Materials handling is the most frequent cause of workplace injuries, according to Travelers, accounting for one-third of 1.5 million total claims analyzed in its Injury Impact Report. While most of these injuries were minor strains and sprains, they still significantly impact employees and reduce productivity. Fortunately, they’re preventable with the proper safety measures.

Let’s look at some commonly overlooked safety tools for materials handling and how you can leverage them to improve safety.

Materials handling is the most frequent cause of workplace injuries, but fortunately, most incidents are preventable with the proper safety measures. Share on X

#1. Telematics Data

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, estimates that half of severe workplace injuries go unreported. Of course, these come in addition to the countless minor safety incidents that go unreported. These smaller infractions are often symptomatic of more significant problems and may be a precursor to major incidents.

Telematics enable businesses to automatically detect and track impacts, speeding, and other unsafe behaviors. In addition to catching even the slightest incident, these technologies detect dangerous behavior before they cause any safety incident. That way, managers can retrain unsafe employees to ensure safety at all times.

For instance, Powerfleet’s Keyshock provides instant alerts when abusive behavior occurs. The easy-to-install system activates when an impact exceeds a predetermined threshold and alerts management. You can also customize alarms based on safety requirements, while tamper-proofing ensures only management can reset an alarm.

#2. Camera Systems

Forklifts present a unique challenge for drivers. When carrying a load, drivers must ensure that the load is safe and simultaneously observe their surroundings. Large loads require operators to drive backward to maintain complete visibility, but it’s physically hard on the driver to look back for long runs through a warehouse.

Cameras provide forklift operators with complete visibility since they’re mountable in various locations. In addition to delivering optimal visibility for travel around the warehouse, they are helpful for roll handling, turret trucks, push-pulls, side shifting, and clamping operators that may require more visibility than basic forklift operations.

Furthermore, collisions caused by handling equipment, such as forklifts and lift trucks, are the second most common cause of freight damage and inventory losses. 80% of forklift accidents involve pedestrians, and a single forklift accident can cost your business more than $180,000. By using a camera system, industrial vehicles such as forklifts can avoid accidents, damage, and injuries. Camera systems can also protect employers (and employees) against false claims and accusations while providing actionable footage for training purposes. For instance, if telematics data shows unsafe driving habits, managers can replay unsafe behaviors for a driver to help reinforce the training and prevent future safety incidents.

 Powerfleet’s camera systems provide unparalleled visibility. Source: Powerfleet

Powerfleet’s video solutions give you a better line of sight in material handling operations, improve operator training and coaching through video recordings, and increase operators’ visibility to help prevent collisions and damage.

#3. Forewarners

Warehouses are noisy places with a lot of ambient noise. While a horn blast is well-meaning, it can be challenging for pedestrians or other drivers to hear. The most problematic areas are blind corners, crossing aisles, and exiting semi-trailers, where there’s limited visibility, and things tend to be fast-moving for everyone.

Forewarners and Sideliner LEDs project a bright LED line on a floor’s surface—alerting pedestrians and other vehicles in the area, regardless of ambient noise, to the nearby presence and direction of a vehicle. These lights are also helpful for overhead cranes to indicate places that may be unsafe for pedestrians or other vehicles.

Powerfleet’s award winning Forewarner-Sideliner LED provides six high-powered LED lights that are installable on any industrial vehicle. The easy-to-install and maintenance-free technology is designed for indoor and outdoor use and is available in green or red colors. The Forewarner MAXI provides solid blue or red lights for overhead crane hook locations.

#4. Weight Management

Overloading a forklift is extremely dangerous for drivers and nearby pedestrians or operators. Even if the driver is okay, overloading often results in significant equipment and product damages. Forklift drivers can prevent these problems by ensuring that loads are well-balanced and forks are at a reasonable height.

Weight management solutions can alert forklift operators when overload situations arise. In addition to alerting drivers when a weight threshold is breached, some weight management solutions provide a real-time reading of weight to help when loading semi-trailers or sea vans with limitations or to help with other weight-related use cases.

In addition, you can track freight loads to ensure that your shipments will not exceed trailer capacity, your waybills will match actual weight, and your lift truck capacity is not exceeded.

Powerfleet’s  Lift’N’Weigh and WeighTroller provide a robust hydraulic scale for heavy industrial use cases. The technology is accurate to +/- 2% of the forklift capacity and sounds an audible alarm when exceeding weight limits. Meanwhile, the WeighAlert provides an alarm-only functionality when specific weight measurements are unnecessary.

