ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘fleet-technology’ CATEGORY

Trimble has recently announced that they will be providing both their GeoManager Fleet Management and their Driver Safety Solutions to one of the UK’s food industry’s leading service, maintenance and supply company Millers Vanguard. The technology has been implemented in order to help the business stream line its field service operations and improve customer service.

The GeoManager Fleet Management solution boasts real-time visibility into day-to-day fleet operations, which can potentially help Millers Vanguard see major improvements in their service performance and productivity, with faster and more accurate response times a major benefit. In addition, with the availability of real-time status information, communication with customers and drivers about service call timing can also be improved.

"We pride ourselves on offering the best support to our customers, delivered to the highest standard and Trimble's technology is integral in helping us to achieve this," said Mo Williams, operations manager at Millers Vanguard.

"The real-time location intelligence and trip management tools provided by Trimble Fleet Management will allow us to optimise route planning, reduce unscheduled stops and allocate tasks to a technician closest to a call out. This can help us to respond to customer requests as quickly and as efficiently as possible and will help us to improve productivity, with technicians being able to complete more jobs per day."

As well as implementing the Trimble Fleet Management solution, Millers Vanguard will also be using Trimble Driver Safety to monitor and review driving behavior across its fleet.

"We are delighted to be working with Millers Vanguard to help improve the safety of their employees," said Mark Forrest, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division.

"Trimble Driver Safety allows aggressive maneuvers, such as hard acceleration, braking, turns and speed to be recorded, offering real-time feedback to the driver as well as a complete analysis for the back office. "This insight means that training can then be provided to individuals to improve their driving style which will not only help reduce accidents and vehicle downtime, but will also help reduce the fleet's fuel consumption and carbon footprint."

Finally Trimble vehicle diagnostics will be implemented across the fleet to assist with vehicle management.

The vehicle diagnostic solutions provide real-time data so information can be drawn directly from the vehicle. The information delivered includes alerts about engine problems before they become a major problem, fault codes and real-time insight into fuel consumption, including miles per gallon (mpg) and emissions per vehicle. All of these factors help the fleet management team identify where fuel is being wasted on poorly performing vehicles.

By efficiently managing its vehicles through vehicle diagnostics, Millers Vanguard are able to preserve their assets, extend vehicle life and increase productivity through lowering the risk of mechanical failure.

 

Find out more about Trimble, including, videos cases studies and news and features in our online directory here. 

Telogis have introduced their newest upgrade to their cloud-based fleet management and field service platform "Telogis Fleet 11"

Described by the software company as a major upgrade that will ‘effectively transform the way business is done outside the four walls’. Telogis Fleet 11 will allow companies to move toward achieving significant gains in operational efficiency by offering easier access for its users to both analysing and then utilising data gathered from workers, vehicles and assets in the field.

Included within the Telogis Fleet 11 platform are dynamic routing, commercial-grade navigation, advanced telematics, real-time work order management and mobile applications for companies with significant numbers of mobile workers.

Connected location intelligence drives significant gains in productivity

Whether companies require actionable information from their vehicles, assets, customers, workers, partners or all of the above, Telogis Fleet 11 enables connectivity between what is happening in the field and the back office. Telogis Fleet 11 features mobile application enhancements and new maps that are optimised for mobile devices, allowing supervisors and operations leads to easily visualise vehicles, assets and workers. Fleet 11 also supports Telogis Live 2.0, the industry’s first location and data sharing tool that connects partners’ and contractors’ workers and assets on one screen so that project information can be shared among multiple users to maximize productivity and operational efficiencies.

Telogis Fleet 11 also delivers support for richer engine data and services derived from existing relationships with the top vehicle manufacturers such as Ford, Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks and others, enabling more advanced levels of alerting and reporting.

“The trifecta of connected location intelligence, understanding what’s happening with drivers behind the wheel and the ability to derive actionable analytics from that data is really what drives business transformation for our customers,” said Mark Wallin, vice president, product management at Telogis. “Telogis Fleet 11 raises the bar by turning data into true business intelligence, helping companies make more informed decisions that make their businesses run smarter.”

