Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated (CCBCC), the nation’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, has found significant cost savings and returns resulting from its adoption of a trailer and asset intelligence solution.
CCBCC is using FleetLocate, a GPS tracking and monitoring system from Spireon, to address its logistical and operational challenges. The solution provides the bottler with continuous real-time and accurate views of its entire fleet, which consists of over 800 trailers operating at hundreds of landmarks across the Southeastern U.S., explains David Hopkins, senior vice president of CCBCC Operations. This visibility into the fleet, Hopkins adds, “has allowed us to save significant costs, improve customer service and satisfaction, and make faster, more profitable business decisions.”
Using FleetLocate’s dashboard and user interface, CCBCC can now see the exact location of each trailer, as well as expected arrival, departure and idle times. “This granular level of information allows us to ensure we have the right trailer at the right location at the right time,” says Hopkins. “Equipped with this intelligence, we’ve been able to eliminate bottlenecks and delays that can lead to costly shut-downs of manufacturing lines and pallet-loading equipment. This makes our manufacturers happy, as well.”
FleetLocate has also enabled CCBCC to increase utilization of its existing fleet, eliminating the need to rent or lease additional trailers to handle loads. In addition, CCBCC now uses FleetLocate to identify and locate trailers that require preventative maintenance, saving maintenance-related costs and hundreds of man hours.
FleetLocate enables CCBCC to generate on-the-fly as well as automated reports customized for specific individuals within the company. “We can quickly generate reports that contain actionable intelligence most pertinent to the person looking at it,” explains Hopkins. “This saves countless hours wading through pages of irrelevant data and allows the right person to make the right decision, faster.”
Since implementing FleetLocate, CCBCC estimates the company has generated the following cost-savings as a result of improved fleet tracking and monitoring:
· Reduction in thousands of dollars in yearly costs associated with buying, renting and leasing trailers.
· The system paid for itself in less than 10 months
· Savings of approximately 100 man-hours per week in manual yard checks.
· Anticipated savings of $400 per trailer annually in preventative maintenance-related costs.
· Significant savings in overtime, per man-hour and customer service resulting from multiple line shut-downs.
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