The Bottom Line

Technology plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of forklift operations. From speed management to camera systems, these solutions can detect unsafe behaviors before they result in significant safety events. They’re also very cost-effective when considering that a single accident can cost upwards of $20,000 or more.

At the same time, telematics can collect data to measure productivity and maximize profitability. For example, telematics make it easy to detect and measure idle time and tie these metrics to specific operators. These capabilities can help managers create customized incentive programs for employees and maximize productivity over time.

Powerfleet is the only company that provides a full suite of safety and theft solutions for all sizes of powered industrial truck fleets and warehouses. Check out our product catalog to view our portfolio of accessories and telematics solutions. To learn more and get advice on the right safety accessories and solutions for your operations, contact us to schedule a free consultation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many lessons, but the most important is expecting the unexpected. After initial concerns over empty containers, consumer demand snapped back in February of last year, with record-breaking numbers of containers at ports and trailer shortages along domestic routes across the United States and Canada.

Let’s look at some of the underlying factors causing the trucking industry’s capacity issues and how the industry can adapt.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous capacity issues for the trucking industry—we look at the problems and how technology could help solve them. Share on X

Robust Consumer Spending Drives Demand

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the amount of money consumers spend and how they spend it.

The price of everyday goods and services rose at a 5.4% annual pace in July 2021, driven by a combination of pent-up demand, economic stimulus, labor shortages, and raw material shortages. During the three months ending June 30th, consumer spending rose 11.8%—the second-fastest rate since 1952—with few signs of slowing down.

Shipping Volumes on the Rise – Source: Iana via TruckingInfo

According to TruckingInfo, total IMC volume rose nearly 30% year-over-year during the second quarter, while intermodal and highway loads were up almost 24% and 33.4%, respectively. These gains occurred across many regions, led by Trans-Canada with 29.6%, Southeast-Southwest at 28.9%, and Midwest-Northwest at 26.6% growth.

The significant increase in shipping volumes spurred higher dwell times at marine terminals with limited labor resources and storage. At the same time, some overseas manufacturers are causing last-second changes by ocean carriers over where a truck driver can deliver an empty container, forcing them to make extra trips and decreasing efficiency.

While the Delta variant could pose a risk to normalcy in late 2021 and early 2022, the strong job market and ongoing fiscal support could maintain momentum throughout the remainder of the year. Moreover, the shift from physical shopping at retailers to home deliveries could persist well beyond the pandemic as consumers prefer convenience.

Supply Constraints Limit Capacity

The sharp increase in demand comes along with shortages of drivers, trucks, chassis, and trailers across the industry.

The driver shortage is nothing new, but the COVID-19 pandemic certainly exacerbated the issue. For instance, there was a predictable wave of early retirements in an industry where the average worker is 48 years old. At the same time, new drug testing regulations limited the number of new eligible drivers to replace them—albeit for a good reason.

According to TTNews, the COVID-19 pandemic also forced more than 3,000 smaller trucking companies out of business. Many of these smaller companies relied on the spot market, which dried up in 2020 before rebounding sharply. The ATA reckons that these smaller companies and owner-operators represent more than 90% of all freight carriers.

Truck Production is Still Below 2019 Levels – Source: Transport Dive

The same semiconductor shortages impacting the automotive market hit the trucking industry, too. According to Transport Dive, the lack of semiconductors will slow the production of Class 5 to Class 8 trucks in 2021. Fleets could be playing catch-up into 2022 as OEMs shift their production schedules and adjust to the shortage.

In addition to trucks, the trailer manufacturing business was hit by a lumber shortage earlier this year. The significant jump in lumber costs forced many fleets to delay purchasing new trailers due to their higher prices, exacerbating the shortage from high demand. Again, these shortages could take until 2022 to fully work out.

Finally, inefficiencies at ports have led to chassis shortages. The lead time to build new chassis is high due to raw material shortages, leading many companies to source broken chassis from graveyards. The problem is that many companies don’t want to use low-quality chassis due to the higher probability of breakdowns.

How to Deal with Capacity Issues

Technology will play a key role in resolving these issues in the near term and preventing similar problems in the future. At its core, technology improves fleet and asset visibility across the supply chain. Fleet managers can coordinate transportation, customers can see accurate delivery estimates, and manufacturers can track their shipments worldwide.