Connecting with the driver: the key to safety, fuel and compliance improvements

Telogis Fleet 11 also closes the loop with drivers through the integration of Telogis Coach, the industry’s first mobile application to give both drivers and back offices the same view of a driver behavior scorecard. Using Telogis Coach drivers review their own behaviors and understand their successes and opportunities for improvement. They also receive peer leaderboards, a snapshot of the day’s driving behaviors and tips for driving more responsibly and safely.

Fleet 11 also helps drivers meet the latest compliance mandates for Hours of Service (HOS) and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) by providing simple, seamless integration between Telogis mobile compliance applications and the back office.

Actionable analytics that drive mission-critical business changes

The actionable analytics that are derived from connecting to and understanding how teams and vehicles are performing in the field is facilitated by Fleet 11’s enhanced alerts, dashboards and reports that include visual analytic tools and dashboards, scripted alerts for even more flexibility, the Enterprise key performance indicator (KPI) Scorecard and reports in hundreds of configurable formats to fit any business or fleet size.

Find out more about Telogis including video, and more news and features in our Field Service News directory here. 

There is nothing quite like a good nights sleep. So it is especially good news to find out that one purveyor of such wonders (i.e. a bed and mattress retail company) has been able to step up their deliveries by using dedicated fleet management technology.

Bed experts, Dreams has been able to increase it’s efficiency of its home deliveries by turning to Paragon’s Home delivery system (HDS) as part of their fleet management technology solution.  This means that all 6,000 weekly nationwide weekly deliveries will be planned and scheduled for the Dreams head office. The system will allow for the customer to be provided with a selection of optimised dates so they can choose one which suits them for their delivery. This is available to them  either at the point of sale in store or when they make a purchase online.

“When a Dreams customer buys a bed our Microsoft Dynamics NAV system will calculate the earliest availability for the product. This information feeds through to Paragon HDS, which then works out the available delivery dates to offer the customer. The information is presented graphically to our sales staff in red, amber and green, with green being the most efficient delivery,” says Ian Clarke, Change Controller, Dreams.

“We offer customers the ability to book a delivery up to 90 days in advance if they require it; typically most choose between 10 and 15 days after making a purchase. We also have much more flexibility to move deliveries around if we need to and we can close off routes earlier. In fact, with the latest version of the software we can also shut off a depot early and we can pause specific routes, if necessary to maximise efficiency.”

Dreams currently operates eight home delivery depots, which aided by a fleet management technology suite from Paragon, enables them to cover the entire of the UK and they plan to open a ninth depot soon which will be based in Scotland and will add further efficiency to their routes with its ninth depot opening soon. The deliveries are made using the company’s fleet of 100 x 3.5 tonne Mercedes Sprinter vans.

“Paragon HDS completely eliminates all manual elements from our delivery planning. It gives us much tighter control of how many vans we need and the number of driver shifts required to achieve the plan. Together with our stock availability system, we have a much clearer view of our supply chain as we can plan when goods need to be in the depots and we’re now running some as stockless, having just the items they need to deliver within the next 48 hours,” says Ian Clarke.

Perhaps the key benefit of HDS is the automatic integration with the other elements of the fleet management technology that Paragon are already delivering to Dreams including GPS vehicle tracking units in the vans using Paragon Fleet Controller. Giving Dreams the ability to monitor delivery progress in real-time and providing them with a live report feed. This feed is then published on the Dreams intranet to show how deliveries are progressing and allows customer services to keep customers updated with ETAs.

This visibility includes being able to see the exact current status of each delivery and report whether the van is at the customer’s home or has completed the delivery and is on its way to the next drop.

This of course means that the field service management team can sleep well at night knowing they are running as efficiently as possible!

Looking to find out more about fleet management technology or looking for a fleet management technology provider? Visit our directory which includes videos, case studies and other resources on a number of fleet management technology companies by clicking this link. 

New safety camera integration from Isotrak is assisting fleet operators improve safety by capturing video evidence of on-road incidents in real-time. This camera integration helps to reduce speeding by as much as 97 percent and cuts accident rates by almost 80 percent. In addition, the solution is proven to further improve fuel economy on top of the savings available from using vehicle tracking alone.

The vehicle tracking and driver safety monitoring enhancement provides transport managers with high resolution images that are date and time stamped for any point of the journey, and recording whether the vehicle is moving or stationary. The cameras integrate seamlessly with Isotrak’s vehicle tracking and telemetry solution, providing telemetry data and camera footage to backup any claims made by the driver or dispute any claims made by third party plaintiffs.

