Spedition Hütter from Öhringen in Baden-Württemberg specialises in the transport of sensitive goods such as pharmaceutical products and foodstuffs, as well as safe air freight. The precise documentation of many parameters is necessary. This is ensured by Krone´s Telematics system.
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our monitors at each operational workstation – and the phones ring every minute: “Are you driving to Stuttgart via the country road?”, an employee asks a driver on the phone. The heart of Spedition Hütter beats in the internal control tower. All roads lead back to here – the scheduling department is responsible for coordination throughout Europe, and if a problem should arise, it can be reacted to immediately.
Transporting goods these days means more than loading them onto a truck at the point of origin and unloading them again at the destination – especially when food, medicines or high-value goods are being transported. “We specialise in these product groups,” says Dirk Hütter, who is responsible for project management and business development in the family business. And goods from these sectors also require permanent monitoring during transport: “We have to be able to provide our customers, especially those in the pharmaceutical and food industries, with complete proof that the required temperatures have been maintained throughout the entire transport process.”
Checked: The telematics box provides relevant data.
To document this, Hütter relies on Krone's telematics box, which is installed in all of the haulage company's trailers. Up to twelve temperature sensors measure the temperature of the trailers in six zones. If deviations occur, they are reported directly to Hütter's scheduling department. If necessary, the driver can be notified directly by the dispatch staff or intervene himself via telematics. But the telematics system measures even more parameters: “The monitoring centre is also used to check whether the GPS coordinates match the route, whether the security system is activated or whether the doors are still secured. If something is wrong, an alarm message appears immediately,” Hütter reports. In total, more than a dozen parameters are recorded. “We would not have this scope for action with other telematics providers.”
“Permanent data supply is particularly relevant, as is data security.”
Dirk Hütter
In addition, the Krone Telematics Portal is also very user-friendly. “Even new colleagues can settle in very well there. With two to three clicks you get everything you need,” says project manager Hütter. On the one hand, this simplicity facilitates and shortens the training of new employees. On the other hand, the required data could always be retrieved. “This permanent data supply is particularly relevant for us, as is data security,” says Hütter. “This corresponds to the optimum of the customer requirements for us.” At the same time, thanks to the data provided, a delimitation of liability vis-a-vis the shipper can be proven, as this is documented to the second via the door status sensor.
Satisfied: Dirk and Bernd Hütter
The human component is also important to Hütter when working with the commercial vehicle specialist: “At Krone, a contact person is always available and we get the best possible advice.” When problems arise, technical solutions are sought together. Maximilian Birle, Head of Sales, Service Telematics and Digital Services at Krone, gives an example: “The last issue was the power supply for an external telematics box that had been installed at Hütter for some special cases. It turned out that the battery was not sufficient to run the already installed telematics systems autonomously every five minutes for 24 hours.” The Krone telematics box with its powerful back-up battery has met this requirement ever since. “You just have to get the right people for 20 minutes to solve a problem together,” Birle sums it up.
PROFILE
About Hütter Spedition + Logistik GmbH Spedition Hütter from Öhringen in Baden-Württemberg specialises in temperature-controlled transport. Trailer digitisation by means of telematics is helping the medium-sized family-owned company to provide a high quality, reliable service.
A special feature at Spedition Hütter is the company's own workshop, where not only necessary maintenance work is carried out on the tractor units and trailers, but also conversions and extensions. “In a way, the workshop is also part of our core competence,” Dirk Hütter proudly reports. “We have a 100 per cent owned fleet, 100 per cent employed drivers and our own in-house workshop.” Above all, this gives the company flexibility: “We can control this internally very well; unlike external workshops, this also makes appointments at the weekend easier,” says the project manager.
Project Manager Dirk Hütter (left) and Managing Director Bernd Hütter are enthusiastic about the benefits that the telematics system brings to their haulage company. Business decisions can be derived from the data and problems can be identified at an early stage.
The freight forwarding company's workshop also benefits from the data provided on the Krone portal, for example, when it comes to maintenance intervals, low battery voltage or mileage. “A lot of things can already be read out of the data in the workshop and thus problems can be detected at an early stage,” says Managing Director Bernd Hütter happily. “This way, we can react at short notice and in a targeted manner.” At the beginning of telematics, it was rather “driven by the customers”, says the entrepreneur. But Hütter created a virtue out of necessity and switched to state-of-the-art digital technology and working methods at an early stage. “Now, we are actively using telematics, because the world is changing rapidly and we are going with it,” says Bernd Hütter.
Since placing its trust in digitisation and relying on telematics, a lot has changed in the company. “We first had to integrate the data-driven work into the old structures,” reports Dirk Hütter. “In the past, scheduling was manual, but today we are much more systematic. Our deviations are documented digitally, I can react to alerts around the clock and find all the data I need in my app.” Telematics provides a clearer information structure and ensures automated monitoring of the vehicles. “Admittedly, we had a greater upstream effort at the beginning, but this results in higher process reliability, simpler documentation and faster data availability.” All of this offers the freight forwarder's customers many advantages that they no longer want to do without.
