Trucks at Work Blog

“It’s been said that knowledge is power – and when it comes to security intelligence, a lack of accurate information can be detrimental to separating real threats from hype.” –Vinny Gullotto, general manager, Microsoft Malware Protection Center

In covering trucking, I’ve always tended to focus on the “big stuff,” such as equipment (tractors and trailers), drivers, fuel, even freight itself. However, dealing with the technology that manages all this “big stuff” in the most efficient and profitable way hasn’t been my strong suit. Thing is, it’s this very area – the technological arena – that’s become both trucking’s greatest asset and biggest Achilles heel in the last few years.

Infect a computer system with a “virus,” a “worm,” or some other sort of villainous software bug could literally cripple any business enterprise, much less trucking. So much of the business world today (and that goes double for journalistic hacks like myself) rely on computers tethered to the Internet to get things done.

For me, it’s all about filing stories, editing and producing video reports, while zipping digital photos hither and yon literally sometimes seconds after taking them. For truckers, the stakes are much higher – delivering freight to the right location, keeping in touch with dispatch and home alike, even performing diagnostics on problems with the “big stuff” such as engine or transmission issues. Take trucking’s computers down, and Houston, we’ll REALLY have a problem.

And I’m not just talking about the big enterprise systems here, either: even stuff as “basic” as laptops (if you can describe them as such) play a critical role in trucking’s world today, for drivers and carriers alike, so a computer virus or worm that disables or destroys their inner workings can be as devastating as losing a big mainframe.

That’s why information from sources such as Microsoft Corp.’s seventh volume of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv7) can be enlightening in terms of learning about what threats are stalking the cyber world. On the worrisome side, the company’s latest report finds that worm infections among its customer base rose by nearly 100% during the first half of 2009 over the preceding six months. Yet while what Microsoft calls “rogue security software” remains a major threat to customers, 20% fewer of them were affected by rogue infections during the past six months.

The reporting mechanisms for Microsoft’s SIRv7 report are really broad, as well, including: Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) on 450 million computers worldwide; Bing, which performed billions of Web page scans during the past six months; Windows Live OneCare and Windows Defender, operating on more than 100 million computers worldwide; Forefront Online Protection for Exchange and Forefront Client Security, scanning billions of e-mail messages yearly; and Windows Live Hotmail, operating in more than 30 countries with hundreds of millions of active e-mail users.

Data from all of those sources gives a fairly thorough “big picture” view of the biggest worries out there in computer-land, along with some insight into emerging threats. Here’s some of what Microsoft’s research found:

• Ten years after the Melissa worm appeared and defined mass-mailing worms as a class of malicious threats, worm infections have resurged to become the second most prevalent threat for enterprises in the first half of 2009. Worms rely heavily on access to unsecured file shares and removable storage volumes, both of which are plentiful in enterprise environments

• Conficker was the top worm threat detected for the enterprise, because its method of propagation works more effectively within a firewalled network environment. Conficker is not in the top 10 for consumers, because home computers are more likely to have automatic updating enabled. This further reiterates the need for enterprises to have a robust security update management program in place.

• The Taterf worm, with detections up 156% since the second half of 2008, targets massively multiplayer online role-playing games. These attacks rely less on social engineering to spread, and more on access to unsecured file shares and removable storage volumes – both of which are often plentiful in the enterprise. Taterf’s impressive growth underscores the need for organizations to develop guidelines for removable drives (such as thumb drives) and evaluate how connections are made to outside machines.

• Rogue security software remained the single largest threat category for the first half of 2009. In addition, while there has been progress combating rogues, this threat remained a major pain point for computer users during the same period. Also known as scareware, rogue security software takes advantage of customers’ desire to keep their computer protected. Microsoft products and services removed malware from more than 13 million computers worldwide, down from 16.8 million in the second half of 2008. Computer users are advised to use an anti-malware solution from a company they trust and to keep its threat definitions up to date.

In contrast, the report highlights the significant decrease in Zlob disinfections (by the way, I LOVE these names – Zlob, Taterf – as they seem to come straight out from old Robert Heinlein sci-fi novels) from 21.1 million at its peak in 2007 to 2.3 million in the first half of 2009 – a remarkable tenfold decrease, Microsoft said.

So how do companies and individual computer users stay ahead of such “infections”? Microsoft’s researchers culled the best practices they found from around the world and shared some insights in their latest security update:

• Japan has seen its infection rates remain relatively low. One of the reasons is due in large part to collaborations such as the Cyber Clean Center, a cooperative project between Internet service providers (ISPs), major security vendors and Japanese government agencies to educate users.

• Austria has implemented strict information technology (IT) enforcement guidelines to lower piracy rates, and this – along with strong ISP relationships and fast Internet lines, which aid in security update deployment – has helped ensure its generally low infection rate.

• Germany has also leveraged collaboration efforts with its computer emergency response team (CERT) and ISP communities to help identify and raise awareness of “botnet” infections and, in some cases, quarantined infected computers.

