Digital revolution in logistics: 5 areas

We often talk about fleet trends and technologies, but not every digital change needs to be treated as a distant novelty. Explore 5 areas of the digital revolution in logistics that can make supply chain management more organized and less dependent on paper.

Competition in the freight transport market remains high, and keeping up with these solutions is one way to stand out ahead of others. Using digital tools, you reduce some bureaucracy and paperwork to focus on improving management, processes and operational monitoring.

See how this revolution has been changing logistics processes that are already part of many companies’ routines.

Simplified vehicle inspection

Digital vehicle inspection checklist solutions make the process faster, standardized and practical. Instead of many sheets of paper, awkward item organization and loose notes while walking around the vehicle, the electronic checklist platform brings the checklist together in a workflow that is simpler to complete and monitor.

Completion errors tend to decrease significantly, and corrections requested through work orders reach the mechanics’ team faster. This also removes the workshop’s task of interpreting hard-to-read handwriting and helps keep inspection information clearer for whoever needs to act afterward.

Using a digital checklist should therefore be considered in your company as a way to reduce repeated work, improve inspection records and give the maintenance process greater predictability.

Better organization of vehicles in maintenance

Vehicle inspection and maintenance are longstanding tasks, but how can they be performed in an organized, efficient way? Many companies still fall short. Creating preventive maintenance schedules and keeping a history of each vehicle’s condition requires considerable organization — and digital help.

Technology applied to logistics allows vehicles to stay up to date with inspections and corrections, while also making it easier to open service jobs practically. When inspections, pending issues and work orders are recorded in a system, routines no longer depend on loose papers and conversations scattered across the operation.

Without an electronic system, fleet managers do not have the control over vehicles that they should and must constantly chase employees to understand what is faulty, what needs scheduling with the maintenance team, and so on. When records are organized, it becomes easier to see the history, prioritize pending issues and keep track of what still needs to be resolved.

Natural language processing

Machines and technologies are becoming increasingly intelligent, and artificial intelligence is already part of various business routines. Natural language processing is a subfield of computer science and AI, and it can help companies handle written or poorly structured information better.

Working with text data, NLP can support extracting insights and automating business operations. In a transport company, this can involve document analysis, information checks, organizing financial data or reading records that previously required extensive manual processing.

Cloud systems

Cloud systems have been a reality for many years and are also part of logistics. They help access data and applications from anywhere, with the mobility to consult information and make decisions that speed up company organization and performance.

All of this can increase fleet productivity as a whole because it reduces dependence on local files, isolated spreadsheets and specific equipment to consult operational information.

Beyond that, the cloud reduces the need to keep all computing components within the company’s physical infrastructure. If a computer or device breaks, cloud-based working helps avoid management depending on a single machine to preserve and access information.

A single platform for various vehicles

While a manual vehicle inspection process needs a printed checklist type for each vehicle, adopting a digital system brings all your checklist templates together in one place. Through a single access point, drivers and those responsible for inspections can reach suitable templates for the vehicles they will check.

A solution that makes things much easier, right?

After all, no company survives with just one vehicle type. It is better to customize your inspection lists in the app than to create and print lists as needed — especially since you will have no control over those data unless you enter and add them to a system later.

Explore more content about technology and the digital revolution in logistics on our YouTube channel (video in Portuguese)!