For example, Powerfleet provides a range of trailer, chassis and container telematics solutions and sensors to track location and status. That way, fleet managers can quickly assess their yard assets and make data-driven decisions to streamline their operations and improve efficiency. Dispatchers can also quickly see the status of a chassis or container without having to call drivers or shippers for updates.

Technology can also minimize damaged or stolen products. For example, telematics installed on reefer trailers can alert drivers and dispatch if refrigeration fails. Moreover, some telematics solutions can also provide remote control over the refrigeration unit to correct the temperature. In addition, freight cameras with door sensors can detect when a trailer door opens or closes and get visuals on the cargo loaded inside during transit to ensure it’s safe and sound.

In addition to better management of fleet assets, telematics can help improve driver retention by keeping drivers happier. For instance, Powerfleet’s in-cab ELD solutions automate many of the time-consuming manual paperwork drivers need to complete as well as track everything from gas mileage to harsh braking. This data can be used to support driver coaching or reward programs that incentivize safety.

Of course, technology will also play a vital role in intermodal transportation networks. Better visibility into chassis availability at ports and rail lines could help speed things up  and make it easier to schedule driver pick-ups of containers or chassis. The key in many of these cases is knowing when containers are empty or loaded and when chassis are mounted or unmounted.

The Bottom Line

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted global supply chains. While an initial dropoff in demand reallocated resources elsewhere, the subsequent boom caught many companies off guard. Technology will play a critical role in resolving the industry’s current capacity issues while mitigating the impact of future disruptions through better planning.

If you’re interested in leveraging the latest telematics technologies across your fleet, contact us for a free consultation or find your local sales rep.

Most fleets use GPS technology to plan routes or track shipments, but these reasons are just scratching the surface of what’s possible. Geofencing helps managers keep track of trailers at customer sites, improve security, and automate manual yard checks. And in combination with other telematics, the technology can be even more powerful.

Let’s look at what geofencing is and some ways to use it across your fleet to improve safety and efficiency.

What Geofencing Can Do For Your Fleet Management Share on X

What is Geofencing?

Geofencing uses GPS to create virtual boundaries around a location. For example, a company might outfit trailers with GPS technology to create a geofence around their yard. The geofence could alert fleet managers when trailers leave the yard to prevent theft, automate yard checks,  verify driver timesheets or set up landmarks like customer sites.

Most telematics solutions combine geofencing with other GPS-related capabilities. In addition to alerts when a trailer leaves the yard, companies may be able to see where assets are on the road. These capabilities are invaluable for everything from route planning to customer service (e.g., updating customers on arrival times). For trucking companies that manage trailer pools, this is an invaluable tool.

Powerfleet Vista’s powerful user interface. Source: Powerfleet

Stop Cargo Theft

North American cargo theft more than doubled between April 2019 and April 2020, according to CargoNet. The average value per theft also increased from $151,000 in 2019 to $230,000 in 2020. With growing shipment volumes, these trends are likely to accelerate over the coming years, and fleets should take action to protect their goods.

Cargo theft statistics from Memorial Day 2020 – Source: CargoNet

Geofencing is an easy way to prevent theft. By geofencing trailers and tractors, fleets can receive immediate alerts when an asset moves out of a yard after business hours. In addition, managers can proactively contact the police and provide detailed information to recover the assets, including their real-time location.

In addition to geofencing, fleets should consider using freight cameras and sensors on their trailers to get even more information about the trailer and freight status to quickly respond to theft events. Powerfleet provides a full range of these solutions, including door sensors and freight cameras that can capture movement in real-time and transmit it to the cloud to deter and ultimately catch thieves.

Automate Yard Checks

Yard checks are a time-consuming, and error-prone task that involves verifying the presence and status of trailers in the yard. By the time it’s completed, the information could already be out of date. Despite these challenges, only a quarter of companies use yard management systems, according to the State of Yard Management 2021 Industry Report.

Geofencing can help automate and improve the process by recording when trailers enter or exit the yard based on their GPS location. Fleet asset managers can also use this information to spot trailers that have been sitting idle for long periods of time, being underutilized. Managers can instantly see the location of every trailer on the web application without having to go outside and manually verify them.

In addition to trailer locations, freight cameras can determine trailer status (e.g., empty or loaded). Powerfleet combines these capabilities into a single solution that completely automates yard checks and enhances trailer utilization and your team’s productivity. You can instantly know which trailers are available and which trailers are ready to go.

