Every three years, the world’s most impressive and efficient construction machines are presented at bauma in Munich – from transporters to the world’s largest crawler crane. And they all have something in common: they have to be serviced from time to time in order to keep performing their service reliably and in the long term. That’s why thousands of service technicians working all over the world need the best possible conditions to do their job reliably and quickly. Every hour a construction vehicle is standing still, for example due to a missing spare part, costs money.
Mercedes-Benz Vans not only supports its customers with the ideal transporters for every purpose, such as the all-terrain Sprinter 4×4, but also with solutions that go far beyond the loading sill of the vehicle. At bauma 2019, Mercedes-Benz Vans is showcasing In-Van Delivery and Return (IDR), an innovative digital solution to increase the efficiency of decentralized, nationwide operating service fleets (Hall B4).
IDR significantly simplifies material and spare parts logistics and saves a lot of time for service technicians and their dispatchers. The supply of required materials, spare parts and tools takes place reliably and safely directly into the vans of the service technicians. At the start of work, everything needed for the day is already delivered to the vehicle, and parts that are no longer required were picked up without the intervention of the service technician. The fleet manager is also relieved and even a vehicle change is simplified via the system. New vehicles or replacement vehicles can be flexibly allocated to deliveries with IDR so that reliable delivery to service technicians is permanently ensured.
Saving travel times, more time for productive activities
Service fleets are usually nationwide and decentralized. In some cases, the individual service technicians are stationed far away from their own company headquarters or branch and the procurement of materials takes a long time. On average, service technicians need 60 to 120 minutes per day to pick up the right replacement parts and tools for their jobs and load them into the car, as well as unloaded, unneeded, or over-ordered material there. Thanks to IDR, these journeys are largely complete and the technician saves time, money and can take care of additional orders.
Targeted, transparent and secure
The cloud-based system solution is based on a technology that allows secure and keyless access to the vehicle and works even without an Internet connection thanks to Bluetooth. Specialized delivery services can thus be delivered directly to the vehicle without physical key management. With the right app and GPS-assisted navigation, the vehicles to be delivered are quickly and easily located, even if they have not been parked in the usual place. IDR not only offers logistical advantages: dispatchers as well as fleet managers have full transparency across the entire supply chain and can control online who can access their vehicles when. In addition, the service technician is automatically informed about the status of his deliveries and receives information on delivery.
More than just hardware: IDR connects logistics companies and service fleets
IDR is designed as a platform that connects service fleets with logistics companies. It leverages the benefits of IoT-based cloud technologies and standard interfaces, allowing customers to determine the depth of integration of this digital solution into their in-house processes. The van is a safe storage and pickup in this application.
IDR not only ensures the operation, security and transparency of daily collections and deliveries. Companies with service fleets can thus exploit even greater potential: the dismantling of interim storage facilities, lower material and circulation stocks as well as faster, traceable returns, regardless of whether it concerns warranty parts, reusable parts or over-ordered spare parts.
So far, the solution has been piloted by Mercedes-Benz Vans together with the specialist logistics company NOX NachtExpress. NSE (Night Star Express) has recently been successfully integrated into the platform and will soon be used by first customers. With NOX and NSE, two of the leading providers are now connected to the European market, with more to follow. Currently, IDR is being intensively tested together with the construction machinery company Liebherr. Further companies are currently preparing test phases.
SOURCE: Daimler
