ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘fleet-management’ CATEGORY

UK figures show bad eyesight significant reason for licence revokes.

Richard Agostinelli, CEO of ByBox outlines why embracing the digital shift will provide multiple benefits for field service organisations...

Earlier this summer we introduced you to three companies that we felt were set up to bring some significant value to the field service sector. Now as we look forward to 2020 here are three more companies that could potentially help drive your field service business forwards..

New working relationship for BT Fleet Solutions and Winton Engineering announced at Commercial Vehicle Show...


In a move to enhance the benefits both businesses can provide to customers, BT Fleet Solutions and Winton Engineering have agreed a new working relationship to provide maintenance and servicing on Winton Engineering systems using BT Fleet Solutions’ network of garages and mobile engineers.

The contract will allow BT Fleet Solutions to better service both internal and external customers’ vehicles with on-vehicle power systems. Having worked together through mutual customers since 2006, this relationship is the logical next step for the businesses who are both highly-respected suppliers in the UK utility sector.

Simon Ungless, business development director at BT Fleet Solutions, said: “Winton Engineering’s systems are used by many BT Fleet Solutions utility customers, so the additional services we will now provide will serve to further strengthen our product offering and relationships with these customers.”.

For Winton Engineering’s existing customers this will provide increased coverage for maintenance and servicing of the Winton on-vehicle power systems. It will also provide them with a greater flexibility for systems to be serviced either on site using one of BT Fleet Solutions’ mobile engineers, or at one of BT’s 65 garage locations, reducing the time and fuel required by customers to reach their nearest available site.

Winton customers using BT Fleet Solutions will also have the added benefit of being able to get their vehicles serviced at the same time in addition to servicing the Winton systems, a significant potential reduction in VOR (vehicle off road) time.

Andy Jones, managing director at Winton Engineering, commented, “BT Fleet Solutions is a respected name in the UK utility market and so working with them matches nicely with the positive reputation that the Winton on-vehicle power systems have for robustness, reliability and efficiency.”

Paragon has enhanced its routing and scheduling software with the introduction of resource management functionality to help fleet managers better manage utilisation of all available drivers.
The new functionality allows fleet operators to track drivers’ holidays, shift patterns and hours worked, automatically factoring all of this in to transport plans. With the driver shortage problem continuing to challenge transport operations, enhanced resource management is vital for fleets of all sizes.

 

Driver availability is just one of hundreds of parameters that a planner has to juggle when creating transport plans. Planners are under pressure to take account of individual driver preferences such as shift times, break times and overnight assignments, all the while aiming for maximum efficiency across the transport operation. The new resource management functionality from Paragon will allow fleet managers to:

 

• Manage holiday entitlement and approval to avoid too many drivers being away at the same time;
• Automatically generate advanced shift schedules to provide forward visibility and control;
• Comply with working time limits at an individual driver level;
• Track individual driver hours accumulated to avoid overtime.

 

Planners can now ensure delivery routes are efficient and make the best use of drivers and vehicles while factoring in drivers’ preferences. Furthermore, the planning process itself becomes more efficient. Planners can automatically allocate available drivers to a plan, removing the need for the transport office to spend time allocating drivers to routes. Total visibility of all drivers’ availability, captured in a single system that feeds in to the planning process, brings a reduction in planning time and eliminates the risk of human error. This represents a significant improvement over using paper-based or multiple software systems.

 

Building on the required skills functionality which is available as standard in Paragon’s routing and scheduling, fleet managers are also able to create their own list of driver skills such as qualified gas fitter or carpenter and the appropriate tools required for each job. Paragon’s routing software will then ensure that calls are only allocated to appropriately skilled drivers and that skilled resource is allocated appropriately.  

 

“Our new resource management functionality allows fleet managers and planners to do more with less. At Paragon, we invest about a third of our turnover in research and development every year helping customers develop a continuous improvement process that solves real-world, everyday transport problems,” said William Salter, Managing Director of Paragon Software Systems. “With resource management functionality, you gain peace of mind that you are achieving maximum efficiency from all your available assets, including drivers.”

Contract with GSA will see telematics tech rolled out to 217,000 US Government vehicles.

IoT and connected transport firm Geotab has announced a deal with General Service Administration (GSA) to equip over 200,000 of its vehicles with its fleet management technology.

The deal, which is the largest single-source telematics contract to date, will see the technology implemented into GSA Fleet, a division of GSA that provides vehicles to US Federal agencies.

Established in 1954, GSA Fleet conduct vehicle acquisition, leasing and disposal, maintenance control, accident management and loss prevention services and is one of the largest non-tactical fleets in America.

Commenting, Geotab CEO, Neil Cawse praised the US Government for taking the lead in fleet technology. "With GSA paving the way, we believe the U.S. government leads the world in the adoption of telematics in the public sector. Particularly within local, state and federal agencies where fleet vehicles typically account for a large portion of their annual budget, our intelligent integrated solutions have the potential to protect capital assets, reduce associated risk, improve accountability and decrease operating costs,” he said.

ONE Lease, the French leasing and fleet management specialist will use TomTom's cloud-based Telematics Service Platform.  

The platform will be used across ONE Lease's entire fleet, potentially improving vehicle management and customer service.


The firm hope to get a greater understanding of maintenance and management scheduling, allowing its customers to utilise data to inform its business decisions. The integration will also cover the firm's privacy and data protection compliance requirements. 

“By partnering with TomTom Telematics," ONE Lease's Sales Director Marc Chapentier said, "we will be able to swiftly access important vehicle data from all of our leased vehicles to help us manage them more efficiently, and to raise the bar even higher in terms of service standards and added value solutions we offer to customers.”

