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Foodservice Distribution Conference Showcases Telematics Benefits
Author: David Alexander, Principal Analyst, Commercial Telematics
Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:10:36 EDT
Organized by the International Foodservice Distributors Association, the Foodservice Distribution Conference & Expo was held in Pittsburgh, PA October 12-14 2008. With over 1000 attendees from all over the USA and Canada, there was a very broad range of industry-specific solutions on display representing all aspects of the business from warehouse applications through the latest trailer designs to delivery tracking. The conference included panel discussions and workshops as well as an extensive trade show area.
The conference theme was about identifying opportunities to reduce costs, increase customer retention, measure results, and attain sustaining efficiencies. While there are many approaches to address these issues, commercial telematics can deliver all of these benefits. So it was no surprise to see many telematics service providers in attendance at the exposition.
MiX Telematics, Xata, PeopleNet, GPS North America, and Cadec Global were among the suppliers there giving demonstrations and explaining to customers how their products could benefit business profitability. Systems offered ranged from simple location tracking to full featured systems with color screens and navigation systems. It was somewhat puzzling that none of the top 10 companies in our recently updated Trailer Tracking Vendor Matrix were present. Perhaps it is just that they are being more selective in the current economic climate and many of them did attend the larger and more general ATA trade show in New Orleans the previous week.
Food distribution is one of the delivery tasks that often requires load monitoring to make sure that temperature is kept within a controlled range. Having constant monitoring as an option is important whether the carrier is a private or for-hire fleet. And any fleet operator can benefit from the fuel saving and driver education features available from pretty much all of the telematics service providers.
One of the big challenges for TSPs is getting the word out to fleet managers and senior management responsible for fleet operations about the benefits of commercial telematics. Conferences such as this are a good option, and some of the exhibitors were very prominent, with Cadec taking a large booth close to the entrance of the show floor, and Xata including a full-size truck on its stand complete with a demonstration system installed.
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