Tag: Operating costs
The complete guide to Dispatch Management Software
As the demand in the supply chain industry is increasing, the logistics and transportation industries rely more on technology to streamline the operation to prevent any shipping delays.
The process is a lot more complicated than simply sending a delivery truck to pick up the package they’d like to deliver. There are many questions you need to address, such as delivery schedule, driver/vehicle assignments & availability, routes considering traffic, and tracking process.
These are the challenges of dispatch management, but these same issues are addressed with effective dispatch management software.
What is a Dispatch Management Software?
A Dispatch Management Software is a process of organizing, assigning, and optimizing delivery schedules and routes for businesses in the delivery, maintenance, and service industries. Dispatch Management Software optimizes your routes and schedules while maximizing efficiency, and minimizing costs.
How Dispatch Management Software works
By integrating with GPS tracking and mobile apps which provide real-time updates, you can track the real-time whereabouts of your vehicles, traffics conditions, and assignments of available carriers. This, along with advanced routing algorithms, provides automated assignments for pickups, drop-offs, service calls, deliveries, etc. These applications can provide Proof of Delivery or Service completion, with photos, signatures, and driver notes.
Keeping track of the locations and statuses of drivers allows you to improve your dispatching. It also helps connect a dispatcher with drivers for faster, better communication.
The software can help schedule plan, optimize routes, providing real-time routing, monitoring driver behavior, alert notifications, and calculate total route costs which allow your company to lower turnaround times and costs.
Why does using Dispatch Management Software dramatically improves your business’s efficiency and performance?
Leveraging dispatch management software brings you huge benefits by automating every process.
Without an efficient dispatch system in your business, time is wasted manually tracking the vehicles, planning routes, and managing driver schedules. With dispatch management software, managing all these processes is automated and easy.
Key aspects of dispatch management software
Better delivery routes
Instead of planning routes manually, dispatch management helps you generate optimal travel routes more efficiently.
Based on which vehicle is closest and available, service time commitments, and route preferences, what kind of capacity the vehicle has, traffic, the application provides planned routes with information on the estimated arrival time and mileage of each stop and route. Optimal routes will result in faster delivery & service times, increased customer & driver satisfaction, and cost savings.
Reduced service costs
Effective dispatch management not only saves time by optimizing routes but also saves money. Drivers spend less time on the road, along with optimized and improved routes, which results in reduced fuel consumption and reduced operation time.
According to ABI Research, the cost savings from having a dispatch management system could be well over 12% in profitability and 13% in vehicle utilization with a 15% decrease in travel time.
Dispatch management software also provides you with impactful reporting so that you can see precisely which areas need to be improved to lower costs and increase profits.
Improve customer & driver satisfaction
Customers always want to know where their packages are and when they are expected to receive their packages.
Dispatch management software can provide both you and your customers with real-time updates on driver’s whereabouts and estimated delivery schedules. Some applications allow clients to communicate directly with the driver.
These tools increase driver satisfaction because you don’t have to worry about a delivery delay due to unexpected traffic conditions, reducing driver’s stress levels. It can also avoid any irregular schedules by optimizing routes, assignments of available drivers and vehicles.
Improve driver behavior and safety
Real-time monitoring and data enable a dispatcher to measure driver behavior and safety. Dispatch management software allows a dispatcher to track the delivery process in real-time and respond to emerging issues through phone calls or chat. Dispatch management software will notify a dispatcher and driver via notifications whenever unexpected issues happen.
Astreon Dispatch & Order Distribution
Our dispatch management software is a fully-featured and integrated module to manage tasks, pickups, drop-offs, destinations for all order management business needs.
Contact our specialist today to learn more about how we can help your business.
Truck industry embracing change due to the emission regulations and high demand for electric trucks
The truck industry will be embracing change due to the emission regulations by the government. Demand for EV’s in the transportation sector is also rising due to the high cost of fuel and sustainability initiatives by private organizations.
