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.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Mobile Workforce Tracking Demands Driver Discipline!
Recent deep recession and fragile economic recovery are concentrating business minds across UK industry to find ever more ways to cut costs and improve efficiency. Nowhere less so than with fleet operators who demand of their staff to make best use of their daily work schedules. Deployment of mobile workforce tracking is a key tool to drive time management discipline.
There simply is no more excuse for not knowing the exact location, route and schedules of company drivers and field operatives at any time throughout the day, when they are away from company premises.
Implementing a system which offers mobile worker solutions is now central to fleet control in today’s technology driven environment. Installing Fleet GPS tracking in every vehicle can mean the end of common problems such as extended work breaks and unauthorised journeys and routes taken during company hours. Research estimates reveal that over half of drivers or other field workers routinely supply incorrect timesheets!
Company or fleet owners can obtain essential realtime vehicle tracking data on when an employee starts a vehicle, arrives or leaves a job site, and when the vehicle terminates. In addition, GPS vehicle tracking will supply reports on the exact length of time taken on site and the total time durations for the entire day. This means of course, automated log keeping and the end of manual, paperbased timesheets.
It has been constantly reported that companies consider investing in a vehicle tracking device almost solely because of their interest in knowing the movements of their drivers or ‘outside’ staff. Often the stated reasons provide real insight into how fleet tracking a mobile workforce would make dramatic improvements to current driver behaviour and as a result, see very urgent time and fuel cost savings reflected in the balance sheets.
Typical areas of driver behaviour reported include, not returning to base until the very end of the working day to avoid being given additional jobs if they did return early, remaining on jobs for far longer than necessary to claim overtime and staff either going home during their working day or just finishing early and not calling in for additional jobs.
There simply is no more excuse for not knowing the exact location, route and schedules of company drivers and field operatives at any time throughout the day, when they are away from company premises.
Implementing a system which offers mobile worker solutions is now central to fleet control in today’s technology driven environment. Installing Fleet GPS tracking in every vehicle can mean the end of common problems such as extended work breaks and unauthorised journeys and routes taken during company hours. Research estimates reveal that over half of drivers or other field workers routinely supply incorrect timesheets!
Company or fleet owners can obtain essential realtime vehicle tracking data on when an employee starts a vehicle, arrives or leaves a job site, and when the vehicle terminates. In addition, GPS vehicle tracking will supply reports on the exact length of time taken on site and the total time durations for the entire day. This means of course, automated log keeping and the end of manual, paperbased timesheets.
It has been constantly reported that companies consider investing in a vehicle tracking device almost solely because of their interest in knowing the movements of their drivers or ‘outside’ staff. Often the stated reasons provide real insight into how fleet tracking a mobile workforce would make dramatic improvements to current driver behaviour and as a result, see very urgent time and fuel cost savings reflected in the balance sheets.
Typical areas of driver behaviour reported include, not returning to base until the very end of the working day to avoid being given additional jobs if they did return early, remaining on jobs for far longer than necessary to claim overtime and staff either going home during their working day or just finishing early and not calling in for additional jobs.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Vehicle Tracking And In-Vehicle Telematics Compliance Role
Fleet industry investment in vehicle tracking and related technology-based systems always represent a real opportunity to streamline and create cost efficiencies, an especially relevant issue in today’s uncertain economy.
Time saving is one of the abiding concerns for fleet operations and when opportunities exist to simplify and integrate certain mobile workforce tracking applications with regulatory and compliance management for the purpose of removing another layer of routine administration, then due consideration cannot be discounted, nor the possibilities of a national policy strategy.
However, it does seem that fleet and road freight industries have tended to stick with traditional reliance on manual, paper-based systems to manage routine issues of vehicle speed, fatigue and mass compliance risks.
Transport efficiency improvement strategies often strongly recommend the creation of an environment where real time vehicle tracking information can be regularly shared between parties in the supply chain, as standard. One example could be the real time vehicle tracking of deliveries to be ready to unload upon vehicle arrival.
Deploying the potential of a versatile range of in-vehicle telematics, from fleet GPS tracking systems to hand held computers or electronic diaries, could dramatically improve business efficiencies and road safety by assisting in the management of compliance with fatigue and speed regulations.
Implementing common technology standards and platforms may help encourage this type of information sharing along the supply chain and play a role in emission reduction by the effective use of vehicles and infrastructure.
For the SME fleet operator, an overall industry policy could both alleviate the current obstacles, which prevent involvement and provide confidence in further investment consideration.
Notwithstanding, an element of complexity and financial impact to implementing new or upgrading existing in vehicle tracker systems, the key is to help smoothly drive the transition to the wider use of a technology recognised as crucial to fleet running efficiency and improved customer service.
