May 2021 Monthly Update

Good day Astreon clients and partners! Thank you very much for your continued support and loyalty to Astreon. We value your business and it’s our pleasure to provide you with much-needed services to help manage your mobile assets.

2021 is off to a fast-paced start. Can you believe June is already around the corner? Let’s hope for some great weather for outdoor activities this summer!

Please note that due to the global chipset shortage, we experience occasional lengthy delays in device orders. We also expect some heft price increases for the same supply shortage reasons, so please check in with your sales rep prior to placing an order to get updated pricing, stock availability, and possibly a suggestion on using a different device to fill the order more quickly.

As always, we never stop improving Astreon and partner applications. Read on for full details.

Astreon New Features and Enhancements

Reports enhancements include new templates for additional data in your reports and expanded information on Drivers.

 

Driver column

Driver information is now available as a column in reports which provides the driver’s name in the following fields: Binding Bindings, Custom fields, Driver activity, Infringements.

report template

Trailer column

We’ve added the Trailer column to the Bindings and Custom fields tables for the Group of trailers report template, which displays information about the trailer.

 

Passenger column

We have added the Passenger column to the Bindings table for the Group of passengers report template, which displays passenger information.

 

Event type column

We have added the Event type column to the Events table in the Unit and Unit group reports.

If an event is registered manually – this can be done through the Events Registrar or by registering any event from the online notifications window.

 

User column

The user is the one who registered the event manually or the one who created the resource, for which the event was generated automatically.

The User column has been added:

  • to the Events table for the Unit and Group of units report types;
  • to the Infringement table for the Unit and Group of units report types.

Note: the user must have at least minimum rights to view the item and its main properties. If not, a dash is displayed in the column.

 

Initial mileage, Final mileage, Initial engine hours, Final engine hours columns

Based on client feedback, we’ve added these values to the geofences report.

Now the user can see the parameters of the mileage sensor and the absolute engine hours sensor at the time of entering and leaving the geofence.

Fleetrun

Changes to the dashboard

  • Units, Drivers, Trailers, Intervals

These sections are displayed in a user-friendly dashboard that provides important information. Click on the line with the required category to go to the corresponding page with the filter activated.

Maintenance+ dashboard

 

  • Services

The section can provide more visual data to quickly see a status. The statistical data is represented in the form of a pie chart which shows the ratio of due and overdue services and the ones in progress. Click on the required chart sector or category in the legend to go to the Services page with the filter activated.

Maintenance+ service

 

  • Cost

The section contains info about the fleet expenses: how much the owner spends on fuel fillings as well as fuel fillings and services together. In the left part of the section, we added a histogram showing the percentage of the total cost of services and that of the fuel.

Maintenance+ costs

 

Logistics

Navigation bar

We added the function to hide the navigation bar and make space more for information on the map and in the table. The bar is not collapsed by default.

Dispatch+ navigation bar

 

Language selection and help tips

Previously, the application language depended on the language selected in the user settings. Now you can change it on the General tab of the application settings.

Dispatch+ language selection

We have also improved the logic for displaying help tips. Now you can enable help tips (in the application settings) or disable them (in the settings or in the help tip itself) at any time.

Nimbus

Relative schedules

We’ve added a bunch of new features to the Nimbus Beta: the ability to create relative schedules. It extends the Nimbus scope of applications as now you can monitor rides without schedules. Providing the ability to monitor:

  • shuttle vans that normally work without fixed schedules;
  • transport that departs only when there are enough passengers;
  • public transport in the regions where work scheduled operation is unavailable.

With the new functionality, rides are created upon the visit of the first stop without being time-bound. Users can create relative schedules or change the type of schedules that were created before.

 

Transit+ relative schedules

 

Based on the relative schedule, the system creates a one-time schedule where the time of stop visits counts off starting the moment of the ride’s activation. The one-time schedule is displayed wherever the ride time is indicated. Also, data on the ride events are formed according to this schedule (hurry, delay, no-show, and so on).