Central to the success in each of these regions is the growing trend of community-based defense, said Microsoft, in which the broader industry combines its collective strengths and intelligence to help defend computer users.

“Attackers have increasingly redirected their exploitation effort toward third-party applications and customer-developed internal applications,” noted Vinny Gullotto, general manager of Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center. “Ensure that policies are in place to help secure all file shares and regulate the use of removable media. Install AutoPlay update to help regulate automatic initiation of potentially dangerous removable media.”

In the end, I think, it also comes down to recognizing how critical computers and related technology are to keeping a trucking company’s enterprise up and running – for appreciating the significant role they play is the first step in establishing the proper mindset concerning computer security.

“A satellite orbiting the earth could someday prevent an auto accident.” –Dr. Gerhard Schmidt, chief technical officer and vice president, of research and advanced engineering for Ford Motor Co.

I’ll admit it: my first reaction upon learning that joint research by Ford Motor Co. and Auburn University shows that global positioning system (GPS) satellites could help prevent motor vehicle accidents was somewhere between “What?” and “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Apparently, though, virtual reality tests by the OEM and the university demonstrate that GPS satellites can precisely monitor a vehicle’s motion to such a degree that it improves the speed and effectiveness of electronic stability control systems – literally “talking” to cars and trucks so fast that they could help prevent serious accidents, based on vehicle motion data.

In short, a GPS satellite can potentially act as an “early warning system” that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control, then communicate directly with the vehicle’s stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident.

The project’s breakthroughs include developing algorithms combining data from sensors in Ford vehicles with data from GPS receivers – and it is this coordination of data that helped the researchers develop predictive models that can calculate a vehicle’s roll angle, sideslip and velocities under various driving conditions.

That data, in the end, is what helps determines when the car and truck is literally seconds away from a crash, so safety systems can be deployed to possible prevent said crash or at least mitigate the consequences.

Certainly, more work needs to be done – and this technology is only entering the prototype stage. But it’s also probably only a foretaste of other things to come in the vehicle safety arena.

Auburn University’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory, directed by Dr. David Bevly, received a three-year, $120,000 grant from Ford in 2008 as part of company’s university research program – and Ford is continuing such grants, despite the economic hard times, pumping $4 million into programs this year, including 16 vehicle safety projects.

Making it work in the real world is of course the acid test – but the prototype work on this technology will be well worth watching.

“Customers are telling us they think we’ve stopped going backwards, that they are starting to see things picking up. That is why now is the time for trucking to re-tool its technology.” –David Wangler, president and CEO, TMW Systems

If there’s anything good to be said about down times like these, it’s that they offer fleets a chance to re-evaluate their position in the trucking industry and (hopefully) embark on changes and shifts in strategy in order to be ready for when business accelerates (though projections are that business won’t accelerate at any pace faster than that over an overloaded and underpowered minivan – and from experience, I can tell you that is mighty slow indeed!)

Technology, of course, is harped on constantly in this industry as a great tool for making such changes, though fleets themselves remain mixed on whether such items as in-cab computers, portable truck-specific navigation devices, and trailer-tracking systems offer the opportunity to make the positive changes that result in more profitable business from shippers.

One thing is for certain, though: the technology being brought to the fore in the world of trucking today is pretty slick and may indeed offer some opportunities for fleets, large and small alike, to make some significant shifts in their business models. I got a peek at a lot of these new and improved technologies at TMW Systems 2009 TransForum user conference this week in Nashville, TN, so I’d like to show them to you so you can decide whether they can make a difference in your operation or not.

First up is PeopleNet’s new BLU in-cab communication and computing device. It’s not cheap, costing just over $700 per unit compared to the $200 price tag of its current LCD text-based unit, but it offers the opportunity to bring a lot more capability and functionality into the truck cab for drivers and fleets alike. I’ll let them tell you about these systems so you can decide for yourself if they offer value for your operation now or down the road:

Map maker Rand McNally is also going electronic with a truck-specific navigation device of its own, dubbed the IntelliRoute TND 500. This is noteworthy because, unlike the GPS navigation devices that are proliferating on retailer store shelves, this system produces TRUCK-SPECIFIC routes, so you don’t get stuck under a low bridge or sent on a road forbidden to tractor-trailers.

I talked to one fleet manager at the show that when he sees a driver with an off-the-shelf GPS unit in his cab, he rips it out immediately because they send trucks on roads only cars can travel – resulting in all sorts of costly problems. Rand McNally’s unit ain’t cheap – it costs $499 retail, with discounts starting when you buy three or more units – but it’s worth a look:

Finally, there’s trailer tracking via satellite based systems. Now, wihile this surely isn’t new technology – many fleets are already long time users – it’s being updated with a variety of new features, such as cargo sensors and the inclusion of satellite maps for greater detail within the software. It’s pretty neat stuff, so here is SkyBitz to give you a walk through:

Finally, there’s a new upgrade to the Fuelmaster fuel management package developed by Syn-Tech Systems that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to make refueling easier, faster, and more secure for fleets and drivers alike.