Time saving is one of the abiding concerns for fleet operations and when opportunities exist to simplify and integrate certain mobile workforce tracking applications with regulatory and compliance management for the purpose of removing another layer of routine administration, then due consideration cannot be discounted, nor the possibilities of a national policy strategy.
However, it does seem that fleet and road freight industries have tended to stick with traditional reliance on manual, paper-based systems to manage routine issues of vehicle speed, fatigue and mass compliance risks.
Transport efficiency improvement strategies often strongly recommend the creation of an environment where real time vehicle tracking information can be regularly shared between parties in the supply chain, as standard. One example could be the real time vehicle tracking of deliveries to be ready to unload upon vehicle arrival.
Deploying the potential of a versatile range of in-vehicle telematics, from fleet GPS tracking systems to hand held computers or electronic diaries, could dramatically improve business efficiencies and road safety by assisting in the management of compliance with fatigue and speed regulations.
Implementing common technology standards and platforms may help encourage this type of information sharing along the supply chain and play a role in emission reduction by the effective use of vehicles and infrastructure.
For the SME fleet operator, an overall industry policy could both alleviate the current obstacles, which prevent involvement and provide confidence in further investment consideration.
Notwithstanding, an element of complexity and financial impact to implementing new or upgrading existing in vehicle tracker systems, the key is to help smoothly drive the transition to the wider use of a technology recognised as crucial to fleet running efficiency and improved customer service.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
GPS Vehicle Tracking Data Puts You In Control.
Today’s sophisticate technology aims to provide all the information and knowledge you’ll ever need, when you need it. No less with GPS vehicle tracking systems. The extensive wealth of data available ‘OnDemand’, can only reassure every fleet manager that he truly is in the driving seat and running daily operations at optimum, bottom-line boosting efficiency.
It can appear that there are a countless number of different types of vehicle tracking systems, each with their own combinations of customisation. A fleet operating business, no matter whether they are SME or larger scale, who are looking to invest in the right fleet tracking technology for their own specific needs, might just require a valuable back-to-basics check on types of data provided that can be realistically employed.
In essence, the key essential functions of fleet GPs tracking can be centred on:
Location reporting:
GPS for commercial vehicle tracking provides latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes and seconds, accurate to 33 feet. Updated vehicle location reports are produced at intervals of between 2 - 15 minutes, or can be set by the fleet owner.
Present direction:
Determining if a vehicle is arriving, en route or leaving their destination, expressed as north, south, east or west in the compass direction the vehicle is travelling.
Event alerts:
An automatic e-mail, which can also be sent to a mobile of the fleet manager or business owner, with the date, time, location, identification and other specified details describing an event which has occurred requiring attention. Alerts are triggered when a vehicle exceeds a preset speed or crosses a geographic boundary preset by the company.
Historical data:
A record of all data specific to each vehicle, maintained for 90 days. Important data to calculate which vehicles averaged the most miles driven each day and productivity analyses.
In addition, critical information can be provided on speed and mileage calculation, idle and ignition status which is essential data for daily monitoring of vital fuel consumption costs.
Speed calculation:
Excess speeds, which can be preset, will also trigger an alert, sent to the fleet operating centre. Speeding wastes fuel and causes excessive wear. Today, Duty of Care is a key issue to help prevent speeding or recklessly-driving.
Accumulated mileage alert:
An alert sent at intervals of 3,000 miles, 5,000 miles or optional pre-set for recommended vehicle maintenance. Includes essential oil change alert.
Ignition on/off:
Time, date and location of when a vehicle's ignition was turned on or off.
Idle report:
Time, date, location and duration of when a vehicle remained motionless while the engine was running. Duration of idle allowed can be pre-set before a report is generated. Idling the engine is an expensive waste of fuel and causes unnecessary wear.
It can appear that there are a countless number of different types of vehicle tracking systems, each with their own combinations of customisation. A fleet operating business, no matter whether they are SME or larger scale, who are looking to invest in the right fleet tracking technology for their own specific needs, might just require a valuable back-to-basics check on types of data provided that can be realistically employed.
In essence, the key essential functions of fleet GPs tracking can be centred on:
Location reporting:
GPS for commercial vehicle tracking provides latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes and seconds, accurate to 33 feet. Updated vehicle location reports are produced at intervals of between 2 - 15 minutes, or can be set by the fleet owner.
Present direction:
Determining if a vehicle is arriving, en route or leaving their destination, expressed as north, south, east or west in the compass direction the vehicle is travelling.
Event alerts:
An automatic e-mail, which can also be sent to a mobile of the fleet manager or business owner, with the date, time, location, identification and other specified details describing an event which has occurred requiring attention. Alerts are triggered when a vehicle exceeds a preset speed or crosses a geographic boundary preset by the company.