The detailed video images give a clear view of how a vehicle was being driven immediately prior to an incident, helping prove whether the driver was at fault or not. With the rising cost in insurance, the technology reduces accident costs by up to 70 percent and also helps with defending against fraudulent claims by providing better understanding of what actually happened. Fleet operators can also use the safety camera video to help them with driver training and to stop unsafe driving behaviour.

“We have partnered with market leading safety camera providers to provide a fully integrated solution that gives customers a real-time video view of how their fleet is performing right down to individual driver and vehicle level. This is an important enhancement to the live vehicle location and telemetry we already provide and we encourage fleet operators to consider how integrating safety cameras with their Isotrak system could help them drive further improvements through their operation. Video evidence is proving its importance in fighting claims, but even more importantly when coupled with Isotrak real-time vehicle tracking it can help fleet operators make significant improvements to operations and services,” says Megan Turner, Head of Marketing, Isotrak.

Bott Ltd, the British company who are world leaders when it comes to the manufacturing and supply of workshop equipment, in-vehicle equipment and workplace systems, has seen significant and widespread benefits to their business since deploying a telematics solution, which they is provided by Masternaut.

Having worked with Masternaut since October 2012 using telematics to monitor their fleet of commercial, HGV and service vehicles moving between their various manufacturing bases within the UK, Bott have recorded a 15% a month saving on their fuel consumption. The saving has been across their entire fleet including  company cars and vans, and has also brought an increase in fleet efficiency and driver safety throughout every arm of the business.

Bott deployed the telematics solution across its fleet of vehicles – including trucks and light commercial vehicles – in order to further reduce customer response times as part of a commitment to uphold  their already strong reputation for service excellent and rapid response. In addition to using the technology in its own fleet, Bott also now even resells the telematics systems to its customers, as parts of the van conversions arm of the business.

Via the at-a-glance view of every vehicle within Bott’s fleet, managers are now able to pin-point the exact location and speed of any of their drivers at any given time. The company has been able to reduce the unnecessary time its vehicles spend on the road, while better managing customer expectations around delivery times by sharing this insight.

With Bott’s articulated lorries making multiple deliveries across the UK every day, fleet managers at company headquarters are able to act instantly in the event of road delays or incoming customer requests.

“Given the range of locations we cover across the UK – and beyond – our drivers spend considerable amounts of time on the roads,” said Bott Ltd’s Logistics Manager, Chris Sweeney. “Anything which reduces this is hugely beneficial not only to our own business but, more importantly, to our customers too.”

“Having installed Masternaut’s technology across our fleet, we’ve been able to significantly cut down on the amount of time spent in transit, meaning our response times are quicker than ever. And through delivering the technology into our customers’ own vehicles, they’re experiencing the benefits first-hand too – it is a win-win!”

CEO and chairman of Masternaut, Martin Hiscox, added: “For businesses looking to achieve that vital competitive edge, every minute – and indeed every penny – counts. Bott, which coordinates fleets from one end of the UK to the other, is a fantastic example of how companies can be using telematics to save both time and money.”

Masternaut one of Europe's largest providers of telematics solutions, has been selected by the UK government to be part of the "Future Fifty" – a government led fast-track  programme which offers support to aid growth in both the public and private sectors, with the aim to improve employment and add significant impact to the much maligned economic growth within the UK.

Run by Tech City UK, an organisation launched by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, the Future Fifty is made up of the UK's most exciting, high potential growth businesses. The aim is to promote innovative and successful organisations oversees and to represent the rapidly growing number of high-tech companies based in Europe.

Masternaut, a leader in telematics and enterprise-grade across Europe also offer a cloud-based mobile resource management solution and their patented modular platform aims to deliver strong and demonstrated ROI for their clients through advanced business intelligence solutions. Listed benefits include enabling fuel savings, reduction in vehicle emissions, improved driver behaviour, and higher mobile workforce utilisation. Now with its inclusion in the future fifty the company is entitled it to tailored support and expertise in order to further accelerate its growth.

Martin Hiscox, Masternaut’s Chairman and CEO, says: “The Future Fifty is a fantastic programme and a real testament to the government’s commitment to supporting UK business growth. We are very proud to have been selected for the programme – it’s not only recognition of Masternaut’s achievements to date, but of the whole telematics industry’s potential to shape the UK’s business landscape”.