While I’m sure it doesn’t work perfectly all of the time, the use of RFID in this manner really offers fleets a chance to not only control refueling operations better — at least those coming back to a central location every day/night — but get more accurate and timely data from their vehicles as well, with little extra effort on the part of personnel.

Like I said earlier, all of this stuff may offer new opportunities for carriers out there to become more efficient and/or drum up new business – or might not. It’s really up to you to see if technological advances, like what’s shown above, fills a void, opens a door to potential new business, or offers the chance at greater efficiencies. One thing is for sure – more stuff like this is coming to market. It just remains to be seen how truckers can put it to good, profitable use.

“It is not a threat of the future. It is an actuality.” –Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, from a speech at the Global Cyber Security Conference held in Washington D.C.

I think we all know that “cyber security” is big deal – but especially in trucking, More and more these days, basic information such as bills of lading, customs paperwork, and other data is being converted into electronic formats and delivered via the pathways of the Internet.

Many times, this conversion to electronic formats is demanded, almost mandated, in business today – which is why the huge growth in cyber crime should be worrisome to truckers.

The sheer scale of cyber crime these days should raise a lot of hackles as well – for both corporations and individuals alike. Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), detailed one such cyber crime that occurred in 2008 during a recent speech at a cyber security conference here in Washington D.C.; one that required the U.S. Secret Service to crack.

“Indeed, it was just about a year ago today that criminal charges came from a Secret Service investigation into the theft and sale of 40 million credit card numbers by an international group of cyber criminals – and that case, I believe, was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the damage that cyber crime can entail,” she explained in her remarks.

More worrisome to her is that the “white hats” in government – the good guys – are often way, way behind the “black hats” in terms of understanding and using technology effectively. “We have to acknowledge amongst ourselves that in terms of cyber security we’ve been living in a cyber 1.0 world and we need to be cyber 3.0 and beyond,” Napolitano stressed. “Because the minute we start talking about a particular methodology of cyber the cyber bad guys are already moving ahead. This is a very, very rapidly evolving environment in which real crime and real damage can occur.”

That’s one reason why much of the fight against cyber crime is now being directed by the Secret Service, she said. “The reason the Secret Service is in there evolves from their historical jurisdiction; protecting the security of our currency and our banking institutions—and, of course, financial institutions are one of the prime targets of cyber threats,” Napolitano noted. “So, from that historical antecedent—which goes back to the 18th century—we now have the Secret Service being the lead agency on cyber crime throughout the federal government and in DHS.”

But cyber crime is a global problem which is one reason the U.S. government is involved with the International Watch and Warning Network [IWWN], which includes 15 countries. “Cyber [crime] knows no national boundaries. It knows no nation or state organization. More importantly, it is not organized the way we are organized,” Napolitano pointed out. “We are organized in nice categories, and even in an international environment we are organized in these kind of international organizations—none of which fits the cyber world.”

That’s why, to her mind, it is so important to recognize why cyber crime can be so dangerous – because, like terrorism (albeit without its visceral blood and horror) there is no international structure where cyber crime and especially where cyber security is concerned.

“That is part of where we need to go,” Napolitano stressed. “We need to confront how we really engage our partners. How are we going to share intelligence from the government to the private sector and back in real time, so that it’s useful? How will we work together on a day-to-day basis? How are we going to grow, recruit and retain cyber experts and cyber cops? In other words, where are the personnel going to come from who are going to help us in this effort—and that’s particularly important, because in the cyber world, there is such an easy flow within the private sector.”

This all goes to the heart of the battle against cyber crime, she noted: How do we, as a nation, build a reservoir of the top minds required to keep ahead of the bad guys? To get creative and think not just of what they’ve done, but what they’re going to do next and next and next?

“How do we share those ideas so that we are not chronically playing catch-up where the cyber field is concerned” she asked. “How do we stay aware and share information about developing threats in the cyber world? How can we continually be more innovative than our enemies would have us be? For those of you who are in academia—how can we fully involve the research and development efforts that you are undertaking in the cyber security efforts that we are making?”

All the different strata of government that touches on cyber security – from the military to transportation, banking, energy, etc. – complicates the effort to effectively focus on cyber crime at times. Even more critical, in Napolitano’s view, is how to engage not just the private sector in the cyber battle but the American people – building an understanding of just how serious the cyber threat is.

“The critical issue here is not just for the big players – the entire private sector – but every business in the U.S., large or small, and every home that has a computer in it – which is, as you know, an increasing number of our homes,” Napolitano said in her remarks. “They are now part and parcel of who could be attacked; and our challenge is how we protect ourselves before such an attack occurs.”

Definitely not an easy problem to get one’s arms around, but considering how extensively trucking relies on the cyber world to conduct even basic business transactions, it’s a threat that must be more and more closely watched in the days ahead.

