COOPERATIVELY-USED TELEMATICS IN REGIONAL FREIGHT TRAFFIC

Small and medium-sized companies operating in the transport industry are responsible for the majority of delivery traffic within conurbations. Individual transport companies are very restricted in their ability to implement a computer-based system to optimize processing procedures due to low transport volumes and limited financial resources. By the use of a common telematics infrastructure, the productivity of the transport business could be raised. By dynamically integrating orders into existing delivery traffic routes, a full capcity use of all vehicles could be achieved. This concept ensures that individual companies retain their economic independence as well as achieving an increase in productivity by joint use of information, communication and location technologies. This was the starting point for the development of a cooperative service centre for small and medium-sized companies which jointly implement modern telematics technology for material planning and information management. Responsibility for joint planning of orders and routes is assumed by the service centre. Dynamically integrating orders into existing routes makes better use of individual vehicle capacity. It makes sense to implement proven telematics technology requiring little or no infrastructure to ensure cooperative implementation, such as a mobile telephone network and GPS. In addition, a common service centre means that new functionalities of dynamic transport material planning software are necessary. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 490001.