See the full article about tighter truck emission regulations
What is EV (Electric Vehicle)
EV (Electric Vehicle) is a vehicle that is powered by a pack of rechargeable batteries instead of fossil fuels like current-generation vehicles use. The vehicle needs to be plugged into a wall outlet or high voltage charging station to recharge its batteries. As EV’s don’t use combustion or fossil fuels that burn, the vehicle emits no airborne pollutants. This will be a huge contributor to reducing greenhouse gas, air pollutions and other environmental impacts caused by emissions from automobiles.
Electric Truck Market Statistics 2021-2027
EV is in demand. Let’s see the EV Truck Market.
The global electric truck market size was valued at $422.5 million in 2019 and is expected to reach $1.893 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 25.8% from 2020 to 2027 according to statistics from Allied Market Research.
Electricity Demand
According to the Global EV outlook 2020 from IEA, in 2030, in the Stated Policies Scenario, global electricity from electric vehicles (including two/three-wheelers) reaches 550 TWh, or about a six-fold increase from 2019 levels.
The share of demand due to electric vehicles in total electricity consumption at a national/regional level grows to as high as 4% in Europe. In the Sustainable Development Scenario, with demand rising nearly eleven-fold from 2019 to almost 1 000 TWh, the share of total demand ranges from 2% in Japan to 6% in Europe.
Rising demand for electric trucks
With emission regulations and stringent emission norms adopted by people, the demand for electric vehicles is rising across the world. Major auto manufacturers like Tesla, Volvo, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz manufacture EVs to meet the demand from consumers, contributing to a dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions. As an example, Volvo is committed to producing purely EV’s by 2030.
“I would be surprised if we wouldn’t deliver only electric cars from 2030.”
CEO Hakan Samuelsson recently told the Financial Times Futures, as reported by Automotive News.
Advantage of owning an EV
Owning an EV has many benefits.
Save your money
Because EV’s runs on electricity instead of fossil fuels, it is much more affordable to drive. The average Canadian driver, traveling 20,000 km per year, can save as much as $2,000 per year on fuel alone.
In addition, EV’s don’t require oil changes, mufflers, or exhaust systems which saves a lot per year on maintenance.
Environmentally Friendly
Conventional vehicles burn fossil fuels which produce hazardous chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions. These pollutants contribute to air pollution and climate change.
In contrast, an EV uses an electric motor, so it doesn’t produce any tailpipe emissions.
Compliance
Our Blog last week discussed US truck emission regulations. Governments across the world are putting pressure on vehicle manufactures and the truck industry to reduce carbon emissions caused by diesel fuel to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
As a result of this, and greater adoption of EV’s in consumers, it is expected that half of the passenger cars and light trucks sold by 2030 will be zero-emission vehicles in North America.
EV Fleet Management Software
Using Fleet Management Software helps businesses save money, while increasing profitability, efficiency and safety. It helps you optimize routes, monitor fuel, vehicle health and diagnostics, such as engine status, fuel consumption, and mileage. See the real-time location of your fleet and notification alerts for things like idle & dwell time, excessive speeding and reckless driving.
Apart from fuel management, these same benefits apply to EV’s. EV Fleet Management Software enables your EVs to optimize charging and always keep them ready to go. The following are major features EV Fleet Management Software has.
Battery kW Usage by Trip
Just like fuel consumption by the trip, EV’s use a metric of Wh per Kilometer or Mile, giving us the ability to calculate EV efficiency by vehicle, by the trip, and over time. This efficiency report provides insight into battery consumption while driving, evaluating the energy efficiency of each EV in your fleet, including factors like driving behavior by a driver, which can massively affect overall efficiency.
EV charging report
A charging history of your EVs provides you when and where vehicles are charging, the length of charging time, kW h charged, and location. This report gives you deeper insight into each EV to monitor their charging history and what current level of the charge they have.
Real-time charging status
It enables you to track and monitor your EVs’ charging status in real-time and get alerted whenever the battery reaches a critical level and needs to be charged.
Route planning
It provides not only optimized routes for your EV fleet, but also nearby charging stations while ensuring that dispatched EVs have enough battery to complete the task.