 

Commenting on the benefits of car-connectivity, TomTom Telematics' VP of Business Development, Thomas Becher said: “With our Telematics Services Platform, our partners and customers can create new business models, and further challenge the standard in their industries,”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Derek Bryan, VP EMEA at Verizon Connect suggests geofencing could prevent fleet drivers being in the wrong place at the wrong time, avoiding costly penalties. 

In April 2019, London’s congestion charge will evolve, bringing in new, tighter regulations on exhaust emission standards and a revised fee for vehicle registration as part of the new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). While the ULEZ represents an important step forward in the UK’s efforts to limit pollution, fleet managers and operations teams will need to factor the revised regulations into route planning and operations for commercial vehicles travelling into London. 

In an industry driven by operational efficiency and narrow margins, the planning for ULEZ (and its potential expansion) will become an additional item on a manager’s to-do list. Geofences are one tool fleet managers can use to help reduce penalties incurred by drivers inadvertently entering the ULEZ with a non-compliant vehicle by providing near-real-time alerts when a driver approaches a geofenced zone. It can also help reduce the extra time spent factoring the ULEZ into route planning by clearly marking the area in navigation systems.

What is Geofencing?
Geofences are virtual perimeters set up around physical locations that can be categorised and clearly labelled on in-cab navigation systems to inform drivers of any areas which they should avoid entering. Geofences are created using mapping software, which allows the user to draw the geofence over the desired area. It is made up of a collection of coordinates (latitude and longitude), or in the case of a circular geofence, one point that forms the centre. They can also be applied to areas of a range of different sizes, from the size of a warehouse yard to city areas and individual routes.

Geofences are an indispensable tool for fleet managers in need of greater control and visibility over the location of vehicles. A geofence violation report tells you which vehicles have entered or exited a geofence, allowing you to see which drivers are making unauthorized trips. This information can then be used to create new policies regarding the use of company vehicles and enforce existing policies on a regular basis. Geofences can also help fleet managers to proactively resolve geofence violations with great speed and efficiency using alerts sent in near-real time via email or text message when a vehicle exits or enters a geofence.

More intelligent and more efficient operations
Setting virtual boundaries via geofencing is specifically helpful for businesses with on-demand business structures managing fleets of vehicles within a specified area. To keep time traveling between jobs to a minimum, drivers can be easily assigned to specific zones based on area demand, traffic density, vehicle capacity and in this instance, if it is within ULEZ conditions. As a result, fleets can be compartmentalised into sub-groups of drivers or vehicles suited to a specific area.

"Geofences are an indispensable tool for managers in need of greater control over the location of vehicles..." 

Geofencing is used to curate and categorise job sites by location, reducing the need to sift through thousands of points of interest by hand. However, geofencing jobs can not only cut down on manual categorisation. A business can potential unlock real ROI when the software automatically provides rankings, vital statistics and stop-by-stop details for fleet managers. Using this key data, business leaders can optimise routes and glean insight to apply to the organization, ultimately saving money.

A smarter and more holistic fleet management system
A number of recent technological advancements are helping to enable a wide range of new business use cases in the fleet management space. In-vehicle sensor technology, greater data analytics capabilities and enhanced mobile communications enable businesses to expand fleet management beyond just vehicles and have greater visibility on drivers themselves and the assets they carry.When used in combination with a holistic solution such as Mobile Resource Management (MRM), geofences can help verify that drivers aren’t taking on trips that would require more time than they are contracted, or trips that would prevent drivers from taking important rest breaks. Reports clearly show how many hours a driver has worked during a given time period, confirm any overtime costs and improve productivity overall.

A digital solution for a modern business
A lot of managers are unaware of what’s really happening out in the field. That can mean missed opportunities, poor productivity or unnecessary costs. Geofences can help change that, with a full 360-degree view of a fleet’s daily operations. With the right technology, fleet managers can have the visibility necessary to know what’s going on in the field so you can build efficiencies and reduce costs, an imperative for fleets both large and small.

Derek Bryan is VP EMEA at Verizon Connect.

 

Tool theft is on the increase, with more than 50% of builders in the UK having had their tools stolen, according to research held by the Federation of Master Builders.

ABAX, GPS tracking specialists, have created six tips to prevent tool theft from happening to your business vehicle and to deter thieves.

1. Park in a secure location 
During the day, whilst working at a job, we recommend that you park your vehicle in a secure location where CCTV is around if possible. It is also common that thieves have been targeting vans/vehicles in broad daylight so you can still be at risk while working in the day.

2. Install locks to your vehicle
The break-in of vans is extremely common these days with the ‘peel and steal’ technique being one of them. It is therefore recommended that strong locks are installed around the vehicle, to prevent unwanted access to the vehicle.

3. Alarms and immobilisers
We recommend that you install extra alarms and immobilisers to the vehicle, to deter the thieves and stop the movement of the vehicle if it is to be tampered with.

4. Add stickers to your vehicle and your assets
Adding stickers to your vehicles is recommended, to emphasise the fact that no tools are left on board the vehicle overnight, to be a preventative measure to thieves. If you leave assets in the vehicle, make sure they are properly marked with stickers or in other ways.

5. Use the glove compartment
For small, but valuable assets like: keys and important documents, use the vehicle’s glove compartment to hide and conceal the valuables

6. Implement GPS Tool Trackers
Invest in small GPS tool trackers, that operate on a global network, and can be visualised on a live map, to see their whereabouts if the unfortunate event happens that they are stolen.Although it is an easy option, we would recommend that you do not leave your tools in your vehicle overnight and you take a few minutes at the end of the day to take them out of your van and into your house or secure them safely in a garage.