ATTENDEES had plenty to absorb during Trimble’s 2019 in-sight user conference held September 16-18 in Houston, Texas. The technology company rolled out 20 new products, as well as a multitude of product enhancements.
Trimble executives also provided perspective on the state of the transportation industry and the role Trimble has played in providing technology to address key challenges. Trimble leaders discussed top industry trends, including data security, driver retention and maximizing utilization.
“From new regulations related to the ELD mandate and data privacy, to disruptive technology and broader macroeconomic forces—it is more important than ever for transportation companies to have the right mix of solutions in place,” said James Langley, senior vice-president of Trimble’s Transportation Sector. “We are focused on continued innovation to provide customers with access to data that enhances decision making and drives better business outcomes.”
New products highlighted during the conference included the Trimble Instinct system that will replace the current PeopleNet system. Instinct is a next-generation system that will replace PMobile. The system can operate with or without a tablet computer and will run Android version 7 or higher apps.
During its 2019 in.sight user conference + expo, Trimble announced new modules and enhancements for its industry-leading TMW.Suite, TruckMate, and Innovative IES Transportation Management System (TMS) solutions, designed to create efficiencies and streamline operations for carriers, brokers and third-party logistics (3PL) providers.
“Trimble’s focus is to continue building on our dynamic TMS solutions to provide additional value to customers,” Langley said. “These enhancements and upgrades will allow customers to do even more with their data, including maximizing resource utilization, retaining drivers and creating efficiencies.”
Enhancements that span multiple TMS solutions include:
Reveal with Power BI: Trimble’s transportation-specific business analytics platform is now powered by a Microsoft Power BI front end. The Power BI front end provides increased flexibility as well as powerful data visualization and reporting, giving users increased capabilities to take advantage of Trimble’s database optimization and transportation focused extract-transform-load (ETL) capabilities for data warehousing. Reveal’s dimensional data model is virtually plug-and-play with other major business intelligence applications as well. Reveal is available for all Trimble TMS products and TMT SQL products.
D2Link 3.0: Trimble’s D2Link mobile data solution, which combines the reliability of a fixed in-cab platform with the flexibility and convenience of a smartphone has been enhanced to offer mobile imaging and is now available for both Android and iOS devices. D2Link benefits include increased communication with drivers, signature capture and new forms and workflows. In addition to being available for use with all Trimble TMS solutions, D2Link is also available for use with Trimble Oil & Gas Services solutions.
Driver Analytics and Retention: A predictive analytics module that utilizes TMS and telematics data to identify a fleet’s drivers who are most likely to voluntarily leave the company within the next 28 days and provides customized recommended actions to help carriers proactively work to retain those drivers. This capability is available for use with Innovative IES, TMW.Suite, and TruckMate.
Trimble also debuted several product-specific enhancements uniquely available for TMW.Suite, TruckMate, or Innovative IES.
New capabilities for TMW.Suite users include:
Risk Management: A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based tool that combines key TMS and telematics risk and safety data such as incidents, accidents, claims, violations, speeding citations, and other elements to provide a holistic view of a fleet’s risk and safety factors. With this tool, TMW.Suite customers can use this data to make more informed and actionable safety decisions, as well as form long-term driver coaching and education plans.
Enhancements to the TruckMate platform include:
Container IQ: A new cloud module that allows carriers to track containers in near-real time within TruckMate. Container IQ gives intermodal carriers integrated visibility to location and status of container availability when transported by railroad. Container IQ also provides enhanced load security and improved customer service through accurate reporting and tracking of containers.
EDI Compare: As companies receive an increasing number of updates from shippers, many are seeing an increase in the amount of manual administrative work needed to compare orders. An Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) add-on module allows customers to compare EDI tendered loads and automate changes within set thresholds such as time or quantity – streamlining operations and removing tedious manual work for staff.
Trimble Freight Link: A new module that allows carriers to accurately provide dispatch information to third parties, such as Owner-Operators or 3PLs, while receiving updated information including GPS and load update information from those organizations. The module enables carriers to maintain accurate records for customer service, while also allowing third parties to self-manage loads, which enables the separation of the carrier from third-party carriers occasionally required for legal purposes.
Enhancements to modules within the Innovative IES platform include:
Lane Commitment Module: A cloud-based, multi-tenant solution that allows companies to specify contract commitments and lane preferences. Preferences are used to automatically accept or reject load tenders limiting manual intervention in managing inbound loads. The solution also presents lane commitment data to TMS users, allowing them to monitor contract commitments as orders are created.
Innovative Brokerage: Newly consolidated brokerage user-interface screens allow for easy access and management of brokered loads and provide users with a streamlined ability to sort, filter, and search, while also adding drag and drop functionality to the brokerage process in Innovative. Users can also track the progress of loads through stages and harness built-in printing of negotiation letters to improve the customer experience.
Agricultural Zone Billing: A solution that provides accurate billing and carrier payment for logistics operations that utilize a zone-based approach to billing when hauling freight, such as milk plants working with a co-op. While the origins of this product are in agriculture, this module will also work in a variety of zone-based billing circumstances.
Enhanced Tank Wash is another module that was developed specifically for fleets operating foodgrade tanks. The system also can apply to refrigerated food fleets. A 2019 upgrade gives fleets the ability to schedule trailer cleaning even before the load is scheduled. The module is specific to foodgrade cleaning and is different from Trimble’s TMT tank wash module.
Trimble also announced that many of its carrier customers now have complimentary access to a selection of key tools found in its industry-leading Visibility platform.