Battery health
You can monitor your vehicles’ battery capacity and health in real-time. Analyzing battery health based on weather, usage, and charging habits can help you optimize your vehicles’ performance.
Start Electrifying your Fleet today with Astreon
By 2030 you’ll start to see this industry change come into effect. Prepared your fleet and optimize your EVs with our Fleet Management Software.
Contact us today for more information about our fleet management system.
Biden Proposed Tighter Truck Emission Regulations
The Biden administration has ordered federal agencies to develop tighter fuel efficiency, greenhouse gas, and oxides of nitrogen emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks last week.
The fuel economy and emissions requirements proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation would strengthen regulations eased by the Trump administration, trying to get back to a stricter path planned by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
“Today, I am following through with a campaign commitment to reverse the previous administration’s short-sighted rollback of vehicle emissions and efficiency standards.”
President Joe Biden said at a White House event to announce the new standards.
At the beginning of August, President Biden issued an Executive Order that aimed at promoting the sales of zero-emission vehicles and calling on EPA and the Department of Transportation to consider setting new emissions and fuel efficiency standards.
In the Executive Order, Biden states that “America must lead the world on clean and efficient cars and trucks. That means bolstering our domestic market by setting a goal that 50 percent of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles, including battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles.”.
In addition, President Biden also calls for EPA and DOT to issue final rules by July 2024 addressing;
- Multi-pollutant emission standards including greenhouse gas emissions, for light- and medium-duty vehicles
- Fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks
- Fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans
- Greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles
- Fuel efficiency standards for medium-and heavy-duty engines and vehicles
What about Canada?
The Government of Canada has mandated and revised stringent regulations which mostly mirror the U.S. regulations;
- On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations – Tier 2 – 2004-2016 model years
- Passenger Car and Light Duty Truck GHG Emission Regulations – 2011–2016 model years
- Heavy-Duty Vehicle & Engine GHG Emission Regulations – 2014–2018 model years
- Passenger Car and Light Duty Truck GHG Emission Regulations – 2017–2025 model years
- On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations – Tier 3 – 2017-2025 model years
- Heavy-Duty Vehicle & Engine GHG Emission Regulations – 2019–2027 model years (in development)
Source: Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association
How your company can adjust to this change
Adopting the new regulations is challenging and now it’s still uncertain how these regulations impact truck industries. However, it’s for sure that the truck industry will need to take the next leap in sustainability no later than 2030.
What you can prepare and how Astreon can help
Fuel
Analyzing and improving driving behavior, such as acceleration, braking, speeding, and reckless driving can save fuel usage. Observing speed limits and driving patterns will help you educate your drivers and improve their skills is a contributing factor in driving cost savings for your fleet. The US Department of Energy reports that after a driver reaches 50mph, as mileage starts to decrease, each 5mph you drive over 50mph can cost you an additional $0.15 per gallon for gasoline.
Our Fleet Management Software provides impactful and relevant data of all activities such as driving behavior, fuel costs, mileage, idling time, the total cost per travel, etc…
Using our Fleet Management Software results in fleet-wide average savings of 15% or more on fuel costs and an increase of 30% or more on overall fleet efficiency.
Energy
Real-time performance reports of your equipment and machinery can help improve energy efficiency. Our Fleet Management Software provides better visibility into equipment energy efficiency to help improve the performance and reliability of equipment and machinery.
Pollutants
Air pollution is becoming a major issue in many of the world’s large cities and heavy-duty vehicles are a massive contributor.
Our Fleet management system enables you to provide drivers with the most optimal route for your fleet each day, which also considers real-time traffic conditions. These enhancements drastically reduce travel time, engine idling and the release of harmful pollutants into the air.
Zero Emissions
GPS fleet tracking technology also can contribute to improvements in CO2 monitoring. You can track exactly which vehicle and how much a vehicle is contributing to poor air quality by the data from GPS fleet telematics. Using this data and reports from Fleet Management Software, you can get the complete picture of vehicle utilization, carbon emissions and fuel consumption.
