Sustainability can take various forms along the supply chain, from operations to product packaging and delivery. Sustainability refers to creating long-term value by finding a balance that allows businesses to get what they need to run without overusing or overextending their resources.
As businesses evolve and expand, so makes their environmental impact. According to a recent report from Aflac, 77% of consumers are more willing to be loyal to a company with a CSR pledge. Business leaders are waking up to this fact, too. 9 in 10 business leaders said consumers would hold them accountable for the environmental impact they make through their business. Consumers want their brands to be sustainable, and they are willing to pay for them.
For companies, innovating to more environmentally sustainable business processes is increasingly a way to drive profit. As consumers demand environmental consciousness and businesses see potential gains, companies will seek innovations to help them.
Luckily, there is an innovative solution to help you transition to a sustainable business model, Field Resource Management.
What is Field Resource Management?
Field Resource Management tools help companies locate vehicles, manage worker activity, schedule and dispatch work, and ensure safety standards. It also integrates the billing, inventory, accounting, and other typical back-office systems.
These tools can quickly slash vehicle fuel consumption and fuel expenses plus reduce greenhouse gas pollution and CO2 vehicle emissions. Even a small fleet of vehicles can save thousands of dollars per vehicle per year.
Driver behavior has perhaps the most significant impact on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Recent innovations in the industry allow delivery drivers to set attainable goals and reduce vehicle emissions while showing tangible results.
Critical Elements of Field Resource Management that Improve Sustainability
Route Optimization & Dispatching
Inefficient routing often leads to wasted fuel and dissatisfied clients. Field Resource Management enables you to make cost-efficient routing decisions that help you quickly dispatch routes to your drivers and leverage two-way driver communication. More efficient routes mean completing more deliveries per route and less fuel wasted.
Planning delivery routes and dispatching drivers has become more efficient and accessible than ever because of recent innovations. Routes are now optimized to find the most efficient route from one stop to the next and avoid traffic, reducing pollution and fuel consumption. These features are vital during the transition to a greener fleet and save valuable time and money.
When evaluating any Field Resource Management solution, it is essential to look for the following features that improve sustainability:
- Enhanced route scheduling
- Predictive traffic for routes
- Estimated arrival times
- Add breaks to routes
- Custom forms for completed deliveries
- Easy drag & drop interface
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel is typically the most significant expense for any company. Field Resource Management tools enable you to make simple changes that cut your fuel expenses dramatically. Look for unique features such as speeding reports, driver peer comparisons, instant vehicle locations, as well as a host of exclusive reports and alerts. If you are managing tight itineraries, you may need to know the location of your vehicles. Look for a system that provides instant real-time location updates and Google maps with real-time traffic and automatically refreshing maps.
A few simple changes in driving techniques can produce sizable fuel savings. Monitoring your drivers gives you the feedback necessary to educate them about their habits and help them change their behavior to become more efficient, safer and reduce their carbon footprint. Driving analysis and training can help stop aggressive driving. Reducing sharp accelerations and hard braking can reduce fuel consumption by 40% in city traffic.**
A Field Resource Management system also helps you find your vehicle’s “sweet spots,” such as the specific speeds, gear shifts, and acceleration where your drivers can achieve the best fuel efficiency. In city driving, nearly 50% of the energy needed to power your car goes to acceleration.**
Planning optimal routes also reduces delays, unnecessary idling and results in higher customer satisfaction due to precise arrival times at delivery destinations. Your deliveries & service calls happen faster, and you can fit more in per day. You also save fuel because you have reduced excessive idling.
When you combine this enhanced route planning with GPS tracking, you can identify habitual delays, diversions from the route, and unsafe driving behavior. This combination creates the opportunity to fix those problems and increase efficiency and decrease fuel usage further.
Proactively tracking vehicle health and maintenance is another way to improve fuel efficiency. Good Field Resource Management systems enable you to track oil life, engine fault codes, and emissions control system status. This proactive effort can lead to thousands of dollars save (per vehicle) in vehicle maintenance, repairs, and replacement costs, depending on how many vehicles you have.
Here are some key things to monitor to reduce fuel consumption effectively:
- Driver behavior
- Vehicle diagnostics & maintenance
- Excessive idling
- Optimized routes
Improve Sustainability with the FieldLogix Solution
FieldLogix has an affordable, innovative, and user-friendly solution. FieldLogix’s system is an all-in-one solution Field Resource Management system that features GPS fleet and asset tracking and workforce management, which helps you manage all your remote assets and achieve sustainability while improving your bottom line. The tools have features that help organizations complete more jobs, reduce fuel consumption, and streamline operations while balancing commercial and environmental concerns.
There is increasing pressure to embrace sustainable delivery practices. The good news is that FieldLogix is committed to providing the most competitive and innovative solutions for helping you become more sustainable now while transitioning to a greener fleet. Our Excessive Fuel scorecard helps you easily identify your drivers that waste the most fuel and those that are saving fuel. With FieldLogix, you can save thousands of dollars yearly by cutting fuel costs and improving efficiencies, thereby boosting your sustainability efforts.
For more details about how we can help you reduce your carbon footprint, please visit www.fieldlogix.com.
*CB Insights 2021 Research Study – Sustainability in Retail Trends