A Motorola study concluded that companies save an average of $5,484 per employee per year by utilizing fleet tracking technology. The savings was mainly attributed to an increase in mobile workforce productivity and enabling enterprises to become more efficient via a reduction in annual labor and fuel operating costs. GPS vehicle tracking systems can help […]
As of December 2012, McDonald’s delivery trucks in United Arab Emirates have reached a significant milestone; they have driven 800,000 miles on recycled cooking oil! 100 percent of the used oil from the UAE’s McDonalds restaurants is turned back into biofuel, through biodiesel producer Neutral Fuels. The UAE, however, is not the only country McDonalds […]
Real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems can help you to be a better fleet manager. With a Real-time GPS Vehicle Tracking System, you always know the fastest and cheapest way to get Driver A to Point B. You don’t have to spend valuable time guessing, the system knows where your fleet vehicles are located. It gives you the knowledge fleet managers to need to make the BEST Fleet Management Decisions.
Real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems keep fleet operations lean and GREEN. The best GPS fleet tracking systems use telematics technology to increase daily fleet deliveries and stops, dramatically reduce overtime costs, improve driver safety, and cut fuel costs. Plus it’s better for the environment.
GPS fleet tracking systems were installed last year in 300 school buses in St. Paul, MN. At first, drivers were not overly enthusiastic about the installation of the GPS fleet tracking devices. Until the drivers realized just how useful they could be. Not only have the GPS tracking devices help resolve heated disputes between parents and drivers, but in some cases, the GPS tracking devices have saved bus drivers from losing their jobs.
On a typical day, the public school system in St. Paul is responsible for transporting an average of 38,000 students. The school’s transportation department often receive dozens of calls a day from parents complaining that the bus never picked up their child. Until recently, before the
GPS systems were installed, it was the school bus driver’s word against the parent’s. That has all changed since the school district installed a GPS fleet tracking system in every one of the school district’s 300 buses.
GPS fleet tracking systems today enable fleet managers to to track their vehicles and monitor them remotely on a constant basis. Vehicle GPS fleet tracking systems relay important information about the real-time vehicle location with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS) attached to a tracking device inside the vehicle. There are many benefits offered by GPS fleet management systems, including keeping a close watch on staff performance, lowering fuel consumption, navigating shorter or better routes for drivers, tracking stolen vehicles, obtaining discounts on insurance and making use of other features such as time sheet reporting and mileage claims to enhance customer service and satisfaction. Also GPS fleet tracking and fleet management systems can help companies go green because reducing mileage not only burns less fuel but it produces less vehicle pollution. All these benefits make vehicle GPS systems a worthwhile investment for thousands of companies nationwide.
Taxi cabs are crucial to a city’s transportation system. I realized this recently after trying to get a cab after a Charger’s game in San Diego and during a taxi cab strike in Atlanta. Having access to cabs 24/7 is something that we all take for granted. Taxis are vital people movers and cities cannot function properly without them.
Taxi cab fleets in major cities range from approximately 5,000 – 10,000 vehicles. For example, the city of Chicago has a fleet of about 6000 cabs. Chances are, fleets this large owe their flow and easy operation to GPS fleet tracking systems. That is because without them, too much is left to chance. Drivers and consumers are wandering about rather aimlessly hoping to hook up at the right place and the right time.
GPS tracking is a preferred method of taxi cab fleet management. Companies dispatching taxi cabs know that a tracking system will tell them where their fleet is exactly, so they have better control of their resources, and as an extension of that, better control of their operating costs and profit margin. GPS tracking systems are used to: record on-duty trips; to keep an electronic record of mileage and location, eliminating the need for manual trip sheets; and to better dispatch the closest available vehicle to trip requests.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), there are easy, cost-effective ways for fleets to reduce their environmental impacts and operating costs at the same time.
Step 1: Measure Emissions and Set Goals
Understand your fleet’s current greenhouse gas emissions. Simple calculations allow you to track greenhouse gas emissions based on how much fuel is consumed.
Create a baseline by collecting fuel consumption data.
• Calculate your greenhouse gas emissions using the EDF’s online tool.
• Develop a goal to reduce emissions over time.
• Report your progress over time.
Step 2: Improve Vehicle Selection
One of the most important environmental decisions a fleet manager makes is which vehicles to have in the fleet. Consider the following strategies:
• Select the right size. Analyze your operational needs and eliminate excess vehicles. Four-wheel drive and 6- or 8-cyclinder engines can increase costs and emissions.
• Choose “best in class.” Select vehicles with the highest fuel economy that meet’s your firm’s price and performance needs. • Evaluate total lifecycle costs, including acquisition, fuel consumption, depreciation and resale.
• Offer employees incentives to choose more cost-effective, efficient vehicles, for example, sunroofs and satellite radio.