Our commitment to sustainability
Sustainability is a core value of Astreon and our technology helps our customers, society, and employees improve their environmental impact as we all walk together towards the same goal – zero emissions, reduce pollutants, and fuel & energy efficiencies. Check our Sustainability page to see how we approach these environmental impacts.
The Fleet Management Software Market is projected to reach USD 50.09 billion by 2027 – Market size & share, by solutions
The Fleet Management Software Market is expected to rise with an outstanding CAGR and reach the highest revenue by 2027 according to the report from Fortune business insights.
The report forecasts that “ The global fleet management software market size stood at USD 14.59 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 50.09 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 16.8% during the forecast period”
The research report is analyzed based on the fleet management software market share, fleet types, applications, solutions, by industry and by region.
This upward trend is driven by the implementation of regulatory measurements, integration of artificial intelligence, and high demand for connected cars.
For more details about the report, get a sample copy of the report at – https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/100893
This infographic summarizes all information from the report and features of Fleet Management Software.
By region
The global market scope is classified across five regions, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
According to the research, North America is the biggest market globally gaining USD 5 billion in 2019. Especially, Canada is likely to gain rapid growth in the forecast period in terms of rising adoption of telematics in the trucking industry.
By solution
According to the study, industries are most likely to seek the solutions of the supply chain management followed by fleet maintenance, such as the last time checkup date, mileage, or engine alerts. For logistics solutions, fleet management software provides real-time insights along with historical data to keep your fleets efficient. It helps optimize routes, avoid more expensive routes and make better dispatching decisions. For maintenance solutions, fleet management software can alert drivers, fleet managers, maintenance teams and owners when vehicles need maintenance automatically based on data such as the last time checkup data, mileage, or engine alerts.
Performance management is the third-highest demanded solution. The demand for the performance management solution is rising due to the policies and compliance of environmental and safety regulations and is expected to grow rapidly for the forecast period.
Astreon Fleet Management Software
Astreon offers the most Comprehensive & Advanced Fleet Management platform available for your Vehicles, Trailers, Machinery, and Equipment, with over 2.9 million+ tracked assets globally. Our software is easy to use, fully customizable, and advanced. With our Fleet Management platform, you see all your assets on one screen in a simple to operate, powerful application. Our in-house development team is always developing leading-edge technology to allow us to exceed our clients’ expectations.
How you can save money during the oil and diesel price surge
According to the graph from EIA, National on-highway diesel prices went up to $3.33 per gallon by end of June as crude oil prices hit their highest level in more than 6 years.
North American benchmark oil prices have risen from under $50US a barrel at the beginning of the year, to over $70 US a barrel recently. The price surge is expected to reach about $100 a barrel by next year.
This rise in fuel and oil prices drastically influences operational costs and impacts profitability for carriers and delivery companies as fuel represents a primary expense.
According to the infographic from TRUCKERS REPORT, fuel cost accounts for 39% of total operating costs. A commercial truck can easily consume more than $70,000 of diesel fuel per year. As the price of fuel continues to rise, your fuel costs will be expanding more than ever. That’s why it is important to discuss actionable plans to tackle this price surge trend.
How to combat the effects of rising fuel costs
In order to combat the impact of rising fuel costs, it is critical to have insightful data about your fleet operations to analyze and drive effective improvements in your business. To get this insightful data, you need a robust GPS Tracking solution in your fleet to better understand how much gasoline or diesel is consumed by your fleet each month and year. A GPS Fleet Management system is also important to help analyze data and receive powerful automated reports to identify where you can drive additional efficiencies and savings.
The following areas can be analyzed and improved using Fleet Management and Tracking Software;
Speeding & Driving Behaviour
Select and monitor parameters to analyze driving behavior, such as acceleration, braking, speeding, reckless driving, and acceleration while cornering. Observing speed limits and driving patterns to help you educate drivers and improve drivers’ skills is a major contributing factor in driving cost savings for your fleet. In fact, the US Department of Energy reports that after a driver reaches 50mph, as mileage starts to decrease, each 5mph you drive over 50mph can cost you an additional $0.15 per gallon for gasoline.