Verify Timesheets

Geofencing solutions can help verify driver timesheets and overtime requests. For example, managers can quickly confirm trailer arrival and departure times by matching up GPS data with driver records. At the same time, they can receive alerts when trailers leave the yard during off-hours to get a sense of driver schedules.

Modern ELD Solutions – Source: Powerfleet

When used with other telematics solutions, you may be able to eliminate timesheets. For example, Powerfleet’s in-cab ELD solution makes it easy for drivers to digitally record hours of service, eliminating the need for manual records and ensuring compliance at all times. You can even alert drivers when they are required to take a break.

Beyond Geofencing with GPS

Telematics solutions provide a range of benefits beyond yard checks. While these technologies may have been challenging to implement in the past, the combination of solar power, 4G LTE, and web-based platforms has made it easier than ever to access real-time information. Partners like Powerfleet can also partner with you to develop a deployment plan.

Some key benefits of telematics include:

• Utilization: Improve asset utilization through access to real-time location and status. Right-size your fleet of assets and increase trailer turn times.
• Security: Ensure security with door sensors, cameras, and GPS tracking—both in the yard and on the road.
• Customer Relations: Improve customer satisfaction by communicating real-time location and status with them to share arrival times and get trailers unloaded and returned more quickly.
• Compliance: Make sure drivers comply with hours of service (HoS) and other regulations through automation.
• Integrity: Refrigerated truck sensors and cameras verify that cargo remains fresh throughout a journey.
• Driver Insights: Track driving habits, such as speed and cornering, to improve safety and fuel efficiency.

Proactive MaintenanceEngine Insights: Better maintain vehicles and trailer assets by identifying problems early on instead of on a scheduled timeline and proactively fix them.

Powerfleet provides a broad range of telematics solutions to address everything from material handling equipment to tractor-trailers to vehicles. Even better, we offer the technology to help turn these data points into actionable insights. Powerfleet has more than 20 years experience in telematics, providing customers with improved safety, security, efficiency, regulatory compliance and the ability to increase revenues.

The Bottom Line

Geofencing is a great way to reduce risk and improve efficiency in your yards and at customers’ sites. In addition, GPS technologies make it easy to track tractors, trailers, containers, and other fleet assets along their journey. These capabilities can further improve security on the road and customer service by providing more accurate arrival time estimates.

Learn more about Powerfleet’s telematics solutions, or contact us today for a free consultation.

Drivers are the lifeblood of the trucking industry, but they’re not the only employees responsible for success. Dispatchers play an essential role in every trucking business, scheduling drivers, flagging issues, negotiating freight, and ensuring smooth operations. While the job entails a variety of different tasks, many technologies can make life easier for dispatchers.

Let’s look at how to empower your dispatch teams with telematics to make their lives easier and operations more efficient.

Dispatchers are essential to the success of every trucking business, and empowering them with technology can help ensure smooth operations. Share on X

Asset Visibility with GPS

Telematics with GPS technology integrated into Transportation Management Systems (TMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software enables dispatchers to see their entire fleet of assets on a single screen. Using these real-time locations, dispatchers can send their closest drivers to a location, update customers when deliveries are running late or ahead of schedule, and document arrival and departure times for detention billing, among other things.

Of course, GPS is also invaluable when dealing with weather, road closures, and other traffic delays. For example, a dispatcher may identify road closures due to construction or traffic before drivers are, enabling them to alert drivers and reroute trucks to avoid traffic and aid in timely delivery of cargo to customers. 

In addition to tracking trucks, dispatchers can use GPS technology to track trailers or containers across intermodal transportation. So, for example, trucking companies can eliminate the need for time-consuming yard checks while efficiently providing customers with updates on shipments throughout their journey.

The data from GPS technologies can also be aggregated and analyzed over time to identify trends. Dispatchers may use these trends to plan the most efficient schedules, avoid congested areas, identify longer dwell times at certain landmarks, and improve customer relations. Managers can also access detailed driver performance data to help them address any problems and ensure the fleet operates at maximum safety and efficiency.

Driver Communication with ELDs

Driver communication involves much more than smartphones. For example, drivers need to record Hours of Service (HOS), receive clear job orders, and complete daily vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs). At the same time, dispatchers may need to know the truck’s location, fuel levels, or access historical trip data to do their jobs effectively.

