of this business, and to avoid very costly mistakes, accurate and real-time information is a necessity.

The customer used a planning tool called “Command Alkon” to schedule ready-mix loads to site for each “pour.” The challenge was to manage the delivery of ready-mix to the site at the exact time required. If the delivery were to be too early, the site would not be ready, therefore making the waiting time change the chemical composition of the load. This could cause the concrete set to crack and potentially have to be removed or reset. If the delivery was too late, the construction team would be delayed, resulting in wasted labor costs.

Therefore, the assets needed to be managed in real-time. This would ensure rapid turnaround times at sites and depots, as well as maximize on loads per day. In addition, the rotation and direction of the concrete drums also needed to be monitored.

The Solution

A solution was developed that starts by detecting that the transporter is being loaded with concrete, and by determining the speed and direction of its drums, and the time it takes to load. While being transported to the customer site, alerts are sent if the drum rotates in the wrong direction or stops. Entry into the customer site is detected by geofence, and then detects and reports on the quality, unloading and washing cycles.

The information gathered for monitoring and analysis includes:

• Total loading and unloading time
• Transit time and distance from plant to customer
• Holding time or waiting to unload time at customer site
• Total trip duration
• Total number of drum-running hours
• Number and duration of water additions

The Results

Using Scope’s fleet solutions, concrete suppliers can effectively manage and control the entire delivery phase. They can act quickly should any anomalies be detected, as well as ensure uninterrupted and timely delivery of concrete to their customers.

“In the concrete business, everything needs to run perfectly. You just can’t afford to mess up, especially in terms of timing. Scope has helped us increase our trips per day and serve our customers more efficiently.”
– Head of Fleet Operations