Idling time
Idling is another major contributor to fuel consumption and is often difficult to identify, reduce and/or prevent. According to a report from the US Department of Energy, idling can use 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of fuel per hour.
With GPS fleet management software, you can accurately identify preventable idling events and reduce and/or eliminate their occurrence. This will additionally provide useful reports such as how long your fleet was idling, how each vehicle compares to the rest, and how has idling changed over the last few months or year (to gauge trends, gauge improvements, etc.). This information can be used for additional coaching and overall driver improvement across your fleet.
Route optimization & Dispatching
Optimized routes improve mileage and fleet productivity. Efficient routes can also help a driver congested areas and minimize time loss. Fleet management systems enable you to give drivers the most optimal route for your fleet and drivers each day. These enhancements drastically reduce travel time, allowing your drivers to take extra jobs and increase revenue. By leveraging advanced fleet management and dispatching features you can optimize routes, avoid more expensive routes, and make better dispatching decisions.
Vehicle Maintenance
Receiving regular maintenance checks is important and contributes to keeping fuel costs down over time. Keeping an engine tuned up can improve gas mileage by an average of 4% according to a report from the US Department of Energy.
Fleet management software can alert drivers, fleet managers, maintenance teams, and owners when vehicles need maintenance automatically based on data such as the last time checkup date, mileage, or engine alerts.
Tire inflation
Proper tire inflation can affect gas mileage consumption. According to a report from the US Department of Energy, you can improve your gas mileage by 0.6% on average, and up to 3% in some cases by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure level.
Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by about 0.2% for every 1 psi drop in the average pressure of all tires.
By leveraging Bluetooth-enabled GPS Trackers you can monitor tire pressure, check inflation pressures to minimize tire wear, minimize fuel consumption, and take action before a problem arises.
Prepare for oil and diesel price surge
Astreon offers the most Comprehensive & Advanced Fleet Management platform available for your Vehicles, Trailers, Machinery, and Equipment, with over 2.9 million+ tracked assets globally. Our software is easy to use, fully customizable and provides advanced industry-leading features. With our Fleet Management platform, you can visualize all of your fleet assets on one screen in a simple to operate, powerful application. Fuel Control with Astreon is the complete solution for optimizing fuel expenditure and ultimately saving your company time and money.
How to improve customer service and safety in Limo & Taxi industries
Limousines or taxies are used for a variety of purposes that include personal & business commuting, weddings, VIP services, bachelor/bachelorette parties, corporate events, etc.
What matters most to consumers when choosing a Taxi/Limo service? Service quality, safety, price, vehicle quality, and design. Your customers also expect you to offer professionalism, high-quality service, and comfort. This is why excellent customer service is essential to increase your business’s reputation. It may be overwhelming at first to consider all these factors when you look to grow your business. But leveraging GPS Telematics & Dash Camera systems is a great first step.
GPS Telematics Systems for Limo & Taxi
Leveraging GPS Telematics is more common now in the transportation industry. In the fact, the GPS Telematics device market is expected to reach $ 2.89 billion USD by 2023 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) 12.9% between 2017 and 2023 according to the research report by GPS Telematics Device Market by Type, Deployment Type, Industry and Geography – Global Forecast to 2023.
In addition, the research shows that the GPS Telematics market is expected to have high demand in the transportation & logistic sector during the forecast period growing at a CAGR of 14.4% between 2018 and 2025.
As you can see, GPS Telematics plays a huge role in the transportation industry to operate management of functions such as routing, Telematics, dispatching, security, and safety. Let’s see how GPS features work for your business.
Real-time Telematics
GPS Telematics allows users to monitor drivers, vehicles, and assets in real-time. It provides Telematics information with high accuracy. This information includes routes, fuel, mileage, idle time, engine stops, and speed. Based on that information, GPS Telematics provides optimized routes to get your drivers where they need to be faster & safer, completing more jobs within the scheduled time. Efficient routes and arrival on time or earlier arrival enhance customer service and it leads to increased reputation.