Powerfleet’s LV-9000 is a modern ELD that provides more functionality. Source: Powerfleet

Fortunately, modern in-cab telematics go well beyond electronic logging devices (ELDs). For instance, Powerfleet’s LV-9000 supports complex driver workflows, minute-by-minute updates, and a continuous connection to send and receive job orders, trip data, text messages, GPS position data, fuel consumption analytics, and more.

For example, a dispatcher can easily monitor drivers’ daily logs for errors or violations while simultaneously monitoring working hours and equipment health—all without needing to contact the driver directly. Thanks to onboard telematics solutions and cellular networks, they can access all this information in the cloud.

Powerfleet’s technology also enables drivers to stay connected via mobile device apps, meaning that they can respond to messages and complete jobs outside of the truck’s cab. These capabilities can be incredibly convenient when trucks are parked or when drivers are outside of their vehicle at a fuel or rest stop.

Reefer Management with Sensors

Refrigerated trucks, or reefers, help deliver fresh produce, pharmaceuticals, and other temperature-sensitive products across the country. Since these products can spoil, the federal government developed the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) to avoid spoilage and ensure food safety across the supply chain.

The FSMA regulations require shippers to maintain a clean trailer, pre-cool the trailer before loading, monitor temperatures during travel, maintain reefer fuel levels, and keep records to prove safe transport. In many cases, dispatchers help drivers monitor temperatures and other alerts or fault codes during the transit to avoid expensive spoilage claims.

Two-way remote communication and real-time temperature sensors enable dispatchers to react to any problems quickly. For example, a dispatcher can remotely control/adjust the temperature of the trailer without involving the driver. In addition, Powerfleet’s LV-400 automatically records refrigerated unit engine hours and fault codes to improve preventive maintenance scheduling and ensure accurate temperature management at all times.

In addition to sensors, fleets might use humidity, pressure, or light sensors to ensure optimal cargo conditions. Door sensors and IR LED cameras can also help prevent cargo theft, particularly with pharmaceuticals and other high-value cargo transported in refrigerated trailers across the United States.

Maximizing Data Accessibility

Telematics solutions provide a wealth of data, but it needs to be easily accessible. Dispatchers must quickly locate information and convert it into actionable insights for drivers or managers—ideally without having to run complex or time-consuming reports. Unfortunately, many telematics solutions providers neglect these requirements.

Powerfleet’s dashboard makes it easy to track assets in the yard or on the road. Source: Powerfleet

Powerfleet provides a real-time, web-based dashboard that makes it easy to find information at a glance. In addition to leveraging data on the job, dispatch can be an entry point  to other careers within an organization—often a management track. Providing dispatchers with a high level of data can help them make data-driven decisions and recognize trends that can ultimately help them deliver more value to the organization in other roles.

The Bottom Line

Dispatchers are responsible for everything from monitoring drivers’ daily logs to coordinating deliveries, making them an essential part of any trucking operation. While the job entails a variety of different tasks, many technologies can help automate manual workflows and keep everything running a lot more smoothly to maximize productivity.

Powerfleet provides a full range of telematics solutions covering everything from materials handling in the warehouse to last-mile delivery to the customer—and everything in between.

Learn more about our logistics solutions or contact us to schedule a free consultation!

Material handling is both a leading source of safety incidents and a vital part of warehouse operations. As a result, these operations are an ideal target for telematics solutions that can effectively reduce safety incidents and improve productivity. The key is tracking the right metrics and aligning stakeholders behind a common goal.

Let’s take a look at how analytics can help improve material handling safety, as well as some tips to implement these practices in your warehouses.

Material handling is both a leading source of safety incidents and a vital part of warehouse operations—here's how telematics can improve both areas. Share on X

Safety is a Top Concern

OSHA estimates that forklifts account for 61,800 minor injuries, 34,900 serious injuries, and 85 forklift-related deaths each year. With about 900,000 forklifts in the U.S., those numbers amount to a 1-in-10 chance that each forklift will be involved in an accident this year. Meanwhile, one out of every six workplace deaths is forklift-related.

Forklift fatalities occur for many reasons:

Accident Type	Percentage (%)
Crushed by vehicle tipping over	42%
Crushed between vehicle and surface	25%
Crushed between two vehicles	11%
Struck or ran over by a forklift	10%
Struck by falling material	8%
Fall from the platform on forks	4%

OSHA believes that standardized training and safety procedures could prevent 70% of forklift accidents. After all, the most common causes of safety incidents are preventable things like speeding, cornering, giving rides, or a lack of warning signs or floor markings. The key is correcting these poor behaviors before they cause an incident.

