High construction logistics standards are crucial to profitability in the industry.

The success of projects relies on the daily transport of essential materials to and from site. If this is not conducted on schedule and to customer requirements, the effect on project completion can be significant.

But is construction logistics, in fact, failing?

The study below, conducted by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) in conjunction with Webfleet, revealed 41 per cent of UK construction firms say transport-related delays regularly impact on projects. A further 19 per cent say projects are always hit by transport-related delays.

Despite this, logistics systems appear to be in need of modernisation. Of those surveyed, 24 per cent still use paper to manage and record daily deliveries and a further 10 per cent use a whiteboard. Only 20 per cent use dedicated software to manage delivery schedules.

Not only does this leave a potentially heavy administrative burden on staff, but it also leaves systems open to a greater possibility of human error.

Modern telematics systems are designed to help address this problem by integrating fleet management functionality with software such as routing and scheduling or workflow management. This allows firms to benefit from more dynamic scheduling processes, which use up-to-date traffic data and journey times to adjust schedules and send the most appropriate driver to each job.

The challenge faced by construction firms in modernising these processes is outlined below.