BRIDGING THE GAP The weighbridge-based software modules enable users to track and control their logistics from supplier to customer
South African software developer Dariel will introduce the finalised, fully realised version of its road freight logistics management software module TripX to the market by the end of the year.
“The company has been testing a simplified version of TripX since 2017 – along with other add-on modules – but it has yet to be launched officially with all the advanced features included,” says Dariel executive director Greg Vercellotti.
The TripX module is the latest in a series of additional software modules that have been developed to complement WBX – the company’s original weighbridge management application.
The WBX software application assists companies in using their weighbridges to manage their truck freight operations. It focusses on weighbridges as points of essential data collection, which can then be used to reduce the risk of fraud, theft and other complications that arise from inaccurate record tracking.
Although a number of large organisations have successfully incorporated WBX into their enterprise resource planning (ERP), a number of clients have expressed a desire to see greater integration in other aspects of their operations as well.
“Clients said they wanted to use WBX to help with scheduling and planning, which is why we developed TripX,” Vercellotti explains.
TripX extends WBX to enable organisations to use their weighbridges as points of exit and entry data collection to not only track load masses and volumes but also determine which trucks are coming onto site, for what reason, according to which schedule, with which drivers, and even to pinpoint which bin or stockpile those orders are assigned to.
Moreover, in addition to the TripX, Dariel began developing several other modules in 2016 to extend WBX’s capabilities such as the AccessX, SPX, ContentX and IBX.
AccessX enables companies to have better control over site access. This module works best when it is implemented with TripX to ensure that proper schedules for drivers and the specified loads are on record in advance.
The AccessX module is mostly based on handheld or portable technology, such as handheld scanners for licence discs and drivers’ licences, and radio-frequency identification technology, besides others.
Another module is SPX, which focuses on stockpile, or silo, management.
“SPX helps organisations manage what goes onto their stockpiles and what comes off. It is informed by data from WBX to help track balances, movement, assays and gradings, besides others,” Vercellotti says.
He adds that Dariel has incorporated Internet of Things technology into the SPX workflow, enabling it to extract data from belt scales or hopper weights, for example, to accurately track what goes into or comes out of a plant.
To complement all these other modules, the ContentX module allows for the collection, collation, organisation and storage of relevant documents or images as they relate to certain orders or transactions.
“ContentX enables a client to have instant access to all the relevant artefacts that relate to a particular shipment, from when it was ordered to when it was delivered. It keeps track of all the physical evidence of the transaction, from start to finish,” Vercellotti explains.
One of the most important WBX support modules to be developed in the past three years is the IBX integration broker module.
“IBX enables all of our other modules to talk to one another. However, more importantly, it integrates Dariel’s set of modules with clients’ existing systems, as well as with those of clients’ suppliers, customers and even their logistics providers and contractors. It links them all together so that they all speak the same language,” he enthuses.