 

Hecterra

Expanding the crop rotation functionality

  • Using future dates both for sowing and harvesting
    • It allows users to use crop rotation as a sort of planning tool as well as fill in data at the planning step without waiting for actual field works to be done.
  • Sowing more than one crop within one year
    • Sometimes it happens that in temperate latitude after harvesting a winter crop, they still have time to grow another crop. Besides, in warm countries, the climate allows for a few harvests a year. In case of crop loss, they sow something else. Now, these agricultural processes can be recorded in Hecterra.
  • Specifying the harvest date in any year and the ability to not specify the harvest date at all or to remove the previously specified harvest date
    • It allows you to assign the crop for a long period, for example, grass or fruits and berries.

New rules apply to the crop rotation specified through the field settings, quick specifying, cultivation registration.

Contact us today!

Contact us today for more information, pricing, and specific case studies.

Tel: +1 (800) 647-4730

Email: sales@astreon.com

We are social!

Cargo theft in North America – 4.4 billion USD in economic losses

How GPS Tracking mitigates risk in the global supply chain.

Since COVID-19 hit the world and has affected in-store shopping, many people are opting to use online shopping.  This can lead to supply chain disruption due to the higher demand. This demand is accelerating other risks, “cargo theft”. Cargo theft is a significant risk in global supply chain when it comes to global transportation by land, air and sea. In fact, cargo theft increased by 23% in the third quarter of 2020 from third-quarter 2019 in the U.S. and Canada.  It was an estimated total of $33.77 million in stolen cargo across U.S. and Canada according to the statistics by AJOT .

If you are wondering where cargo theft is happening and what products are targeted, here are some interesting facts according to the reports from TT CLUB and SensiGuard

 

Cargo theft by location in North America

U.S. – Cargo theft by the state

  1. California: 23%
  2. Texas: 11%
  3. Georgia: 10%
  4. Florida: 9%

 

Canada – Cargo theft

  1. Ontario: 75%
  2. Quebec: 19%
  3. British Columbia: 2%

 

Cargo theft trends

According to the report from TT CLUB, it shows that most cargo theft type was Hijacking at 69% followed by theft of vehicle at 10%.

Regarding the location of the theft, it mostly happens in-transit at 74%. The cargo theft of food & beverage accounts for 33% of the top commodities stolen.

cargo theft trends

GPS asset tracking

Cargo theft is a headache for companies with multiple warehouses and operational lines of business. It is challenging to keep track of all vehicles/assets and take care of unexpected events. Without appropriate action, you are at higher risk of losing credibility with your clients as well.

How GPS telematics help detect and mitigate cargo theft

The No. of businesses tracking assets is expected to exceed 114 million by 2025 as we mentioned in a recent blog. This is a significant increase in demand for location-based and asset tracking services in the next few years. The industry started taking advantage of the benefits of GPS tracking.

 

What exactly GPS tracking can help?

 

Real-time tracking

With GPS Tracking, you can locate exactly where your vehicles/assets are when they are stolen. Based on the data from GPS Tracker, you can also check travel history so you will know where your vehicles/assets were stolen, how they traveled to the final destination and where they are now.

Geofencing

GPS Tracking has an amazing feature, Geofences. It is a virtual border drawn on the map in a GPS tracking system. You can create a geofence area where you would like to mark yards, clients, even routes. You draw the geofence border like the photo below. Once the geofence is created, it is used as a trigger for alerts when your vehicles/assets enter or exit from the geofence area. As soon as the GPS tracking detects the activity, it will send you an alert. In case of theft, once the GPS tracker detects unauthorized movements, you will receive alerts so that you can immediately act against the event.

geofence

Insightful GPS data

GPS tracking software provides you with insightful data you can use to protect yourself against future theft/attack. You can analyze reports that tell you what happened, where, and why the event occurred. Based on this insight, you can plan preventive measurements to mitigate risk. For instance, you can change the route based on the location where the theft happened.