“A good risk manager knows there is no ‘silver bullet,’ no ‘one thing’ that will eliminate all your risk. Anyone who tries to market their product to us in that manner gets [shown] the door. We recognize there are a number of tools, not all necessarily equal, that, when applied, will collectively reduce risk. [But] this has been one of those tools which exceeded our expectations.” –Danny Pack, senior vice president-risk management, Loomis Armored

There’s been a lot of activity on the in-cab video technology front of late, with two studies being released within several weeks of each other. The first is an in-house case study SmartDrive Systems conducted with Loomis Armored, a big customer of theirs that employs over 8,000 people and operates a fleet of some 3,000 armored trucks and other vehicles in the U.S. The second is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded project conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) with two over-the-road fleets, both using DriveCam’s driver risk management program.

Both studies reveal some very interesting data – though you’ll have to wait until next week (12 noon on July 22 to be precise) for the full results of the FMCSA project, as that’s when VTTI’s Lead Researcher Jeff Hickman will be conducting a webinar about it (you can click here to sign up for it).

The FMCSA/VTTI study involved 100 trucks – both long haul and short haul – over a 17-week period, with four weeks spent establishing a baseline and 13 weeks using the video-recorded data to adjust and improve driver behavior and skill sets. The results were interesting to say the least, as the number of risky driving events fell by 52.2% in the first fleet and 37% in the second fleet based on their use of DriveCam’s in-cab video system to gauge and adjust driver skills

“Both carriers (long-haul and short-haul) significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from baseline to intervention,” VTTI’s Hickman said. “The results prove that the combination of onboard safety monitoring and behavioral coaching were responsible for the significant reduction in the mean frequency of events/miles traveled at both carriers.”

Loomis Armored reported similar results with its use of SmartDrive’s technology. It’s six-month study, involving over 1,000 vehicles, more than 2,800 drivers and recording nearly 700,000 measured driving events, resulted in a 53% reduction in collision frequency.

Although Danny Pack (at left), Loomis’ senior vice president-risk management, stressed to me in an email conversation that his company already runs an exceptionally safe and responsible fleet, they still recorded significant per-driver improvements across four important metrics that are leading factors in collisions. Those factors were: Distracted driving (a 54% drop); fatigue behind the wheel (declined 56%); non-use of seatbelts (dropped by 68%); and incidents of speeding (cut by 53%).

“While having a safe fleet is our objective, as with any area of improvement, you cannot sit on your laurels,” Pack told me. “We owe it to our employees, our customers and the general public to continuously seek ways to prevent injury and provide value. In these economic times it is easy to put off investment; however, our leadership recognizes our business is built on managing risk well. So being able to quantifiably reduce collisions, send drivers home safe each night, and reduce our fleet expenses at the same time are extremely rewarding on many levels.”

Yet in-cab video – the constant real-time monitoring of truck drivers at work – is, to put it nicely, resented across much of this industry. Most drivers consider themselves professionals and are deeply offended when the talk turns to the use of in-cab video to monitor their performance on a second by second basis.

I talked to Pack a little about this and he said Loomis quickly recognized this as a major hurdle as well. “We too had a concern on how employees would react to the possibility of ‘Big Brother’ looking over their shoulders,” he told me. “However, throughout my career I found there is no substitute for good communication. That means explaining AND listening. We knew not everyone would be 100% sold on the idea. Nor was that necessarily our objective. We had to make sure we explained the benefits to them individually and to the company as a whole.”

For example, he said, all too frequently there is a dispute “your driver ran the light and hit my car” or “your driver cut me off and struck my vehicle,” etc. “We are also a company at high risk for attack,” as Loomis transports cash, jewelry and other valuables for a living, he noted.

“So we were also able to show employees how they could use the camera to capture suspicious individuals or vehicles so we are able to work more closely with law enforcement too. Showing real video clips of these types of incidents that exonerated our driver, many saw the benefit to them personally,” said Pack. “Our company also has a very well publicized ‘hotline’ which employees can use anonymously. Since these all initially come through our risk management department, and they are not shy about using it, I can confirm we have not had a single call or complaint on how SmartDrive has been used or concern regarding our expansion” of its use.

That’s right: Based on these strong results, Loomis is implementing the SmartDrive program in another 1,000 vehicles this year, which will mean over two-thirds of its fleet will be equipped with this technology.

The way Pack sees it, “This is another tool in the [safety] toolbox; however, this just happens to be a power screwdriver instead of a manual one.”

From his risk management perspective in the fleet business, there is always a better mouse trap, so it behooves any fleet to go out and test it to see what benefits it can provide.

“I see these [in-cab video] tools as not just a way of improving our safety or security programs but bring our human resources, operations and loss prevention teams more closely together to find mutual solutions which will reduce turnover, improve productivity and meet our the number one objective: caring for our people, customers and the public,” Pack told me.

So while in-cab video might not be a magic wand, with the ability to “wave away” accidents, injuries and costs, it sure seems – in the right hands at least – to give fleets and their drivers an opportunity to achieve improvements in all three of those areas. Now the trick is to see if the lessons from both these studies can be applied to the broader world of trucking just as effectively.

