Deutsche Telekom is helping German telematics company YellowFox digitise logistic company Modschiedler’s fleet and logistics processes.

The end-to-end offering includes digital order management and the YellowFleet app, which is used to handle transports and plan routes. Deutsche Telekom and YellowFox provide the trucks with connected trackers and driver displays for the tractor units. Modschiedler can thus saves time, costs, paper and CO₂ emissions.

Modschiedler transports prefabricated houses throughout Germany. The trucks have oversize width and height. They require special routes for transport. Until now, support vehicles drove the routes in advance and marked problematic points along the way.

Deutsche Telekom and YellowFox have integrated the truck route planner into the order management system. This integrates all passage restrictions and current traffic data when calculating the route. With one click, it determines the ideal route for trips with multiple destinations. The route planner calculates any toll costs incurred and breaks these down precisely. This gives dispatchers an overview of route planning and complete cost control. Delays due to restrictions can be avoided, and advance trips by support vehicles are no longer necessary.

“We want to continuously improve our services and meet our customers’ expectations,” said Roland Modschiedler, managing director of the Modschiedler group. “The partnership with Deutsche Telekom and YellowFox helps us to do this. It is a pioneering step towards digitised and sustainable logistics.”

In the future, Modschiedler will process its paper-based transport orders completely digitally. To do this, it uses the YellowTab Pro driver display in the truck. This is also used for communication via chat between the driver’s cab and the office.

The dispatchers send the orders to the vehicle. The drivers see all the documents online, including the route and unloading plan. Upon arrival, the recipient signs digitally and the truck driver sets the order to completed in the YellowFleet app. Dispatchers see the completed order immediately; they don’t have to wait for the truck to return.

With the app, companies can additionally record working hours and activities; check the driver’s licence electronically; inform drivers about remaining driving time, shift duration, driving style or toll costs; and store important information such as contact persons or work instructions in an electronic note box.

“Sustainability is an important topic, especially in the logistics industry,” said Hagen Rickmann, managing director for business at Deutsche Telekom. “At Modschiedler, environmental protection and economic efficiency now go hand in hand; our digital technology installed in the Modschiedler Group have a positive impact on the carbon footprint and pay off on the environmental social governance rating and supply chain due diligence.”

Deutsche Telekom and YellowFox provide Modschiedler’s trucks with trackers and M2M cards. The German logistics company receives the telemetry data for its trucks. Manual work steps are eliminated. It automatically downloads and provides data from the driver card and mass memory. The tackers with the M2M cards record driving times, locate the truck, store and archive the data, and display fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.

In this way, drivers’ assignments can be better planned, fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions reduced, and transport accelerated.

“Focus on what matters, thanks to telematics,” said Hendrik Scherf, managing director of YellowFox. “This motto is at the beginning of every development at YellowFox. The basic idea is to automate and digitalise administrative processes in companies so they can concentrate their resources on their respective core business.”