“2013 has been a busy year for Masternaut – we’ve launched our brand new telematics platform, Masternaut Connect, made a significant acquisition and are seeing rapid ongoing expansion across Europe. The support we will receive from the Future Fifty scheme will be invaluable as we continue to expand, innovate and develop our product portfolio and enter new geographic markets. We will be continuing to invest heavily in R&D, delivering our customers more ways to drive tangible business benefits through the use of telematics solutions.”

The rigorous selection process conducted by a 13-strong advisory panel of industry experts, investors, advisors and entrepreneurs saw judges select companies through a combination of quantitative and qualitative criteria, including financial performance, competitive positioning, product offering and strength of leadership team. Other companies listed alongside Masternaut include: Mimecast, NeoMobile, Horizon Discovery and Acturis.

The Future Fifty will provide concierge-style support to address key business needs along with a continuous programme of modular ‘opt-in’ business support and educational content and bespoke events.

 

 

Technology has long been a key driver for innovation and change in business. Regardless of size or industry, the pace of technological change is a major factor in the ability of businesses to evolve, meet increasing customer demands and maintain a commercial advantage. Giles Margerison, Director with TomTom Telematics explains more...

Rarely has this relationship been more evident than in the recent development in the connected vehicle and the opportunities it offers to field service organisations.

Advancements in fleet management technology have resulted in a growing suite of applications designed to help managers boost operational efficiency and, increasingly, realise new levels of customer service delivery.

As a consequence of the recent economic slowdown, customers are seeking ever-greater value for money and demanding more from business than ever before. The effective application of connected vehicle technology could be crucial in helping field service operators to act quickly and introduce new services and innovations to further improve the customer experience.

What is the connected vehicle?

Although it is undergoing a period of rapid technological change, the connected vehicle is not a new concept. It has its roots in vehicle tracking, which has long allowed businesses to improve efficiency by gaining greater visibility of their mobile workforce.

But we are now experiencing greater degrees of connectivity than ever before - driven in part by the pace of technological innovation in the consumer sphere. Advancements are occurring at an ever-quickening pace, driving adoption and making technology such as smartphones and tablet PCs integral business tools.

These devices can work hand-in-hand with advanced telematics technology to create a seamless IT operation that encompasses all aspects of life – from business to your home, car and leisure time.

The same goes for business, where vehicle, smartphone, mobile hardware and office software can form a seamless loop that allows for greater flow of data through disparate parts of a business and its operations.

For example, a wireless Bluetooth connection might allow the tracking unit fitted into a vehicle to communicate with mobile printers, barcode scanners, signature-capture devices or even smartphones.

The result is an exchange of data which allows such hardware to incorporate precise information regarding time and location for the production of more accurate invoices or proof of delivery. This can then be communicated back to the office in real-time, allowing better management of workflow and fulfilment of customer orders.

Bringing mobile workers into the office fold

Such innovations allow management to exercise a greater degree of control over their mobile workforce, ensuring employees on the road are as connected and accessible as those in the office.

Combined data from in-vehicle technology and mobile hardware can be communicated back to the office and shared with the appropriate software applications - a vital relationship given society's increasing dependence on electronic relationships between companies and their customers, suppliers or partners.

When an order is received by a company, for example, the details can automatically be passed from the e-commerce platform or CRM to the fleet management dashboard.

This allows the mobile operations manager to view outstanding orders and dispatch the most appropriate employee to each job based on how long it will take them to arrive, with directions sent immediately to their satellite navigation device. Once the job is done, data will be sent from the vehicle back to the office, allowing the final details to be added to the CRM or invoicing software, completing the loop.

Such a situation is only made possible through the integration of fleet management hardware and software with existing office applications, which has become a growing concern given the rate of technological change.

IT integration must extend to all elements of a business, including both office and mobile operations, in order to form a flexible framework capable of providing a lasting competitive edge.

What does the future hold?

Even greater advances are close at hand. A number of insurance companies are already using fleet management technology to send driving performance data to a policy-holder's smartphone with a view to helping them drive more safely and reduce premiums.

For field service organisations, it is not hard to imagine a situation where the customer places an order and subsequently receives a message to their smartphone providing an accurate ETA for when the operative will arrive at their house - perhaps even tracking real-time progress on a map.

