Less calls, more overview: M. Huhs digitalizes fleet and route planning with syniotec
This was exactly where one of the biggest challenges used to lie: Where is which truck located? When will a driver return? Which vehicle is currently nearby and could spontaneously take on an additional job?
There was often only one way to find out:making phone calls.
Today, M. Huhs uses theSmart Asset Manager (SAM) and the telematics from syniotecto keep a central overview of their own fleet. These days, the digital map is one of the first things opened in the office each morning.
“Our expectation was that the system would make our day-to-day work easier – and that’s exactly what happened,” says Manuel Huhs, Managing Director of M. Huhs Lohn- und Fuhrunternehmen GmbH
What were the challenges?
Especially for a haulage company, day-to-day business often requires spontaneous responses. Before introducing SAM, however, M. Huhs lacked a central overview of where trucks, machines, and containers currently were.
- A lot of coordination and queries by phone
- No live overview of trucks and construction machinery
- More difficult spontaneous route and deployment planning
- Manual tracking of container locations in Excel
- Machine and vehicle data were not available centrally in one place
"Where are you right now?" – Daily life before SAM
In the past, when a customer wanted to know when their delivery would arrive, an immediate answer wasn’t always possible.
First, it had to be clarified which driver was on the road, where the truck currently was, and when it was expected to return. This information was also missing for internal route planning.
Manuel Huhs describes the day-to-day situation back then quite pragmatically:
“We used to spend a lot of time chasing people up by phone, asking drivers: Where are you right now? Today we have the overview and can plan upcoming routes much better.”
The problem was especially noticeable with spontaneous changes. If a driver happened to be near another job, an additional pickup or soil removal could have been combined directly. But by the time his location was clarified by phone, he may already have passed the relevant spot.
“There was a lot of knowledge you simply had to keep in your head,” recalls Annika Huhs.
That’s why M. Huhs looked for a solution that would bring information together centrally, without creating yet another standalone system for daily work.
One platform for vehicles, machines, and containers
When searching for a digital solution, M. Huhs looked at several providers.
From the start, it was important to the company to bring machine and vehicle data together in one central system while also getting the necessary telematics from a single source.
With syniotec, M. Huhs found exactly this approach: The software SAM and the matching GPS and telematics solutions work directly together.
“We didn’t want to work with many different applications, but instead have one solution that offers everything from a single source as much as possible.”
For Manuel and Annika Huhs, it wasn’t just the technology that mattered. The ability to jointly develop requirements further and to have a direct point of contact for questions was just as decisive.
Today, SAM is a firmly established part of daily work at M. Huhs.
In the office, the map view runs on a large screen. This makes it immediately visible where the vehicles are, which trucks are on the road, and which are already on their way back to the company.
“In the morning, one of the first things we do is open the map and see right away who is where,” says Annika Huhs, assistant to the management
What used to require several phone calls can now often be answered with a single glance.
This helps not only with planned routes. Especially when something changes at short notice during the day, the team can decide more quickly which vehicle is in the right area and could take on the additional job.
“Working together has become more relaxed because all that back-and-forth calling has gone away.”
The overview is also maintained while on the road. SAM can be accessed on mobile. Anyone who wants to quickly find out where a truck is can check its location directly on their smartphone.
Vehicle management and telematics in one place
In addition to the live map, M. Huhs also uses SAM as a central vehicle and equipment management system. Information on machines and vehicles can be stored directly in the respective profile and retrieved whenever needed. Documents such as inspection records can also be managed there.
This means SAM is increasingly developing for the company from a pure location overview into a central platform for their own fleet. The long-term goal goes even further.
Huhs wants to bring together as many processes as possible in one place: from vehicle and machine data to time tracking and quantity surveying, all the way to digital delivery notes.
Annika Huhs sums up the vision as follows: “In the long run, our wish would be to map as many processes as possible in a single system, instead of needing a separate program for every task.”
Finding solutions when the standard doesn't fit
The introduction of telematics didn’t go the same way for every vehicle either.
For some trucks, the intended solutions couldn’t initially be deployed as planned due to different connections or technical requirements. For M. Huhs, what mattered most was how these situations were handled.
Instead of stopping at a technical obstacle, an alternative was sought together and a different solution was installed.
“What I particularly like is that syniotec works in a very solution-oriented way. We always try to make as much as possible for our customers. So it’s great when a partner works with us in the same way.”
For new vehicles and more complex telematics installations, syniotec continues to provide direct on-site support. Other solutions, for example for containers or construction machinery, can now be installed by the M. Huhs team themselves.
At M. Huhs, the biggest difference doesn’t show up in one single large process, but in many small situations of day-to-day operations.
A customer asks about their delivery.
A driver is asked to spontaneously take on another job.
A container is needed at a different location.
In the office, it needs to be checked quickly where a vehicle currently is.
In the past, this often meant: calling, asking around, and piecing information together in your head or in Excel.
Today, a glance at SAM is often enough.
“Today we just look at the screen and see right away where our trucks and machines are.”
For M. Huhs, digitalization means one thing above all: less coordination effort and more transparency in day-to-day operations. And that’s exactly what they want to keep building on. Annika Huhs sums it up:
“Looking back, choosing syniotec was really the best decision.”