Tracking Fleet Efficiency In The New Economy.

As the coalition Government’s cutbacks start to take effect in the months and years ahead, fleet owners and operational managers will doubtless, be focusing their attention on implementing best practice strategies to further tighten up daily running costs and maximise operating efficiency.

Gaining increased control over mobile assets has always played a key role in making a not-insignificant reduction in the financial burden. SME fleet businesses and larger UK  across-border organisations, alike, will immediately pinpoint fuel, productivity and security as the three chief areas constantly under review.

Deployment of a GPS vehicle tracking system, to customised requirement, enables fleet owners to ‘ride with their drivers / mobile workforce’. Monitoring vehicle location, driving conditions and driver behaviour by mobile workforce tracking are proven to increase productivity and reduce wasted journeys by streamlining daily schedules and controlling fuel usage.

Fuel

Time critical deliviries or attempting to make up for lost time can lead to speeding, which will use more fuel than by simply maintaining a lower speed. Excessive idling wastes fuel at the rate of over two thirds of a gallon every hour of idle time. Restarting an engine actually uses no more fuel than 30 seconds of idling with minimal effect on vehicle components.

Knowing exactly the real location of every vehicle is essential! A fleet tracking system instantly provides the key data to instantly allocate the closest vehicle to a job site or to determine direct or alternative routing

Productivity

Recent research found that organisations increased the total number of service calls/delivery drops completed per day per driver by 23 per cent as a direct result of installing a realtime vehicle tracking solution. The subsequent increase in service profitability by over 12 per cent reflected the decrease in travel time, overtime pay and fuel costs by around 10-15 per cent.

Security

After rising fuel costs, vehicle theft and employees using company vehicles for unauthorised purposes are probably two of the biggest concerns to fleet owners, which a trailer tracking device would instantly address.

Often SMEs operate a flexible approach to allowing employees to use company vehicles outside of working hours, but knowing the extent of use of vehicles for unauthorised purposes, even during work hours, is still a contentious issue in some companies.

Over 30 per cent of stolen vehicles are never recovered along with any equipment, stock or tools on board, and if they are, many have received significant and costly damage. Notwithstanding, the additional reduction to the operating fleet and loss of business, a vehicle tracking device can mean a fast vehicle retrieval to minimise overall business harm.