NEW SATELLITE SYSTEM LIFTS SAFEWAY U.K. PRODUCTIVITY

DEENA AMATO-McCOY

BOSTON -- Safeway plc, Hayes, Great Britain, is reducing fuel usage and improving driver productivity with a satellite-tracking system that will allow it to monitor the location and performance of its entire transportation fleet.

Safeway has been implementing the satellite-tracking technology via a warehouse-by-warehouse rollout. The system is scheduled to be installed at all 14 distribution centers by September.

"The system is allowing us to monitor up to three million hours accumulated by our drivers, so the potential opportunities are great," said Mike Sturt, director of distribution operations for Safeway plc. "We've increased our driver productivity by 3% and made improvements in our fuel management by 2%. These have been substantiated as we continue to roll out the system."

Sturt spoke during a presentation entitled: "Optimizing Supply Chain Effectiveness Using Satellite Technology," held at the Global Logistics Conference, here, and sponsored by CIES; the Food Business Forum, Paris; and the Food Marketing Institute, Washington. The conference was held June 17-19.

Safeway, which has 600 tractors and 1,000 trailers, implemented the satellite-tracking system as a means of streamlining its transportation operations and monitoring performance, both on the road and through deliveries to stores.

"We deliver 9 million cases each week, make 9,000 store deliveries, and currently handle 98% of our store volume through centralized distribution," he noted. "We needed a system that gives us access to data on how our fleet is performing, and ensures that our transportation operations are efficient and effective."

Sturt believes Safeway will see a return on its investment in the satellite-tracking technology within a year or two.

Safeway tested the technology in a 1995 pilot, utilizing 10 trucks based at one distribution center. The retailer quickly expanded to the depot's entire fleet of 18 vehicles, in order to evaluate the quality of service that would be possible with a wider rollout.

Each tractor is equipped with a mobile data terminal, which records the number of kilometers driven, the driver's hours and any delays on a smart card that has 236 gigabytes of memory. The onboard terminal also can send a signal to the host PC in the originating warehouse. This signal, which is transmitted to an orbiting satellite, determines the location of the truck within 25 meters, according to Sturt.

"The depot's PC alerts the store manager that the driver is approximately 15 minutes away," he said. "This improves store and driver productivity because the store staff is ready for a quick product turnaround through product unloading."