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Fleet management systems have been around a while and have become so complex that it has evolved into Field Resource Management. This article explores 5 reasons why all fleets need at least a basic Field Resource Management system.
Gas prices have been declining over the last month as the peak summer driving season comes to an end. More declines are expected.
The average retail price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the US is $3.49, 11 cents less than 30 days ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. After increasing for 14 consecutive days from August 23-September 5 — amid refinery issues, hurricane concerns, and constrained supply due to the changeover from summer- to winter-blend gasoline — the price of gas has been on the decline.
The decreased fuel prices anticipated this week are a result of lagging fuel demand and no immediate plan to stimulate U.S. and European economies.
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com says the decline in crude oil and gasoline futures is resulting in the drop at the pump. As economic concerns and talk of a double dip recession persist, oil prices have been decreasing. The fear is that if the economy slips, so will the demand for fuel.
Fleet Management Technology Helps UPS Cut Fuel Costs 3.3% a Year
UPS recently released the latest edition of its annual Sustainability Report, which said the company had reduced the amount of fuel consumed per package in the United States by 3.3% in 2010. Meanwhile the company’s U.S. package volume rose 1.8% in 2010 compared to 2009.
UPS managed to deliver more packages for less money, and attributed the savings to routing technology, telematics, and loading optimization.
UPS has more than 100,000 vehicles on the road worldwide, with drivers logging about two billion miles per year. Fleet management technology enabled the company to avoid driving more than 63.5 million miles in 2010 with an associated emissions avoidance of 68,000 metric tonnes.
The 6 ton dead satellite that has been plunging towards earth for the past several days has finally landed. NASA scientists cannot yet determine exactly where the satellite crashed, but they did say it was somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Many are wondering where the huge pieces of supersonic debris will turn up?
Most of the satellite was expected to burn during its descent, but NASA predicted 26 large pieces of supersonic debris will survive all the way and hit the earth’s surface. NASA warned the debris could weigh up to 330 pounds a piece, and will stretch along a 500-mile path.
Scientists say the risk of damage is very small. A significant amount of debris does not survive the severe heating which occurs during re-entry. Components which do survive are most likely to fall into the oceans or other bodies of water or onto sparsely populated regions like the Canadian Tundra, the Australian Outback, or Siberia in the Russian Federation.
As of Friday Sept. 23, 2011, at 10:30a.m. EST, NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere late Friday night or early Saturday morning, EST. Tonight the 6 1/2-ton satellite could make its uncontrolled “death plunge” through Earth’s atmosphere, after the end of a productive scientific life.
NASA scientists cannot yet determine exactly where the satellite will land but earlier said it will fall over a region somewhere between the latitudes of northern Canada and southern South America. Today NASA said there is a low probability any debris that survives re-entry will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted because of this changing rate of descent
It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours.
Calypso Medical Technologies, a medical device and software company which has developed a tracking system to pinpoint tumors in the body, has been acquired for $10 million by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, California.
Timothy E. Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems said, “With Calypso’s technology, Varian will be able to offer cancer treatment centers real-time, non-ionizing tumor tracking tools for enhancing the precision of their treatments.”
Calypso, based in Seattle, creates products and software used to do real-time tracking of tumors during cancer treatment. The company does much of its work in prostate cancer treatment and is developing a lung cancer treatment product.
The Calypso® System features GPS for the Body® technology and Beacon® electromagnetic transponders that together currently provide a solution to continuously and accurately track and target location to improve precision of prostate cancer treatments.
Google Says It Is Like GPS of the Web
A US Senate subcommittee tomorrow will hold a hearing, “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?”
Dozens of businesses have come forward to complain on Capitol Hill that Google is giving preferential treatment to some of its products and services by leveraging its dominant position to an unfair advantage. Critics have complained that Google favors its own services and content in the company’s popular search engine.
In the lead-up to Schmidt’s testimony, Google has hired dozens of Washington, D.C., lobbying firms and has touted its pro-competitive behavior in advertisements. And in a recent online post, Google reminded readers that its users have a choice in search engines. Google isn’t a “gateway to the web”–a phrase it suggests critics might use in Wednesday’s Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. Rather, the Mountain View, Calif., company’s service is more like a guide.
LightSquared is under attack from Republicans who have asked for an investigation into whether the White House pressured its Air Force Space Commander into changing his testimony on possible GPS interference caused by LightSquared’s activities.
The accusation is fiercely denied by LightSquared and the White House.
William Shelton told lawmakers during a classified briefing earlier this month that the White House tried to persuade him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company with ties to a key Democratic donor.
The dispute between LightSquared Inc. and the GPS industry recently shifted back to Congress. LightSquared is currently seeking approval from the FCC to move forward with its plans to build out a broadband wireless network. But the company has been facing fierce opposition from many claiming the proposed network will interfere with GPS system signals.
During a hearing before Congress, several lawmakers criticized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for “advocating” for LightSquared at the expense of critical GPS operations.
Monitoring Employees With GPS Tracking Without Their Knowledge or Consent – Is It Legal?
Managing employees in the field has always been a challenge. How do you know if employees are where they say they are? What if a customer calls to complain that a driver never showed up, but he swears he did. What is a manager to do? Ths is where GPS tracking can offer huge benefits.
But inevitably ethical and legal issues have been raised about gps tracking aka Big Brother in the workplace. Is it OK to monitor an employee with a GPS tracking device without their knowledge or consent?
How far can the state government go in monitoring a mobile employee?
This question will be addressed by a mid-level appeals court in New York very soon in about 6 weeks. The lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) against the state Labor Department, on behalf of a fired state worker whose personal vehicle was being monitored with a GPS tracking device, without his knowledge or consent.
