Sept/Oct 2005

Cement deliveries are being tracked in real time by LaFarge Cement UK in a major new project using a Microlise asset tracking system. The system is also being used to alert the company's 9,000 customers of any delays in real time. It has been installed in more than 200 vehicles, including a large new lorry fleet valued at £7 million.

The alerting system is based on a concept described as 25 per cent-100 per cent. In essence, journeys are broken down into segments, and the system automatically alerts the control centre if a vehicle has not completed one segment by the time the next one was predicted to start.

This triggers a proactive dialogue with the customer, during which the company can now provide an updated time of arrival.

The system uses a combination of GPS and GSM (cell-ID) location technologies to track vehicles. At the control centre, staff can now access 'live' maps showing vehicles' location minute by minute.

 

Lafarge Cement's national logistics manager, Alaister White, says there were three reasons for adopting the system - driver safety (since drivers need not report their location); providing accurate data on deliveries; and improving customer service.

The decision to fit the system followed a three-month pilot exercise at the company which finished in February this year and which was run out of the company's Westbury works in Wiltshire. The system is now being used at six cement works and six depots, and is tracking over 700 deliveries a day.