August 10, 2019.
SOPHIE BAKER
The fleet managers face multiple scenarios to deal with in their daily operations. They have to handle the challenges, including underutilized resources due to the non-accountability of the drivers, safety issues, increase in operational cost, etc.
Is there any way the fleet managers prevent these? Yes — Real-time tracking of the vehicle on the move can address these issues.
It is essential to track the fleet as reliability, safety, and timely delivery are the top priorities when it comes to dispatching operations. For trouble-free operations, the fleet managers need to know precisely where the individual vehicles are at any given time. Although this might seem simple enough, tracking vehicle location can be a challenging task whether a fleet includes a single vehicle or a thousand or more.
The GPS technology is a popular type of vehicle tracking available and makes the process easy, enabling the fleet managers to keep an eye on the assets. An in-vehicle GPS tracker is a device that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine and track the location of the carrier (typically a vehicle or person). The technology enables location data to be collected and displayed on a map. The geofence application allows setting an invisible boundary around the specific location on the map. Now the fleet backend can locate and monitor their carrier within this virtual periphery. The fleet companies benefit from geofencing technology because it allows them to pass on relevant information to their drivers and their customers with critical dispatch information. The technique can trace the trailers from the origin to the destination advising on the precise location of each unit throughout the vehicle transit. The data generated ensures the carrier does not stray from the predetermined route or go unnoticed if it does. If for some reason, it exits the invisible barrier, the fleet manager can quickly contact the driver to determine why and take the appropriate action.
Tracking begins once the vehicle starts moving, and the GPS begins feeding real-time data back into the system, allowing the fleet backend to pinpoint the carrier's location. If the carrier with geo-fencing reroutes or travels outside of the set boundary, the fleet backend operation is notified to take immediate actions. Real-time GPS sensors enable these notifications and cloud-based analytics, send alerts when people, vehicles, or assets to arrive or leave the defined locations.
In this light, geofencing is a practical tool that allows fleet managers to identify inefficient trends and find remedies before it is too late to rectify. The fleet as a whole can become more productive by identifying assets that are misused, tracking unauthorized movements. The geofence alerts are remarkably valuable and contribute to the following benefits:
The fleet managers can help the drivers out by intimating potential time delays from traffic and weather. They can help change the planned routes quickly to avoid having drivers pull over to do it.
Movement of vehicles within and outside the geofence helps you to look at the right use of the assets. Sometimes the drivers spend a long time idling outside of the geofence or take a non-customized route that could be making use out of your fleet assets for personal use.
The fleet managers can identify which vehicles are underutilization and according to initiate fleet-rightsizing discussions with the drivers. Additionally, managers can correlate drivers' behavior and take actions against unproductive & unsafe maneuvers, which impacts a vehicle being used to its full potential.
Fleet managers can verify and ensure the drivers follow the best routes to lower the cost of fuel and ensures that the driver spends their time wisely in navigating.
The tracking provides greater insight on the fleet visibility and can identify and prevent theft, and in some cases, geofencing lowers insurance premiums.
TXT's geofence alerts are highly customizable and can notify you on vehicle movements in the periphery for a specified period. You can customize the geofence area by drawing your area of interest on a map with a box, circle, or freehand.TXT allow you to tailor-made on the alert configurations to how whom, why, etc. TXT ELD offers a GPS tracking system, and FMCSA approved ELD that installs directly to vehicle ECM. It is a dependable and reliable system available in the market. If you're interested in learning more please, call 1-905-362- 1716 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Our 24/7 customer support team is always available to help you.