Mainfreight - New Zealand

The Customer

New Zealand transport company Mainfreight incorporates a number of different brands with activities ranging from door-to-door domestic and international transportation. Information and technology drive its activities.

The Challenge

During busy times Mainfreight could take up 200 customer calls an hour so it needed a system to help it deal with these as effi ciently as possible.Mobile data has made it easier for Mainfreight to track and trace a nationwide fl eet of more than 600 vehicles and 18 separate branches. Mainfreight despatch operators now have access to real-time information, the owner-operator drivers have increased effi ciency and customers can be well informed.

The Solution

With just a few keystrokes customers can use the Internet to check the whereabouts of their freight. Under the Internet tracking system consignment notes are assigned to freight at pick-up, the bar codes are scanned and the status of the freight is logged at each stage of the process.

The information is up-loaded via Tait mobile radios fi tted with a single port UART (operated through the MAP 27 interface) to the data system at head office. The introduction of the system has had economic benefits - not only is it faster to get information on to the system, but customer queries can be answered at the first call and this access to real-time information translates directly into goodwill.

Customer can also access information using "Tracey" - a talking computer - to accurately trace their freight. At the heart of Mainfreight's freight tracking system are "Freman" (Freight Management System) a software application providing the necessary freight information and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to link computer systems.

Mainfreight have also upgraded its mobile data service to include areas like electronic funds transactions (EFT-POS) and GPS. One of the strengths of the Tait mobile radio is the ease with which it is upgraded. A standard voice-based system can be upgraded by adding modems, scanners or GPS units.