“This year’s research clearly demonstrates that compliance, breaches and brand damage are driving companies to deploy more data protection solutions.” –Phillip Dunkelberger, president and CEO of PGP Corporation

It’s hard to believe that the world of trucking – with its growling diesels, 18-speed transmissions, chrome, and eye-popping paint schemes – pretty much lives or dies on data these days. Not that the cost of fuel, wages, insurance, emission regulations, and many other myriads of factors don’t heavily impact trucking’s day-to-day life. But it’s those minute specks of electronic information, making up bills of lading, payments, driver identification, etc., that determine whether trucks roll or sit.

The big worry, of course – and it’s a fear rightly placed – is just how safe all this data really is. The recent announcement by Carnegie Mellon University researchers that showed how public information readily gleaned from governmental sources, commercial data bases, or online social networks can be used to routinely predict most – and sometimes all – of an individual’s nine-digit Social Security number should serve as a huge red flag for truckers large and small. For if individual identification can be compromised this easily, leaving everyday people exposed to all sorts of financial malfeasance, companies should be wondering pretty furiously how vulnerable they truly are.

Companies across the spectrum, though, are definitely awake to the dangers, according the fourth annual study on encryption usage in the enterprise by the California-based Ponemon Institute. In the group’s 2009 study, entitled “U.S. Enterprise Encryption Trends,” found that data breaches continue to be a huge problem for the 997 information technology (IT) and security practitioners that participated in the survey. Some 85 percent of organizations surveyed by Ponemon had at least one data breach in the last 12 months, demonstrating that there is no let up in breaches – consistent with 84 percent cited in the 2008 report. More worrisome is that the rate of companies suffering more than five data breaches rose to 22 percent in 2009, up from 13 percent in 2008.

“We’re trying to help enterprises assess their risk posture,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. “Organizations are looking for more complete solutions that can protect their data wherever it may reside. The focus for 2010 needs to be on applying a strategic approach to data security across the enterprise.”

Other findings from Ponemon’s work this year include:

• Data protection is an important part of an organization’s risk management efforts. For the first time, Ponemon asked how data protection relates to an organization’s risk management efforts, with 58 percent reporting that is a very important part of risk management and 22 percent say it is an important part.

• Encryption of data on mobile data-bearing devices used by employees is very important or important. More than 59 percent of respondents say it is very important or important to encrypt employees’ mobile devices – a sign that organizations recognize that valuable data is more mobile than ever.

• More than 70 percent have fully executed or just launched data encryption strategy in their organization. Once again data encryption strategies are being implemented across a majority of the respondent participants. The majority of organizations, 78 percent, have some type of encryption strategy, up from 74 percent in 2008 and from 66 percent in 2007.

• Encryption is mostly used to mitigate data breaches and comply with privacy and data protection regulations. In addition, there was an increase in the percentage of respondents who reported that encryption is also important to preserving brand and reputation.

• The percentage of organizations using the platform approach to managing encryption solutions has increased. Additionally, 76 percent would strongly recommend or recommend the platform-based approach if it reduced the cost of acquiring, deploying and managing encryption applications.

This vulnerability of data should really surprise no one. What’s of concern, however, is how pervasive this vulnerability is – especially for everyday individuals –and the amount of fiscal damage it can cause.

Take Carnegie Mellon’s aforementioned work on Social Security numbers, for example. “The predictability of Social Security numbers is an unexpected consequence of seemingly unrelated policies and technological developments that, in combination, make Social Security numbers obsolete for authentication purposes,” said Alessandro Acquisti, associate professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon’s H. John Heinz III College, and Ralph Gross, a post-doctoral researcher at the Heinz College, who led the college’s research on this topic

“Because many businesses use Social Security numbers as passwords or for other forms of authentication — a use not anticipated when Social Security was devised in the 1930s — the predictability of the numbers increases the risk of identity theft – and ID theft cost Americans almost $50 billion in 2007 alone,” they wrote. “The Social Security Administration could mitigate this vulnerability by assigning numbers to people based on a randomized scheme, but ultimately an alternative means of authenticating identities must be adopted.”

Future Social Security numbers could be made more secure by switching to a randomized assignment scheme, but protecting people who already have been issued numbers is harder, the researchers said. Given the ease with which Social Security numbers can be predicted — particularly the first five digits and particularly for the millions of Americans born since 1988 — legislative and policy initiatives aimed at removing the numbers from public exposure, or redacting their first five digits, may be well-meaning but misguided, Acquisti added.

It just goes to show that protecting data in this information-driven age we’re living in has got to be a top priority for individuals and businesses alike; even in the rough-and-tumble world of trucking.

“The accuracy of the road slope information … enables our RunSmart Predictive Cruise to ease the burden on the truck’s engine when traversing challenging terrain.” –Elmar Boeckenhoff, vice president of truck product engineering, Daimler Trucks North America

Here’s a neat idea that’s going to become reality later this year – feeding real-time road terrain information gathered via global positioning systems (GPS) and digital maps into the cruise control on a tractor-trailer. That way, the cruise control can proactively adjust a big rig’s speed to climb a hill or descend a steep grade, giving it better control of the vehicle while saving on ever more costly diesel.

Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is making just such a system available on its Freightliner Cascadia Class 8 tractor in the third quarter this year – technology called “RunSmart Predictive Cruise” that imports GPS data alongside mapping information provided by NAVTEQ that can then size up upcoming changes in road terrain and adjusts the throttle accordingly, resulting in fuel savings, according to Elmar Boeckenhoff, DTNA’s vice president of truck product engineering (pictured at right).

NAVTEQ’s digital maps contain millions of miles of road networks – including precise road coordinates, information on the direction of travel and slope data for over 200,000 miles of highway throughout the contiguous U.S. “This application shows first-hand how attributes collected by our geographic analysts can drive innovation and create intelligent applications,” said Bob Denaro, vice president of NAVTEQ’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) group.

“By tapping into the power of ADAS, Daimler Trucks is leveraging data and technology to drive down fuel consumption to benefit both the physical and fiscal environments,” he said.

No, for sure, there are going to glitches to work out – and as MANY readers continue to rightly point out, this kind of cruise control technology can NEVER adequately replace the need for skilled human hands at the wheel. But with a professional driver at the wheel, this kind of “predictive” cruise control could potentially help fleets accrue fuel savings over time – and knowing how expensive diesel is getting, that could add up to a lot of bucks back in the wallet.

Once we start seeing some real-world results gathered on this technology later this year, then we’ll know if it’ll make a good fit for the U.S. over-the-road trucking market.

“The idea of the car coaching the driver became a core principle during our early prototyping [and] fed directly into the final product.” –Randal Visintainer, executive director, Research and Advanced Engineering.

I’m taking a step down into the automotive world again because there are some technology developments going on at Ford Motor Company that I think are pretty cool and exemplify an important design trend line we’re on when it comes to vehicles that could make a big difference to truck drivers in the very near future.

The issue is how drivers interact with vehicle instrumentation – and designing said instrumentation to make operating as well as monitoring the vehicle a whole lot more intuitive. Let’s face it: the dashboard is getting more and more crowded these days, for light vehicles and heavy trucks alike, so it behooves engineers to create gauges via which drivers can get all the information they need without getting too distracted as they drive.

In Ford’s case, those needs helped them design their new SmartGauge instrumentation package with a new “EcoGuide” cluster for its 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrid cars to help drivers maximize fuel efficiency. True, now, these are hybrid cars here – not something that translates well into the heavy truck world – but it’s the use of a high resolution, full-color liquid crystal display (LCD) screen that makes this interesting to truckers.

Ford’s LCD gauge package – developed in collaboration with the help of IDEO, Smart Design, and Johnson Controls – can be configured by the driver to show different levels of information, including fuel and battery power levels, as well as average and instant miles-per-gallon. Taking a design cue from Ford’s hybrid leaf logo, Ford graphic designer George Macon developed an animation of growing leaves and vines that tracks and rewards the driver’s efficiency.

“It is much more interactive and integral to the whole driving experience,” said Paul Mascarenas, vice president-engineering for Ford Global Product Development.

Yet it’s the design input from real drivers that is the big trend here. Mascarenas said design research and rapid prototyping proved critical to the development of the SmartGauge, and that process in turn relied on observing dozens of consumers in their homes, cars, and communities to gain insight into how people measured efficiency in different areas of their lives.

“Every person the teams talked to a variety of drivers to help us better understand how people interact with their vehicles and what kinds of features they wanted,” said Randal Visintainer, Ford’s executive director-research and advanced engineering.

As a result of that “real world” feedback, Ford’s final LCD “EcoGuide” dashboard design allows drivers can choose one of four data screens, including:

Inform: Fuel level and battery charge status

Enlighten: Adds electric vehicle mode indicator and tachometer

Engage: Adds engine output power and battery output power

Empower: Adds power to wheels, engine pull-up threshold and accessory power consumption

All levels are customizable to show instant fuel economy, fuel economy history, odometer, engine coolant temperature, what gear the car is in and trip data, including trip fuel economy, long-term fuel economy and miles to empty.

Visintainer added that Ford tried to make the instrumentation more “user friendly” by placing it right in front of the driver where they want it.

Two other user-friendly elements are SmartGauge’s dealership demo mode, which offers a quick overview of the cluster’s benefits to prospective buyers, and the owner tutorial mode, which is a more in-depth look at its features and functions. Johnson Controls helped design the demo and tutorial as well as SmartGauge’s “greeting” sequence – literally building a “self-help” guide into the dashboard cluster.

This also only the beginning of the process of redesigning instrumentation, added Mascarenas. “Watching this technology come together was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen at Ford,” he said. “Everyone really was feeding off each other to push the bar – and we already have strong ideas about where to take it in its next generation.”

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, and how it gets adapted to heavy trucks to make the delivery of information easier and more intuitive for commercial drivers.

