This paper reports on the current state of development of information technology (IT) within British freight companies. The present state of development and the pace of change urgently need to be considered by the freight industry, especially in the context of European development. Applications of IT are unlikely to be profitable for transport fleets of less than ten vehicles. The potential applications of IT to large fleets include: (1) sales order processing; (2) dispatch goods invoicing; (3) stock control; (4) stock location; (5) fleet management; (6) vehicle scheduling and routeing; (7) tachograph analysis. For some of these applications, telematic systems can be used to form complex computer networks within companies. The paper assesses some specific applications of IT to: (1) order processing using data transmission between different companies; (2) automatic warehouse operating systems; (3) computerised vehicle routeing and scheduling systems. It concludes with some general observations about the following aspects of IT: (1) systems design; (2) user requirements; (3) distributed computing systems; (4) employment issues; (5) training for IT; (6) future prospects for the freight industry (favouring larger operators).
Samenvatting