Improving vehicle security
GPS Telematics enables you to monitor your vehicle and get key data. GPS Telematics gives you clear visibility into your entire pool of assets and their current status. Using real-time Geofence status with reporting and alerts, you can detect potential theft or unauthorized use. Prevent potential loss and impact on your business by taking immediate preventative action.
Dispatching
On-time departure/arrival and quick response times with customers are crucial to improving customer service. With real-time data from GPS Telematics, you can dispatch a limo/taxi and driver who is close to your customers. Excellent customer-facing tools like driver arrival notifications and arrival confirmations are automated tools to assist you and your team. Improved service helps build brand loyalty and increase customer retention.
Reduce liabilities
Reckless driving and unnecessary accidents can be a huge liability for your company. Of course, accidents are out of the question for the transportation industry. This is why monitoring and analyzing are important to reduce poor driving habits such as speeding and harsh braking. With a vehicle Telematics system, transportation companies can easily monitor driving behavior and detect which activity causes unnecessary costs.
Installing GPS Telematics provides your transportation business with many benefits. With compact mobile devices, combined with the extensive coverage of today’s wireless networks, GPS Telematics enables users to track and monitor virtually anything; not just where cellular service is available, but anywhere. The result is improved security, productivity, and a superior customer experience.
Astreon Vehicle Telematics
Add Recurring Revenue to your existing business
Astreon is a global platform with Resellers, Partners, and Clients all over the world. 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.
How GPS Tracking can improve construction operations
GPS Tracking can be used in various industries and they take advantage of features of GPS Tracking. It not only tracks objects but also maximizes the productivity and efficiency of your vehicles and assets. Today GPS tracking services become a key management tool for the construction industry.
Why GPS Tracking for the construction industry?
Your equipment and vehicles are vital to your business. It is important to have all of them available and efficiently utilized. Without proper maintenance, your equipment can experience breakdowns. Without GPS Tracking, your business experiences missing equipment or theft, impacting productivity and safety. Here are factors construction industry can benefit from GPS tracking;
Monitor & track your assets
This is a major feature when it comes to GPS tracking. Literally, it tracks your assets and locates where your valuable assets are in real-time. If your asset is missing, you can track your asset using data sent by a GPS tracking tag.
Not only tracking your assets, but also monitoring your assets can increase security and reduce theft.
In fact, up to $1 billion in equipment, materials and appliances are stolen from construction sites every single year, and less than 25 percent is recovered, according to the National Equipment Register. With GPS tracking, any unauthorized movement or activity will be reported to you and you can act quickly.
Improve safety and save money
Working in the construction industry can be life-threatening. In fact, 20 percent of worker deaths in the United States are in construction according to the statistics from United States department of labor. GPS tracking devices play a huge role in preventing critical accidents and increase safety. GPS tracking devices can provide reports and notifications regarding the driving habits of their workers. It can also establish a baseline score across all drivers in your fleet based on their driving habits. It is an easy and intuitive way to provide coaching to your drivers by analyzing and highlighting the top critical events that contributed to their scores.
Here are statistics with regard to the medical costs and possible saving by coaching safety to construction workers;
Construction companies save $4 to $6 for every $1 invested in safety programs
In 2019, the average cost of a medically consulted injury was $42,000, while the average cost per death was $1,220,000
On average, construction companies spend 3.6 percent of their budgets on injuries, but only 2.6 percent on safety training
55 percent of workers believe they need more safety training, and 25 percent worry about being injured every day
Source: BIGRENTS
Safety can be improved by not only workers but also by the quality of equipment. Using GPS tracking comes with other benefits, such as capturing and reporting fuel information and comprehending equipment/vehicle’s life cycle.
