Fleet management

Fleet management is the management of a company's vehicle fleet. Fleet management includes commercial motor vehicles such as cars, vans and trucks. Fleet (vehicle) management can include a range of functions, such as vehicle financing, vehicle maintenance, vehicle telematics (tracking and diagnostics), driver management, fuel management and health & safety management. Fleet Management is a function which allows companies which rely on transportation in their business to remove or minimize the risks associated with vehicle investment, improving efficiency, productivity and reducing their overall transportation costs, providing 100% compliance with government legislation (duty of care) and many more. These functions can be dealt with by either an in-house fleet-management department or an outsourced fleet-management provider. According to market research from the independent analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of fleet management units deployed in commercial fleets in Europe will exceed 1 million next year. Even though the overall penetration level is just a few percent, some segments such as road transport will attain adoption rates above 30 percent.

Vehicle Tracking

The most basic function in all fleet management systems, is the vehicle tracking component. This component is usually GPS based, but sometimes it can be based on a Cellular triangulation platform.

Mechanical Diagnostics

Advanced fleet management systems can connect to the vehicle's onboard computer, and gather data for the user. Details such as mileage and fuel consumption are gathered into a global statistics scheme.

Driver Behavior

By combining received data from the Vehicle Tracking system and the onboard computer, it is possible to form a profile for any given driver.

Fleet Management Software

Fleet management software enables people to accomplish a series of specific tasks in the management of any or all aspects relating to a company's fleet of vehicles. These specific tasks encompass all operations from vehicle acquisition to disposal. Software, depending on its capabilities, allows function such as driver/vehicle profiling, trip profiling, dispatch, vehicle efficiency, etc. It can provide remote control features, such as Geo-fencing and active disabling. Current vehicle diagnostic information can also be related to a management site, depending on the type of hardware installed in the vehicles.

Management of ships

Fleet management also refers to the management of ships while at sea. Ships are normally given to fleet management companies that handle aspects like crewing, maintenance, and day-to-day operations. This gives the ship owner time to concentrate on cargo booking.

Fleet Security and Control

Recent advances in fleet management allow for the addition of over-the-air (OTA) security and control of fleet vehicles. Fleet Security and Control includes security of the vehicle while stopped or not in operation and the ability to safely disable a vehicle while in operation. This allows the fleet manager to recover stolen or rogue vehicles while reducing the chance of lost or stolen cargo. The additional of Fleet Security and Control to a fleet management system gives a fleet card manager preventative measures to address cargo damage and loss.

Remote Vehicle Disabling Systems

Remote vehicle disabling systems provide authorized users at remote locations the ability to prevent an engine from starting, prevent movement of a vehicle, and to stop or slow an operating vehicle. Remote disabling allows a dispatcher or other authorized personnel to gradually decelerate a vehicle by downshifting, limiting the throttle capability, or bleeding air from the braking system from a remote location. Some of these systems provide advance notification to the driver that the vehicle disabling is about to occur. After stopping a vehicle, some systems will lock the vehicle's brakes or will not allow the vehicle's engine to be restarted within a certain timeframe.

Remote disabling systems can also be integrated into a remote panic and emergency notification system. In an emergency, a driver can send an emergency alert by pressing a panic button on the dashboard, or by using a key-fob panic button if the driver is within close proximity of the truck. Then, the carrier or other approved organization can be remotely alerted to allow a dispatcher or other authorized personnel to evaluate the situation, communicate with the driver, and/or potentially disable the vehicle. [ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, [http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/systems-technology/product-guides/vehicle-disabling.htm Vehicle Disabling Systems] .]

Fleet Management Replacement and Lifecycle Management

The timely replacement of vehicles and equipment is a process that requires the ability to predict asset lifecycles based on costing information, utilization, and asset age. The industry standards for asset lifecycles are produced annually by Mercury Associates, Inc. (http://www.mercury-assoc.com), which are calculated using the CARCAP modeling resource. These numbers are used to establish the expected date for a type or class of equipment, which can the be used to identify replacement dates and funding requirements.

Funding requirements are also an issue, because many organizations, especially government, purchase vehicles with cash. The ad hoc nature and traditional low funding levels with cash has put many operations in an aged fleet. This lack of adequate funding for replacement can also result in higher maintenance costs due to aged vehicles.

See also

*Fleet telematics
*GPS tracking
*Telematics
*National Association of Fleet Administrators

References