The Why, What, and, How of Fleet Management Solutions

Introduction

‘Fleet’ is a group of motor vehicles operating together under the same ownership or leased by a business, government agency or other organization. A group of motor vehicles can mean any mode of transportation such as ships, buses, warships, but which are operating together or under the same ownership.

Understand Fleet Management Solutions (FMS)

FMS are designed to augment operational efficiency and business productivity. They aim to optimize the usage of shared resources by automating business processes.  These solutions are also proven to reduce costs, save lives, improve competitive positioning, maximize fleet utilization and increase customer satisfaction.

FMS help to analyze driving behavior to reduce idling time and enforce safety driving. You can also plan efficient route and time schedules to maximize fleet utilization.

There are several companies which manufacture vehicle tracking devices. A sample list of such companies are Calamp, Positionlogic, Assettrackr, Trackyourtruck, Imarda and Pragativts among others.

A Few Sample Devices

Devices come in several models and each model will have a unique and advance feature. These devices provide data based on the configurable time intervals. Data may be all or combinations of some parameters based on the device model. The communication method may be GPRS, SMS or GSM. This data can be collected on the Cloud server, parsed and stored in a database. This data can then be represented online in formats such as a map, graph, report etc. Real-time vehicle position can also be seen in maps.

General advantages of FMS

• Live Tracking: Displays the location of the tracked assets on a map in real time. Example: Bus # 340 is currently running (active) @ location State Hwy with speed of 58 miles per hour heading towards east.
• Replay / History: Displays the path taken by a vehicle with historical vehicle activity, status, speed and alerts.
• Alert/Notification: Real-time with configurable rules-based alerts sent to your screen, email or phone.
• Geo Location: Ability to create complex shapes around different areas and record entry and exit activity, and time spent inside.
• Service Management: Flexibility to plan, schedule and record vehicle maintenance costs and history.
• Incident Manager: Exact information on what happened in the event of an incident with a black-box solution.

Example: Bus No.340 Each point shows driving speed and the time the vehicle arrives. Blue icons are defined major landmarks such as schools, depot, service station where the bus stops, at planned time. Red icons are defined stops. White icons indicate where bus was idle for 7 min.

Industry-based Advantages of FMS

Logistics

Reducing cost and maximizing fleet utilization are the keys for logistics industries. It helps you to analyze driving behavior to reduce idling time and enforce safety driving. It also helps you to view location and work status in real time and plan efficient route and time schedules to maximize fleet utilization.

Features:

•  See the historical route of each vehicle in the fleet. One can compare actual driver activity with driver time-cards or logs. By using the ‘Drive Time Summary’ report it is possible to see daily and weekly fleet statistics, information such as total mileage, maximum recorded speed, number of stops, and distance traveled.
• Get detailed information on each vehicle, including miles traveled, engine hours, number of trips, and more. Analyze individual vehicle utilization and identify overall fleet efficiency.
• Use fuel usage and mileage reports to see fuel consumption patterns and identify areas for improvement. Fuel Guard transaction reports shows you fuel transaction details, including location, time, number of gallons and total cost.
• Alert about problems requiring action and log activities.
• Make continuous improvements. No more excel reports.
• Find problems with graphical reports with hints for improvement.
• Employee attendance can be captured with the RFID reader.Provide high security and safety for employees by tracking your fleet and monitoring driving behavior.

Example: Bus No. 340 Route analysis for a day, ie. actual v/s planned. Blue line planned route for bus. Red line is actual bus run for that day

Education

• Providing convenient bus solutions for parents.
• Providing exactly ETA – Expedited Time of Arrival.
• Dramatically reduces the workload of school bus administrators.
• Attendance can be captured with the RFID / Keypad reader.
• Real time tracking and tracing of position on Google MAP