News
UFOLLOWIT™ ANNOUNCES ASSET TRACKING CAPABILITY
Find and Track Critical Assets Using Your Mobile PhonesAustin, Texas, USA, November 11th, 2008
uFollowit™, an innovative new freight tracking and proof of delivery service, announced today that customers can very soon track critical assets and resources with the use of mobile phones.
“This transforms the way we communicate and businesses can get tomorrow’s technology today.” says uFollowit™’s Vice President of Sales, Danny Dever. uFollowit™’s new capability allows pre programmed mobile phones to provide location pings at user defined intervals using both GPS and Cell Tower Triangulation. “The service works with both technologies”, says Dever. “Our customers can identify the location of the asset within a town or zip code, and works best in open, rural areas where most OTR (Over the Road) traffic occurs”.
The ability to identify the freight location without driver distraction improves highway safety because the driver is not taking calls asking “where’s my freight?” This also helps drivers comply with state laws restricting mobile phone use while driving. Six states now have a ban their handheld use while driving: California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington State - plus the District of Columbia, with more likely to follow soon.
Mr. Dever noted that the technology is deployed and “several uFollowit™ customers are testing the service now as a resource for tracking Hot Shot and expedited loads. The feedback has been very good and we will expand the phone model capability once testing is complete”. While the application was designed for the transportation industry, uFollowit™ has received calls from organizations outside of transportation in hopes of tracking other critical resources. Dever shared that “an emergency services organization is testing the service and we’re excited about the possibilities of being a resource in that area, also”. With the new capabilities, managers, team leaders, and supervisors can track nearly anything carrying the phone, including resources, freight, field service workers, and equipment.
Of increasing importance within the supply chain process is the need to know freight location and ETA. Mr. Dever stated that “it became clear to us at the Great West Truck Show earlier this year when a show attendee and trucking company owner stated that ‘the customer has a right to know where is freight is’”. The uFollowit™ development team immediately began working on a solution to meet the need. “We listened to what our customers and the industry as a whole wanted”, says Dever.
Businesses are expanding their Six Sigma and quality efforts throughout the supply chain process, including 3PL and 4PL, or Third Party and Fourth Party Logistics providers. Art Mesher, 2008 CSCMP Distinguished Service Award winner, further emphasized this need in his award acceptance speech as part of modern supply chain disciplines he labels “the third triad - Visibility, Variability, and Velocity…” Logistics becomes an important piece for improvement and uFollowit™ helps to increase freight visibility for the shipper, broker, carrier, and consignee. With this new service, uFollowit™ customers will have greater visibility to all of their important assets.
About uFollowit™
uFollowit™ was founded in 2007 as a communication resource to the world-wide freight transportation industry. uFollowit™ is effective as a stand-alone load tracking and proof of delivery (POD) service or to complement any existing tracking resources currently in place. Intermodal is OK, also, since it works with any mode of transportation. It’s that easy.
Visit www.uFollowit.com to learn more about uFollowit ™'s load tracking and proof of delivery services.
