A pre-requisite is the so-called FMS-Standard (fleet management system), which must be installed in the truck or bus. Added to this, are the vehicle-computer fromFleetBoard with an interface to the digital speedometer and a general agreement with the one-off and the monthly- and activation costs. FMS by the way, has nothing to do with the vehicle-Bus-system and can possibly be later fitted, also in transporters (LDVs).

The responsible dispatch clerk receives a freight-order. He has all the vehicles (also the lighter ones), their momentary location and the amount of driving hours available in front of him, on the monitor. Every 10 minutes he is given a situation update. He can even see the fuel-tank contents and can now decide, who is given the freight-order. He can even request that the trailer be changed en route, so that the remaining times can be more efficiently used.

During the loading of the pallets these are individually scanned in with the hand-held DispoPilot (see picture), which compares the input-data with the freight-list. No longer can the wrong cargo arrive at the destination, only then to be discovered as wrong. Basically, the route taken by the cargo can be followed, possibly even influenced by the navigation data, traffic jams can be taken into consideration. Another step forward on the road to just-in-time production. After all, the goods will be transported anyhow, only the storage-costs are cancelled out.

By the way, as e.g. with the container-ship, the proof of an uninterrupted cooling-chain is important. It goes without saying that all this data can be saved and stored, e.g., in the company's own SAP-system. Then, evaluations regarding the relationship of effort, to expenses and income can be calculated on the spot. 03/12