• Incorporate hybrid trucks. Truck fleets should consider incorporating hybrid trucks into their fleets. Trucks are responsible for 6 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Hybrids reduce GHG emissions by 30-50 percent, decrease particulate matter (PM) 96 percent, and improve fuel economy 30-50 percent, saving money at the pump! There are many incentives available to help fleets bring down the initial costs of a hybrid.
GPS fleet tracking systems are becoming increasingly popular among on-road fleet vehicles. With the ability to increase productivity, reduce fuel costs, and prevent theft, more and more fleet managers are eager and willing to make the investment. However, the idea that a GPS fleet tracking system can have an equally powerful impact on off-road equipment is not as intuitive and well known. Regardless, using telematics equipment and GPS navigation systems with off-road vehicles can yield impressive results for business managers.
Every year, billions of dollars worth of construction equipment is stolen from locations throughout world. In the United States, the National Crime Insurance Bureau estimated that in 2007 more than $1 billion in construction equipment was stolen each year. According to the 10th Annual Construction Equipment Theft Study, a report that provides valuable information on the ongoing issue of equipment theft, 13,452 pieces of equipment were stolen in 2009, 82 percent of which were never recovered. According to the study, construction theft continued to be driven by organized crime rings, with towables (generators, welders and air compressors) being the number one theft target.
In the United Kingdom, according to the 2009 Equipment Theft Report, published by the National Plant & Equipment Register, the most commonly stolen items in that country in 2008 were trailers (911 thefts), excavators(849), site dumpers (244) and telehandlers (202). The biggest increases in thefts were in agricultural tractors (up 149 percent), quad bikes (up 83 percent), forklift trucks (up 67 percent), and portable generators (up 55 percent).
Some fleet managers pay a premium for satellite tracking to ensure their low-cost equipment is not stolen. The cost of the equipment does not justify the premium alone. But the cost of sending a crew to a remote location only to find out they can’t work because necessary equipment like a generator is gone is what justifies the investment.
GPS fleet tracking systems should be used by any and every business involved in field services – even small business with only a few fleet vehicles – and here’s why. Whether you operate a fleet of one or one thousand, the impact of today’s fleet management solutions are universal. It seems now is the prime time to be taking advantage of fleet management solutions — no matter what the size of your fleet. Now, more than ever before, GPS tracking and fleet management solutions are a must-have because without it, you’re leaving money on the table.
When most people think of GPS fleet management, they think of large corporations like FedEx or UPS who operate thousands of trucks across the nation. It’s easy to imagine how using a fleet GPS management system would benefit companies like this. But it’s not as intuitive to realize the huge impact that a GPS fleet management system can have on a business with just a few vehicles. When the GPS fleet tracking industry first began, systems were bulky and very expensive to install and operate, but this certainly isn’t the case today. Over the last few years, fleet management systems have evolved and are much more affordable, reliable and useful than even before. Just as the internet and smartphone technologies have exploded, so have the advancements and capabilities of the telematics industry.
In the past, a small business involved in local field services just couldn’t justify the investment in a GPS fleet management solution. But today this is not the case. The largest growth in the GPS fleet management industry is coming from local service fleets because, for the first time, they are able to experience a significant ROI. Now that GPS fleet tracking and management systems are more affordable than ever before, investing in one makes more sense than ever. First and foremost, a GPS fleet management system improves the bottom line. In light of today’s tough economic climate, small businesses need all the help they can get to increase profits. This is what’s driving the growth in the rapid increase in small business implementation. But in addition to cutting costs, fleet management systems enable better decision making and simply make life easier.
When Interwest Construction Inc. wanted to catch the thieves that had stolen one of their trucks before they stripped it, they activated the fleet vehicle’s GPS tracking system and the chase was on. FieldLogix, an industry leading GPS vehicle tracking device and green fleet management system, was successfully utilized to recover the missing fleet vehicle in just a few hours.
According to Kristal Wagner of Interwest Construction, Inc., “We had a truck stolen on Monday during the night. Tuesday morning, when the foreman was panicking & calling the sheriff, I used the the real-time GPS tracking device to pull up the vehicle’s exact location and gave the Sheriff the information. We recovered the truck within a couple of hours. Some small items that weren’t valuable were stolen from the truck, but the vehicle was not harmed at all!”
GPS fleet tracking systems are recommended to all drivers by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) to prevent motor vehicle theft. According to NICB, a car is stolen every 26 seconds in America. Nearly half of these are never recovered, and are commonly scrapped for parts or smuggled to another country. NICB’s vehicle protection approach recommends four layers of security based on the risk factors pertaining to a specific vehicle. Vehicle Tracking Systems are one such layer, and are described by the NICB as “very effective” in helping police recover stolen vehicles. Vehicle GPS tracking systems are an important and integrated part of the “layered approach” to protecting fleet vehicles.