Efficient use of equipment
Using equipment efficiently helps save money. When your heavy equipment is idling, it means you are losing profits and it results in increasing wear. According to On-Site, it says that “Manufacturer Komatsu estimates that an average machine’s idle time is 40 percent. It is estimated that an hour of idle time has the same impact on an engine as driving approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) because the combustion process is affected. Idling increases the likelihood of the oil temperature dropping below 100 C, which can cause water to build up and result in fuel dilution and increased acids, all of which accelerate engine wear.”(On-Site) .
GPS tracking software can provide a powerful dashboard to plan, control, and manage the costs of vehicle maintenance. Leverage those data, and you can reduce idling.
Astreon Asset Tracking for construction
Protect valuable fleet assets. Enhance asset management. Increase profitability.
Effective asset tracking gives businesses an advantage that propels them ahead of the competition. Astreon provides dynamic data including the location & status of assets in the field. Control every aspect of your equipment from maintenance to fuel management. Make use of cost-effective & reliable remote monitoring. Embrace flexibility and extensive support for a wide range of tailored devices & sensors.
Telematics can improve driver’s safety and retention during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Under uncertain circumstances due to COVID-19, strict restrictions have been imposed almost every month. This has huge impact on the transportation industry, especially long-haul drivers. Even though truck drivers are exempted from COVID-19 restrictions, they experience job stress from many sources. In addition, it is obvious that these COVID-19 restrictions accelerated their stress level too.
Truck driver shortage
North America is facing a serious shortage of truck drivers. According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), the shortage of truck driver was 60,800 and is estimated to reach 160,000 by 2028 in U.S. Whereas, Canada is expected to short 25,000 truck drivers by 2023 according to a study from Trucking HR Canada.
This estimated trend and the stressful environment caused by COVID-19 could accelerate the shortage of truck drivers and exacerbate disruptions to supply chains in near future.
What’s major stress factors for truck drivers
The stress factors for truck drivers range from a salary to pressure of on-time delivery.
The following are some stress factors for truck drivers;
- Long hours
- Tight deadlines
- Difficult weather
- Dangerous drivers
- Low salary
- Social isolation
- Distance from home
- Road rage and fear of violence
How telematics can improve driver’s health, safety and retention
There are 5 ways you can improve driver’s health, safety and retention aside from increasing salary.
- Monitor driver’s behavior
Monitoring driver’s behavior can prevent unnecessary accidents and train their behavior. With telematics, you can gain insight to reduce dangerous events, such as harsh breaking, speeding, reckless driving, and driver fatigue. A.I. dash camera are the best tool to detect potential unsafe habits and improve driver safety. They are equipped with sensors that can detect when drivers violate compliance like identifying driver fatigue. It will notify fleet Managers of unsafe behaviors like this to prevent unnecessary accidents.
Astreon’s latest A.I. Dash cameras can prevent pedestrian collisions, notify drivers of fatigue, lane departure, general collisions for distracted driving, and so much more. The benefit is not just after the fact coaching to prevent future incidents, but live and real time accident avoidance in the vehicle.
- HOS (Hours-of-service) compliance
HOS (Hours of service) are mandated rules referring to the maximum amount of time a commercial motor vehicle driver is permitted to be on duty including driving time, and length of rest periods to conduct the truck driver’s job safely.
(For more details about the HOS, check our blog: Hours of Service regulation changes. )
Using HOS brings your business huge benefits. Drivers receive alerts when they violate compliance, when to stop working/take rest. It helps drivers increase safety and your business saves time and money. It enables you to utilize resources effectively and optimize scheduling with powerful tools while many drivers are dealing with new restrictions and procedures.
Astreon ELD is a fully a fully compliant ELD solution for upcoming Canada, and US rule sets. Our solution enables carriers to be fully compliant with the mandate while staying adaptable with client needs and requests.
- Route optimization
Traffic delay and adverse roads under tight schedule are frustrating for drivers. The routes can change due to unpredicted weather and traffic incidents on the route. Knowing which routes are optimal is one of the important ways for fleet managers to reduce driver’s stress, delivery time and improve customer and driver’s satisfaction. In order to provide the best route to drivers, you need an advanced fleet management system offering the best routes based on the weather, traffic conditions and other factors.