“In today’s economic environment it is more important than ever to align your labor costs with your company’s revenue goals.” –Eddie Capel, executive vice president-global operations for software provider Manhattan Associates.

Let me stress out the outset here: this post isn’t about information technology (IT) replacing OR eliminating people in today’s trucking and logistics workforce – no way, no how. Neither is it about removing people from the communication channel with customers.

Loyal reader Steve Myers from Moser Ford out in Berne, IN, made that oh-so-valid point in a comment on one of my IT posts the others day. “People buy from people, and establishing relationships is as important as any IT improvement,” he stressed to me. “I’d much rather talk to a receptionist than a ‘dial 1 for sales’ any day.”

With that in mind, though, here’s why the “labor schedule optimization” IT package from supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates got my attention. It’s simple, really – using IT to perform the mundane, tedious, time-consuming schedule planning so managers and workers can focus on more important things.

Nothing’s worse than being hunched over a spread sheet for hours, trying to figure out who should work what shift while accounting for the overall number of workers, skill levels, individual performance levels, length of shifts, overall workload, break times, seniority, and hourly rates – just to name a few. That’s just a waste of time for everyone – time better spent building those person-to-person relationships Myers talked about earlier.

“Our customer research and long experience working with distribution companies has shown that creating the optimal balance among scheduled labor resources, workloads, service level commitments and costs for a typical distribution center requires considering more than 80 million variables,” noted Eddie Capel, executive vice president-global operations for software provider Manhattan Associates. “That can substantially affect bottom-line labor improvements.”

[Here’s a video clip describing how Manhattan’s IT package works – sure beats reading about it!]

Manhattan’s research indicates just getting a handle on all the boring intricacies of labor scheduling can save distribution centers (DCs) a lot of money – a savings of 6 to 9 percent with its labor optimization system alone, which is in addition to the 15 to 20 percent of savings the company said can be achieved by adopting its core “labor management” solution.

That’s a big deal because warehousing companies – like truckers – are under an amazing amount of economic stress right now, according to Brad Wyland, a senior research analyst with consulting firm Aberdeen Group. “With budgets getting tighter and executives being more methodical in their investment and allocation of funds for improvement projects, many organizations are taking a closer look at supply chain operations to identify strategic drivers that can have immediate impact,” he noted.

In a new study by Aberdeen entitled Five Key Steps to Optimizing Warehouse Management, the firm found the adoption of warehouse management systems (WMS) and peripheral IT applications is one way companies are achieving superior performance despite having less manpower and resources.

“The pressure mounting on today’s warehouse managers isn’t that different than yesterday, but the speed at which change is occurring is increasing and the time to adjust to those changes is shrinking,” noted Wyland. “By automating many of the manual procedures necessary to process and distribute activities throughout the warehouse, today’s warehouse managers can focus their labor force on improving operations and managing exceptions, versus spending countless hours managing paper trails.”

An important caveat to all of this: it can’t be achieved without “buy in” from the front-line workers. Manhattan stressed this very point in a white paper it published called “Delivering Labor Excellence.”

“Too many software companies assert that their software is the answer to improved productivity. But, if a company does not take the time to ensure it has established best practices, all any software will do is monitor existing unproductive work habits,” Manhattan noted in its paper. “Even worse, it might give a false impression of success when performance levels are measured against historical units per hours (UPH) standards that are themselves flawed.”

It’s getting the support of front-line workers, though, that changes all of that. “Just as improvement is critical for defining the best way to perform each job, communication is crucial in creating a workforce that is willing and able to adapt to the new job methods,” Manhattan contends.

“Employee buy-in is absolutely essential to the success of a productivity program. Employees that don’t know what is expected of them, don’t know how to do their jobs or don’t care will ‘submarine’ the success of any project,” Manhattan continued. “Translating the executive vision for productivity improvement to the shop floor is about effective change management. A clear, well-executed communication strategy will ensure that all employees understand why changes are being made and how their individual performance impacts the overall operation.”

And even though this discussion is centered around the DC and warehouse world of work, truckers can glean some useful insights from these thoughts. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about becoming more productive with the resources at hand, while gaining time to make more personal connections with your customers. That’s what will sustain your business through these tough times, I think.

“Accurate and timely data capture is such an integral part of the supply chain process today as it relates to running the entire [freight] company – from sales prospecting, to quotes, to operations, to finance, to customer notification – [to create] a cohesive, optimized logistics process.” –Gene Gander, vice president of sales-Americas for CargoWise edi

It’s OK to roll your eyes when the talk turns to driving business efficiencies through information technology (IT) improvements. Lord knows, it sometimes feels like the IT community speaks a whole different language, one filled with all sorts of clunky terms (‘optimization’ is my favorite) and inscrutable acronyms (SOP, EDI, etc.)

Thing is, though, properly designed and deployed IT systems really DO bring efficiencies to the table. I talked with a small family-owned moving company in Texas not long ago, a company that’s been investing heavily in IT upgrades over the past five years, and they told me one of the end results of their systems improvements was the elimination of 270 human “touches” to a shipment – especially where the exchange of bills of lading and other paperwork is concerned.