Dash camera – GPS Telematics

Dash cams attached to your vehicles can be a huge lifesaver in terms of theft. Some dash cams have built-in or optional GPS receivers. Not only video recording, but also dash cams have features that will be able to detect motion or impact. Dash cams will send alerts if there are any unexpected events in or outside of your vehicles.

dash cams

The most advanced telematics platform

Astreon has 30 collective years of experience in the custom software development, SaaS, and wireless industries. This has provided us with a unique outlook in today’s IoT industry as we develop and implement simple, powerful and easy to use applications for our partners.

We are one of the leading providers of solutions in the IoT industry. We are consistently introducing new wireless platforms, shaping the future and changing the way people do business. We provide you with the services and applications that you need to be more productive and responsive to today’s increasing industry demands.

Contact us today!

Tel: +1 (888) 647-4730

Email: sales@astreon.com

We are social. Follow us!

facebook     LinkedIn

Asset tracking systems are expected to be used by 114 million businesses globally in 2025

Asset tracking systems are expected to be used by 114 million businesses globally in 2025 – This has placed a huge demand on the logistics industry to prevent supply chain disruption.

A new study from Juniper research has estimated that the numbers of business tracking assets in 2020 reached 90 million, and will exceed 114 million by 2025. The research forecasts that $33 billion will be spent on asset tracking in 2025 globally.  This is a measurable increase in demand for location based and asset tracking services in the next few years.

 

Supply chain disruption

Keeping track of assets is challenging for Logistics companies in supply chain operations.  Especially for companies with multiple warehouses and multiple operational lines of business.  With the recent growth of e-commerce and online shopping, logistics companies face difficult operational challenges as they adjust to this new growing trend. Increasing capacity, adhering to regulations, and managing the complexity of the supply chain are just a few examples.   One key solution is tracking and optimizing the usage of assets through KPIs and Management tools.

Without having the benefit of an asset tracking system, and the benefit of KPI’s & reporting tools, it’s difficult for businesses to figure out what causes disruptions in supply chain.  Managers need data-based insights into manufacturing and logistics processes to optimize the supply chain efficiently.

One effective way to solve this challenge is tracking assets and obtaining all data from every asset to analyze asset utilization. This is why many businesses use asset tracking systems today, with consistent increased demand for these services.

What is driving this growth in the logistics industry?

Utilizing asset management systems allows logistics companies to reduce their inventory and stock management costs and helps them use their existing assets more efficiently by tracking and managing assets in real-time.  As a result, the deployment of asset management systems leads to significant cost-saving and immediate ROI.

 

Tools to provide optimum asset utilization

With asset management systems, managers can see which assets are under and overused. If assets are not being used efficiently, this leads to increased operational costs. If assets are overused, this might cause an increase in maintenance costs and frequency. For companies with larger fleets, they can track and monitor all assets. With this data, managers have accurate information to make key decisions on maximizing utilization, scheduling maintenance, and reduce extra costs.

 

Reduce equipment downtime

By leveraging the reports and alert notifications from asset tracking systems, you can track and monitor all assets’ data, including real-time location, mileage, breakdowns, fuel thefts, unauthorized use, dwell time, asset life cycle and more. By automating reports and creating custom notifications, you immediately know of upcoming maintenance for each asset providing notice and time to schedule maintenance and allocate assets accordingly.   This helps reduce or eliminate unnecessary maintenance and repair costs.

 

The right asset tracker for your clients

Effective asset tracking gives businesses an advantage that propels them ahead of the competition. Astreon is a global platform with Resellers, Partners, and Clients all over the world. Astreon provides dynamic data including routing & dispatch, location, status and key sensor state of all assets in the field. Astreon has turnkey tools to quickly and easily allow your business to hit the ground running.  We provide application hosting with optional white labeling services, hardware devices, connectivity, marketing and technical support. Everything you need to get started is here. Contact us today to become our partner.

Contact us today!

Tel: +1 (888) 647-4730

Email: sales@astreon.com

We are social. Follow us!

facebook     LinkedIn

Contact Us