According to the National Safety Council, the average direct worker injury cost to a company is $38,000, with $150,000 in additional indirect costs. OSHA can also fine companies up to $7,000 for minor infractions and up to $70,000 for repeat offenders. Given the high financial and human costs of injuries, preventive technologies are always worth the investment.

Productivity Drives Value

Materials handling is a critical part of any warehouse operation. By some accounts, they comprise 10% to 80% of the product cost, with the percentage rising for inexpensive or commodity products. Materials handling functions also consume more than 90% of the product flow time within manufacturing businesses.

There are two key ways to measure materials handling productivity:

• Labor Productivity: The time forklift operators spend actively working. If operators are waiting around too much, there may be an opportunity to optimize labor costs.
• Materials Productivity: The number of pallets moved by lift truck operators. Comparing pallets per hour across operators or facilities can help benchmark and improve productivity.
• Asset Productivity: How often is high valued equipment sitting idle. Knowing peak demands and concurrent usage is key to optimizing fleet requirements.

There are also many different strategies to improve productivity:

• Optimize facility layout. Slotting popular items near each other and closer to packing/staging areas, identifying and addressing areas of congestion, and adding traffic control devices can help dramatically improve productivity for all operators.
• Implement proper training. Consider assigning new forklift operators an experienced mentor to help answer questions beyond the introductory PowerPoint training sessions. Cross-training employees can also help improve their productivity.
• Maintain your equipment. Ensure that equipment is well-maintained to avoid costly breakdowns while investing in side shifters, fork positioners, or other capabilities that can help increase flexibility and productivity within fork trucks.

Unfortunately, many of these improvements require a blind investment. For example, investing in new equipment should theoretically improve productivity, but it’s hard to prove the return on investment without tracking productivity at a granular level. Data is critical to understanding the impact of these investments and encouraging more investments.

Telematics Optimizes Safety & Productivity

Telematics improve safety and productivity through actionable data. For example, telematics solutions can help lock out untrained operators, enforce electronic OSHA checklists, and sense impacts to foster a safety culture. The same technologies can measure the amount of time a fork truck operator is active and how many pallets they’re moving per hour.

Powerfleet is a leading provider of telematics solutions. We recently helped a long-term customer in the food and beverage industry adopt our technologies on more than 2,500 pieces of materials handling equipment across nearly 100 food and beverage manufacturing and distribution facilities, providing a pivotal case study in the potential benefits.

The customer opted to track three key performance indicators:

• Time forklift operators spent actively working
• Number of pallets moved by lift truck operators
• Number of damage-causing impacts recorded by total pallets moved per lift truck operators

The customer then developed a plan to encourage every stakeholder—including managers, operators, supervisors, and executives—to invest in the outcome. After all, investing in technology without a clear plan of action leads to an expensive set of useless data. The key to success is defining the data that matters and effectively using it.

The “carrot-and-stick” plan included:

1. Develop a consistent set of measurements for material handling productivity and safety, regardless of the size of the facility.
2. Establish new benchmarks for pallet moves versus lift truck motion time and impact events.
3. Set up key performance indicator (KPI) scorecards for drivers, supervisors, and warehouse managers.
4. Award cash bonuses and other incentives for meeting KPI targets.
5. Retrain or repurpose forklift operators who fail to meet the benchmarks for safe productivity.

We worked with the customer to integrate Powerfleet IQ with its Kronos time-card system and SAP warehouse management system to chart data points like paid time versus seat time, time in motion with load, and lift truck impacts versus the number of pallets moved. We also worked together to build easy-to-use KPI scorecards for relevant parties.

In the end, the implementation resulted in an 85% reduction in accidents and damage, 100% compliance with crucial safety metrics, and a better way to measure safety and productivity across the organization.

The Bottom Line

Materials handling is a common source of safety incidents and a vital part of warehouse operations, making it a natural target for telematics solutions. By tracking the correct data, integrating existing systems, and aligning stakeholders, you can develop actionable metrics and KPI scorecards that drive a tangible return on investment.

Powerfleet IQ Analytics is a robust analytics platform that translates data from vehicles, operators, and other sources into actionable KPIs. You can easily compare operational performance across sites, drill down to specific vehicles, or see high-level profiles. You can use the data to improve safety, streamline maintenance, and optimize productivity.

Contact us for a free consultation and learn how to improve your materials handling operations with telematics solutions!