Historical data:
A record of all data specific to each vehicle, maintained for 90 days. Important data to calculate which vehicles averaged the most miles driven each day and productivity analyses.
In addition, critical information can be provided on speed and mileage calculation, idle and ignition status which is essential data for daily monitoring of vital fuel consumption costs.
Speed calculation:
Excess speeds, which can be preset, will also trigger an alert, sent to the fleet operating centre. Speeding wastes fuel and causes excessive wear. Today, Duty of Care is a key issue to help prevent speeding or recklessly-driving.
Accumulated mileage alert:
An alert sent at intervals of 3,000 miles, 5,000 miles or optional pre-set for recommended vehicle maintenance. Includes essential oil change alert.
Ignition on/off:
Time, date and location of when a vehicle's ignition was turned on or off.
Idle report:
Time, date, location and duration of when a vehicle remained motionless while the engine was running. Duration of idle allowed can be pre-set before a report is generated. Idling the engine is an expensive waste of fuel and causes unnecessary wear.
Friday, 3 September 2010
Tracking Down The Right GPS Vehicle Tracking!
Choosing a GPS Fleet Tracking system from the many vehicle tracker suppliers on the market can be challenging but the key is to find a provider who understands and matches their client’s exact needs with real system usability and measurable return.
In today’s economic climate, obtaining real benefit and a value-for-money investment, has been given even greater priority. From an SME running a modest number of vehicles to a larger scale fleet operation, installing GPS vehicle tracking needs to be able to deliver a solution that includes at least, ease of use, reliable connectivity and online uptime and in-depth reporting. Not least, the system provider should demonstrate their real ability to provide an excellent customer service.
Whether the solution is primarily focused on fleet tracking or mobile workforce tracking, it is vital to obtain in-depth data reporting to enable owners or fleet managers to make prompt, strategic decisions. Accurate reporting of speed, vehicle usage, idle times, and start-up and shut-down are essential to encourage fuel-efficiency and safe driving habits with drivers and field workers.
A small fleet operation may only require a basic vehicle tracking device which shows location, route, stops, and speed of vehicle. This can be operated as a mobile worker solution, which allows any company vehicle user from the company workforce to keep guaranteed accurate travel records of mileage and time.
A larger scale fleet manager, who may require more detailed information, would be recommended to install real-time vehicle tracking. This type of system is purpose designed to be most applicable to a time critical service across many vehicles at the same time. Digital and satellite maps with location updates are provided every few minutes, with automatic email reports and a record of vehicle maintenance.
A larger fleet organisation could be advised to look at an advanced real-time system with laptop or PDA, which can include additional features such as wireless communication, two-way text messaging, and automatic downloads. The GPS receiver can record information for over two months, track idle time via an ignition on/ off sensor and document actual stop locations.
Customer service should always be a key consideration that determines the final decision. The growing demand for vehicle tracking has led to many discounted services with poor-quality systems and unacceptable low level of customer service. The UK’s top industry telematics consultant suppliers recognise the importance of offering the highest quality customer service, technical back up and full and ongoing company training.
In today’s economic climate, obtaining real benefit and a value-for-money investment, has been given even greater priority. From an SME running a modest number of vehicles to a larger scale fleet operation, installing GPS vehicle tracking needs to be able to deliver a solution that includes at least, ease of use, reliable connectivity and online uptime and in-depth reporting. Not least, the system provider should demonstrate their real ability to provide an excellent customer service.
Whether the solution is primarily focused on fleet tracking or mobile workforce tracking, it is vital to obtain in-depth data reporting to enable owners or fleet managers to make prompt, strategic decisions. Accurate reporting of speed, vehicle usage, idle times, and start-up and shut-down are essential to encourage fuel-efficiency and safe driving habits with drivers and field workers.
A small fleet operation may only require a basic vehicle tracking device which shows location, route, stops, and speed of vehicle. This can be operated as a mobile worker solution, which allows any company vehicle user from the company workforce to keep guaranteed accurate travel records of mileage and time.
A larger scale fleet manager, who may require more detailed information, would be recommended to install real-time vehicle tracking. This type of system is purpose designed to be most applicable to a time critical service across many vehicles at the same time. Digital and satellite maps with location updates are provided every few minutes, with automatic email reports and a record of vehicle maintenance.
A larger fleet organisation could be advised to look at an advanced real-time system with laptop or PDA, which can include additional features such as wireless communication, two-way text messaging, and automatic downloads. The GPS receiver can record information for over two months, track idle time via an ignition on/ off sensor and document actual stop locations.
Customer service should always be a key consideration that determines the final decision. The growing demand for vehicle tracking has led to many discounted services with poor-quality systems and unacceptable low level of customer service. The UK’s top industry telematics consultant suppliers recognise the importance of offering the highest quality customer service, technical back up and full and ongoing company training.
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