Not only that, but the smartphone then tells the customer exactly how long it will take for them to travel home in order to meet the operative and provides them with the best possible route, taking into account traffic congestion.

Extending the idea further, deliveries could be sent to a customer's exact location, pinpointed according to the GPS signal from their smartphone, whether that’s home, work or even the local coffee shop.

Roadside assistance companies could allow customers to make a distress call via a smartphone app before sending out the most appropriate responder based on engine diagnostics and location data sent immediately from the customer's vehicle.

No matter the application, the connected vehicle will only continue to offer new possibilities for the field service industry to future proof its service offering.

 

 

Driven by substantial year-over-year growth in 2012 and a large and rapidly growing multi-billion dollar market, Telogis was listed among Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for the sixth consecutive year.

The company, which has its UK operations based in Bracknell, once again topped the list in the location-based technology industry. Telogis provides a comprehensive SaaS-based location intelligence platform for companies that require commercial navigation, real-time work order management, dynamic routing, telematics and mobile integration services for their mobile workforces.

“The 2013 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 companies are exemplary cases of those spurring growth in a tough market through innovation,” said Eric Openshaw, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “This year’s list is a who’s who of companies behind the most exciting and innovative products and services in the technology space. We congratulate the Fast 500 companies and look forward to what they do next.”

“As the world’s mobile workforces grow exponentially over the coming years, demand for sophisticated location-based technology and services such as those offered by Telogis will become increasingly mission critical to businesses with workers outside the four walls,” said David Cozzens, CEO, Telogis. “Our ranking on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for six consecutive years represents our continued commitment to innovation and delivering crucial data and insights that drive our customers’ bottom lines.”

Telogis recently secured a $93 million institutional financing round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Telogis intends to use the investment to further capitalise on the market and continue to focus on providing technologies and solutions that enable enterprises and organisations to optimise the management of their mobile assets including better data collection and analysis. In the UK this will translate into investment in the current product line to target new markets, and a significant increase in staff numbers and office space to provide local support for its growing customer base.

“The fastest growing companies in the U.S. are drivers of constant innovation and operate with the agility to stay ahead of a quickly evolving marketplace, and software, biotech/pharma and internet companies continue to be at the forefront,” added James Atwell, national managing partner of the Emerging Growth Company practice, Deloitte Services LP. “Companies that are excelling in these sectors have a startup mentality that allows them to be nimble and adapt quickly, which is why they consistently lead the list of fast-growing companies each year.”

New service uses the telematics provider’s contactless CANbus connectivity to stream accurate data live from the vehicle or crane unit.

Masternaut, one of Europe’s largest telematics providers, is now offering remote monitoring for commercial cranes and heavy lifting equipment operators. Fully integrated with Masternaut’s core fleet product, the service enables fleet and construction plant managers to access real time utilisation and productivity data to improve asset management performance.

The solution combines asset management functionality for crane and construction equipment operators and fleet management intelligence for vehicles. Assets are installed with Masternaut’s patented MuxyGPS hardware, featuring contactless CANbus connectivity, to provide unparalleled accuracy.

The data – which is both streamed in real time and aggregated into tailored customer reports – consists of asset details including temperature, water and oil levels, pressure values and weight carried. Through live alerts, equipment operators have the ability to monitor the condition of the crane remotely, facilitating predictive maintenance scheduling and the proactive deployment of engineers help address malfunctions faster.

The use of telematics-based geofencing also creates a virtual security field around the asset and site, and, over time, can be used in collaboration with insurers to create bespoke policies and reduce premiums.

In addition to live insight on static assets, the technology is able to transmit driver performance intelligence for mobile and crawler cranes, including RPM, speed, braking and acceleration, assisting in the monitoring of driver safety and ensuring that the workforce is fully compliant with health and safety regulations.

European Managing Director of Masternaut, Steve Towe, comments: “Our commercial crane and heavy lifting equipment offering is far more technical than standard fleet installations. However, combining our experience in fleet management with cutting-edge technology means that we’re able to offer telematics deployment on manufacturers including the Leibherr and Terex ranges, as well as equipment with Mercedes and Iveco ECUs.  Having finalised the proof of concept with these OEMs we are now able to extend the range of equipment covered, rapidly bringing to market this new service for crane rental companies, owner-operators and construction businesses.”