That’s a tremendous amount of time and effort the business Is no re-focusing elsewhere – and time is probably the most precious commodity companies have in the freight market these days, especially since shipment “speed” still remains the watchword of the day in many cases.

“We operate in a global freight and logistics environment that is considerably more dynamic and complex than it has been in the past,” noted Gene Gander, vice president of sales-Americas for CargoWise edi, a freight IT provider based out of Chicago.

“This is especially true in the current worldwide economic situation where new business paradigms are increasingly necessary to meet existing and future business challenges,” he stressed. “The entire freight … process is evolving as global economic changes occur, and today requires more advanced and efficient IT tools to support these market dynamics.”

Gander believes there are seven distinct ways IT solutions can be applied across a wide scope of business functions that can automate and integrate various company processes and cohesively manage them throughout the entire freight process.

• Provides a Consistent SOP (standard operating procedure) Process: In too many cases today there are fragmented communications solutions in a disparate global operating system that may serve one business segment more so than another, said Gander. This requires multiple data entries and is redundant in nature. A single SOP system for supply chain visibility can access necessary shipment data and integrate information across business functions, saving time and creating companywide efficiencies. With integrated information, sales reps can enter critical data that is used to facilitate increased sales and customer service by monitoring project status and meeting customer deadlines, while operations management can use the same information for reporting and oversight without requiring additional data entry. IT optimization provides cross-functional management visibility as a by-product of the sales effort, but is also an invaluable communications tool for ongoing operations.

• Increases Ease of Training: Ongoing training of changing IT system methods is critical to effective global freight operations. The establishment of a single integrated IT system through one provider permits a more effective and freight-specific systems training process across departments, business functions and company branches. This can provide efficiencies for both company employees and customers using training manuals on-site, or on a remote or on-demand Web-based basis.

• Creates Deeper Customer Profiles: The sales and marketing process is the first contact with the customer/prospect your company has, stressed Gander, so a single customer-specific operational profile of the customer and shipment parameters and variables can be an invaluable operating tool. Changing customer organization details, contacts, and procedures once a logistics process is underway can be an administrative nightmare with multiple data systems within a company. A single and comprehensive data system with a common point of customer input ensures continuity for the entire team, which has access to the same updated information to ensure a seamless flow of quality information. A properly integrated customer profile does not require sales to send multiple memos, but rather enables the system to automatically inform operations of how to most efficiently manage that account regardless of organizational changes.

• Consolidates Reporting: An effective, consolidated IT system can create a valuable reporting tool that offers superior, electronic data mining, funnels important shipment data and documents throughout your company’s business functions without redundancies, improves the workflow and enhances the decision-making process for management while ensuring data quality through a single and consistent electronic reporting system, noted Gander. Using accurate and timely information that flows in all directions helps to create efficiencies by avoiding miscommunications – while also creating a “greener” electronic, paperless work environment in the process.

• Improves the Customer Service Process: A properly integrated IT system can significantly improve customer service by providing accurate shipment data for both the company and customer. IT efficiencies enable a more precise customer record to be entered into a CRM (customer resource management) tool that is both accurate and cross-functional, Gander said. IT solutions with an integrated CRM process enables sales, operations and finance to work from the same records, maximizing companywide operating efficiencies and greatly enhances the customer experience through improved reporting of shipment status.

• Creates Centralized Data Efficiencies: A robust single system and transparent IT solution can also enhance the nature of the data quality and efficiencies throughout your organization, Gander pointed out. By creating a centralized database that is accurate and accessible to all parties in the pipeline, maximum efficiencies are created by centralizing information regardless of skill level or geographic location. Entering data only once reduces possible errors caused by multiple touches, and saves money and resources by not having to re-key it multiple times. The cross-functional visibility created by one integrated IT system enables it to be viewed and managed efficiently from both ends of the supply chain.

• Enables Greater Supply Chain Visibility: The electronic entry of shipment information, as opposed to manual entry, allows the data capture to be pushed out through the extended supply chain more accurately and timely, Gander said. For instance, an export data entry does not just start with the arrival of information with an IT-efficient system; but rather when the foreign export is initiated for shipment management. This provides more immediate end-to-end supply chain visibility for all trading partners.

“Ultimately implementing a robust, single-source IT infrastructure can greatly lower hardware and software costs, while streamlining all business functions and improving workflow productivity,” Gander believes. “This ultimately enables [freight companies] to more efficiently manage global operations electronically through a single software provider, allowing your operation to provide consistency, improved and timely shipment status communications and vastly improved global supply chain visibility.”

It’s a tough market out there as carriers, owner-operators, freight forwarders, logistics providers, and freight brokers all jockey for a shrinking pool of business. Having the right IT tools in place can make your business, no matter how small, more efficient and thus a more nimble competitor. At the very least (to steal a phrase from my compatriot Tim Brady) it’s something to think about.