GPRS Tracking & Fleet Efficiency

The tools, which come from tracking which, help the manager ensure the greatest productivity is achieved or the lowest costs are paid. In the case of managing teams of people the Tracking system provides the tool to prove that a task was performed as a specific time. The tracking system will show the vehicle as it moves along the street with times attached to all actions. Thus if necessary to prove a delivery is made the tracking system will show the location the vehicle stopped and the time related to the delivery. Similarly when the tracking system is used to improve Productivity. The measurement provides via the Tracking system the following information:

The big plus from tracking comes from the ability to record accurately the work time of mobile staff based on accurate times and locations. Planning can then be improved to ensure the fair working time is delivered plus the employer can ensure proper break times can be allocated and observed in the working day.

These measurements can be used to define where time is lost in vehicle based jobs.

A simple example concerns the efficiency gained by providing the drivers with better information support for their tasks. Route alteration based on an overview of a typical day will show areas where a big picture view enables a better route to be planned. Alternatively a different route means staff rest breaks are planned at optimum times and locations which minimise the time taken to get back to the task in hand.

A small improvement in productivity means overall cost can be reduced. Typically a 5% or even 10% reduction in costs is achieved with payback on the system being made in the first year on the capital spend. Alternatively an almost self-financing deal, if the lease option is used.

Skip Delivery and Waste Disposal

The delivery of skips to users plus their collection and emptying of them using tracking means the minimum administration time is required to manage the skips. The delivery of the skip is recorded to the location defined by the customer similarly the collection thus the total time for the skip on site can be defined. The emptying of the skip is then also tracked to the disposal site to prove safe disposal of the collected waste. A track of all actions can be supplied if required to the customer. All the information gathered could be accessed to provide input to other system. Tracking in this regard is used to improve productivity in terms of administration costs and the ability to define the next job based on driver availability during a busy day.

Council Applications: Gully Cleaning

The Radicom-i system allows a database to be attached to each "asset" in a council such as gullies or other assets, which need to be maintained. The Radicom-i Vehicle Tracking system will track a Gully cleaning unit to the asset location. It then monitors both the cleaning arm and the water washer to show that action has been taken to clean the gully where the vehicle has stopped. Electronically a record can be maintained based on data from the vehicle of every cleaning event and that is all linked to the geographic location. The lack of the action of the cleaning arm indicates it was impossible to clean a gully because it was obstructed.

All the records of cleaning can be generated by the vehicle against the asset database. Reports can be generated from the asset database and thus the administration function of Gully cleaning can be reduced dramatically, no paper records are required plus it is simpler to reschedule visit to deal with obstructed gullies. The final plus is the accuracy of data, this is improved because the records are based on system recording not paper based records.

Other Applications

Vehicle Tracking can be considered in a number of ways some are the obvious ways of locating vehicles and providing management information on their efficient use. Other use of the tracking data can be of considerable benefit to users of the system based on the timing and distance information gathered by the tracking system.

Sub Contractor Monitoring

If we consider an electrician out on site to fix a fault, the one part of the costs, which is simple to manage is the cost of spare parts. The second part, which is not simple to manage or to prove is time, how do you ensure the time billed was reasonable. The first portion of the time cost is getting to and from site. Using a tracking system the time monitoring become simple, as does the travelling distance. With Tracking fitted to the electrician's vehicle it is possible to show the time taken to and from the site plus the distance travelled.

The second stage is the time on site. The tracking unit can define the time spent on site performing the tasks electronically. Thus it is possible to define the time a contractor is spending performing the tasks required. These measurements then allow you to produce information to verify Invoice values in the case of Sub-contractors.

Alternatively in the case of internal staff the tracking measurements can be linked to internal software systems to provide a low cost administration mechanism. The tracking system will show the location visited the times associated with the job and can then have a status recorded against the job. The key benefit of such a facility is the ability to log the time and results of a job by the person carrying out the task. Paper based system require information to be written down, paper must then be passed to be processed all added costs.

The job can be measured based on an automated system with minimum paperwork required for job complete. Only when follow up action is required will action be required in administration to ensure the job is completed with a second visit.

Summary

Small changes in operating methods provide considerable financial benefit. A small improvement in time management of a remote workforce can generate considerable improvements in productivity. The Tracking system provides the "eyes and ears" for managers to see how the remote workforce operates and thus they can provide the guidance to improve productivity. This is just as applicable to sales staff as it is to a plumber or an electrician working remote from a company base.