Macquarie Telecom GPRS Helps Mannway Drive Down Business Costs

Company: Mannway Logistics Pty Ltd

Web: www.mannway.com.au

Key business focus: Providing contract transport, warehousing and distribution services across Australia’s eastern seaboard and beyond.

Key challenge: To find a carrier who could provide a secure wireless network with maximum coverage across Australia’s major highways.

Macquarie Telecom products and services:

• A Macquarie Private APN with a secure dedicated connection to Mannway’s head office in Hampton Park, Victoria, via the Macquarie Telecom Intellicentre and a private IP network
• A GPRS VPN providing the maximum coverage of Australian highways
• Macquarie Telecom authentication servers located at the Intellicentre ensure that only Mannway trusted devices and GSM services can connect to the Mannway head office
• High availability carrier with diverse dual access between the GPRS network and the Macquarie Telecom network

“Our MANNtrak system via Macquarie Telecom’s GPRS VPN is helping to keep us in front of our competition. GPRS is delivering significant productivity improvements for us and substantial customer service edges for our client base.”
Andrew Cope, Division Manager,
Mannway Logistics Pty Ltd

Overview

For Mannway Logistics, business is about more than just moving goods from A to B. The company’s expertise extends to contract transport, warehousing and intermodal distribution services. Its blue-chip clients are household names and include the country’s largest steel producers.

With business growing exponentially in recent years, Mannway developed a new, in-vehicle computer system to communicate with its hundreds of drivers.

Called MANNtrak, the system uniquely integrates handheld computers, mobile phones and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to provide accurate, real-time communication and vehicle delivery tracking data for the benefit of the company and its clients.

Finding a reliable carrier and secure wireless technology to provide the communication platform for this system was essential. After careful assessment, Mannway chose Macquarie Telecom’s General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution.

This GPRS VPN now provides Mannway’s MANNtrak system with secure, always-on connectivity across Australia.

The Opportunity

In business since 1979, Mannway Logistics has a fleet of 600 vehicles, 800 staff and an annual turnover of $150 million. The company offers comprehensive logistics solutions involving road, rail, warehousing, cross docking and/or transportation using different types of vehicles.

Intermodal terminals and eight distribution centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are significant components of Mannway’s business and are strategically located to serve Australia’s eastern seaboard.

One of the keys to Mannway’s quarter century of success has been the information technology it has developed to underpin its day-to-day operations. In 2004-2005, the company began in-house development of MANNtrak, an enhancement of the “Opus” system out of the UK that would make it easier and faster to communicate with its fleet of drivers and to track consignments.

MANNtrak provides a constant flow of data between Mannway’s hundreds of vehicles, its distribution centres and head office. It was designed to increase the amount of information gleaned from each vehicle’s operation, while reducing the amount of paperwork generated by each driver.

Mannway wanted to achieve greater fleet accountability by accurately tracking the location, performance and profitability of each vehicle. It also wanted to provide its customers with immediate and more accurate information regarding the delivery status of their goods.

Once programming of the MANNtrak system was complete, the next step was to find a reliable telecommunications platform that could operate at the highest levels of availability and security.

The Solution

Mannway found that Macquarie Telecom’s GPRS VPN solution could cost-effectively answer all of MANNtrak’s technical requirements. Macquarie Telecom was already working with Mannway to drive down the cost of its 250-plus mobile phone fleet through greater cost control and increased fleet management capabilities. A substantial degree of understanding and confidence already existed between the two organisations.

To implement the MANNtrak system, Macquarie Telecom purpose built an interface between the GPRS network, its managed hosting facility, the Intellicentre and Mannway’s data network. This included:

• Establishment of access via the Macquarie Telecom Private APN (Access Point Name) with secure dedicated connection to Mannway’s head office in Hampton Park, Victoria.
• An authentication server at the Intellicentre to ensure that only trusted devices are able to access the solution via the APN. This also ensures Mannway’s mobile devices can only connect to its head office via the GPRS network when the correct username and password associated with the mobile service are entererd.
• High-availability, multi-carrier, dual accesses between the GPRS network and Macquarie Telecom’s Intellicentre to ensure increased coverage on highways across Australia.
• Seamless connectivity for each allocated GSM SIM to an IP address located in Mannway’s internal network delivered via Macquarie Telecom’s frame relay service.

Macquarie Telecom’s GPRS VPN solution was designed to provide constant secure access to Mannway’s data network, its corporate applications and the internet. Only the GSM services with an allocated IP address are able to communicate with Mannway’s own internal network.

The packet switching inherent in the technology platform means that GPRS radio resources are used only when data is sent or received. This cost-effective and efficient use of valuable radio resources means that large numbers of Mannway GPRS users can share the same bandwidth.

This private and secure access link provided by Macquarie Telecom’s GPRS VPN also allows Mannway to develop and upgrade the range of its applications at will. This means the company can enhance productivity, improve its customer service and increase the safety and job satisfaction levels of its mobile workforce into the future.

Results

The rollout of the MANNtrak system on the Macquarie Telecom GPRS VPN network has seen the technology deliver on its promise to reduce paperwork and increase operational efficiencies and customer service innovation. It also provides real-time data so managers can accurately assess the profit generated by each vehicle on the network. Driver safety is enhanced by the network’s real-time link to home base, coupled with the system’s GPS location module.

“It is no secret that most drivers hate paperwork,” said Cope. “This was a chore they used to face at the end of every job. Now data is electronically streamed back to us in real-time via the mobile data network.”

The MANNtrak system enables the vehicle supervisor to accurately forecast arrival times of vehicles at customers’ premises. Should any delays jeopardise deadlines, the supervisor can either call by phone or type a message onto the driver’s MANNtrak screen. Customers are also able to access MANNtrak, which provides the status of product deliveries via the Mannway website.

“We can now keep track of every work order performed by every Mannway truck, every day which means we can now accurately track profit in real time,” he said.

“We are confident that our MANNtrak system via Macquarie Telecom’s GPRS VPN is helping to keep us in front of our competition. GPRS is delivering significant productivity improvements for us,” concluded Cope.

“Macquarie has delivered on its service promise, taken joint responsibility for driving costs down and willingly embraced any new projects we threw at them.”