Trimble Visibility provides shippers and carriers with a 360-degree supply chain view that provides actionable insight for profitable, best-case scenario decision making that connects transportation data into a single, easy-to-use, cloud-based interface. The outcomes include providing carriers and shippers with real-time insights and shipment views by load, originator or destination.
The newest version of the Visibility solution utilizes data pulled in from Trimble’s Transportation Management System (TMS) and Mobility solutions to give carriers access to real-time freight tracking information. This complimentary version is available for customers using a combination of Trimble Mobility solutions and any of the following Trimble TMS platforms: Innovative, TMW.Suite, and TruckMate.
Carriers will be able to view, track and better manage their customers’ shipments through Visibility. The platform also enables users to individually share tracking views with customers via hyperlinks and text messages—taking the guesswork out of proactive communications with shippers and managing exceptions for operations and sales teams.
“By introducing this complimentary version of Trimble Visibility for our customers, we are providing our users with a platform to improve freight visibility and enhance how they serve their customers,” said Bryan Coyne, general manager of Visibility for Trimble Transportation. “We believe carriers should have access to the same data as third-party tracking services, not only to level the playing field but also to allow Trimble carriers to set themselves apart in a competitive market.”
Trimble’s Premium version of the Visibility platform provides carriers with enhanced options for visibility into their operations featuring a secure, real-time information platform. Features include: integrations to non-Trimble TMS solutions, dynamic ETAs, proactive weather and risk alerts, rich data down to the SKU level, temperature control tracking, exception management and final mile functionalities, efficient workflow automation, and the same user-friendly interface as the basic version.
“As consumers, we expect transparency and immediacy of data—and Trimble’s enterprise supply chain solutions now offer that same experience as a standard feature for our transportation customers,” Coyne said. “Trimble Visibility is an excellent value-add to carriers’ service offerings that can empower fleets to meet shippers’ demands for real-time freight tracking.”
Trimble customers who use other TMS solutions will also have access to the solution as well as the Premium version of the Visibility platform, which includes enhanced capabilities such as customized shared views and shared notifications and is available to all carriers and shippers at a cost.
Trimble Market Insights removes the guesswork from pricing with an aggregate summary of industry pricing by lane. Available free to Trimble customers using Innovative, TMW.Suite and TruckMate, Market Insights empowers carriers to form accurate pricing strategy decisions backed by industry lane data and transit times, along with the safety, security, and reliability of the Trimble ecosystem.
Trimble Trust Center is a secure interface, designed to put the carrier in full control to safely direct data to shipper networks, including those managed by other visibility providers. With this new tool, carriers can define where they send their data, what gets sent and who can use that data.
Trimble Developer Network is a new set of key APIs designed initially to feed data into Trimble Visibility and to that of other visibility providers. With this network, outside providers and carriers themselves can use standardized APIs to access Trimble TMS products including Innovative, TruckMate and TMW.Suite for collecting visibility data.
Driver Retention Analytics—Innovative, TMW.Suite, and TruckMate—fight driver turnover with a scoring system that goes beyond identification to not only identify drivers likely to leave within the next 28 days, but also provide likely causes and coaching opportunities to avert departure.
Microsoft Power BI-Reveal works to reduce costs and resource drain by enhancing critical database tools such as Extract, Transform and Load (ELT) capabilities along with transportation-focused database mapping and optimization, with the powerful and proven Microsoft Power BI frontend.
D2Link 3.0 offers a flexible, cost-effective mobile data solution available on iOS and Android, designed with critical functionality and easier communication tools for your drivers. Available for use with all Trimble TMS products, Appian Final Mile, Trimble Oil & Gas software and Trimble Mobility devices, D2Link brings significant upgrades to the user interface and now includes mobile imaging capability.
TMWGo! Driver and Dispatch Notifications empowers drivers and dispatchers with easy order change notifications using the TMWGo! Mobile app. The end result is easier communication with the drivers, improved driver experiences, and virtual elimination of extra time lost confirming changes by phone.
Risk and Safety Management-TMW.Suite is a new module that is easy to use and SaaS-based. Designed to manage safety and risk events such as accidents, incidents, citations and claims, this new module allows carriers to make more actionable safety decisions and better coaching resulting in safer fleets and lower costs.
Trimble Video Intelligence on-demand video tools are designed to improve safety and save money while providing fleets with key footage they need for coaching and legal purposes. Trimble’s newest innovations include the Pod Camera and a new two-channel DVR that enables a streamlined installation tailored to light-duty fleets.
Tank Wagon and Degree Day Forecasting-TMW.Suite Fuel Dispatch are new inventory tools for fuel haulers that are designed to accommodate fuel loads with multiple delivery points on an order. Designed to meet requirements for several deliveries in a day, this tool offers the flexibility to adjust deliveries on-site and plan deliveries based on demands caused by outside air temperature. The end results are properly managed inventory for the hauler and improved service for the end-customer.
Contract Maintenance (TMT Fleet Maintenance and TMT Service Center) integrates critical contract tools and shop operations to streamline the management of service agreements and billing required by leasing and contracted service providers, reducing overhead and improving profit/loss reporting for third party service providers.
Trimble MAPS Content Tools-TruckMate incorporates extended functionality, including geocoding and location profile management, along with data from Trimble MAPS into a simple search to make data more accessible and easier to use.
Trimble MAPS Weather and Weather Alerts are now included to provide shippers and carriers with new clarity into potential weather-related safety concerns and delays allowing time to proactively plan ahead and mitigate problems before they become emergencies.