Astreon’s fleet management can optimize routes to get your divers where they need to be faster & safer and complete more jobs within the same time period. Efficient routes also help by prolonging vehicle life span and eliminating unnecessary driving.
- Improve communication with drivers and provide better training
Accurate communication between dispatchers and drivers helps reduce human errors, save time and improve customer satisfaction. Poor communication regarding pay, home time, training, and performance can be one of the biggest sources of driver’s stress. To improve driver’s safety, health, and retention, fleet companies need to have advanced fleet management tools to assess driver’s performance, communicate with drivers effectively and train them by observing their driving behavior.
- Vehicle maintenance
Having well-maintenance vehicles keeps your drivers on schedule and helps them to complete their job on time. Planning routine maintenance like oil changes, repairs and reducing breakdowns will lead to driver’s productivity.
Astreon allows you to automate your regularly scheduled maintenance work by tracking vehicle operation in real time and by sending notifications to your team for a truly preventative and proactive approach. It is designed to control all types of jobs, services, and expenditures for parts, labor, vehicles, and even cost per mile so that you can maximize vehicles and drivers’ productivity.
Overall, telematics enables fleet organizations to have better insights to improve driver’s safety based on an advanced data. With this tool, fleet managers can control and manage everything, and it will result in improving driver’s satisfaction and retention.
Astreon Telematics
We offer GPS Fleet Management services to businesses throughout North America. With location and telematics-based solutions for vehicles of all shapes and sizes, equipment, high value assets, and valuable cargo. Our customers rely on our services daily as business process management tools and benefit from multiple add-on tools and applications such as Compliant ELD, Maintenance Management, Driver Coaching, Video Management Dashboard, KPI Management Dashboards, Logistics & Dispatch tools, and many more. Connect with us today to find out more about how Astreon can benefit your business.
5 ways to reduce fleet operational costs
Most Fleet Managers face difficulties reducing vehicle and equipment-based expenses, especially operational costs. Operating costs increase if you don’t know which factors cause the surge.
In 2019, the Avg. of marginal costs per mile incurred by motor carriers dropped 9.3% to $1.65 as the below table shows from ATRI;
Source: trucknews.com
The following image shows a quick overview on what the greatest operating costs for Fleets are by percentage.
Your operating costs may be like this, or you may not know the exact cost per item if you lack proper reporting tools.
Thanks to new technology and Artificial Intelligence, knowing the actual operational costs and predictive maintenance costs is a lot easier and much faster for Fleet Managers to make decisions when it comes to reducing Fleet operational costs.
Fleet Management platforms today provide Fleet Managers with full control of maintenance, safety, dispatch, and management of drivers’ workload.
By monitoring real-time data and driver behavior provided by a Fleet Management platform, you can pinpoint rising costs when they emerge and plan to reduce the operating costs.
5 ways to reduce Fleet Operational costs
Here are 5 ways to reduce Fleet operational costs with a Fleet Management system.
1. Optimize routes
Inefficient routes hugely affect your operation costs by consuming more fuel, reducing your Fleet’s productivity, and it also leads to delivery or service delays.
However, GPS Fleet Tracking provides you with optimal routes which help prolong vehicle life span and eliminating unnecessary driving time. Fuel costs are one of the largest factors in Fleet expenses. By providing an easy search of locations, you can reduce fuel utilization and fuel waste. The route optimization given by GPS Fleet Tracking helps on-time or quick delivery which can also improve customer service.
2. Assess Fleet costs
Understanding how much your operational costs per mile is critical to analyze which factor is causing more expense. You might get the number from profit/loss statements by comparing it with prior statements to see the overall expense trend. However, this method is not accurate and can be fluctuate depending on the needs if a given operation.
To examine your actual operating costs on a weekly or monthly basis, you need Fleet Management software to plan, control, and manage costs of operating costs. With the management tool, you can record all works, parts, and costs of each unit so the cost per mile of each unit can be calculated easily and accurately.
3. Educate drivers
Unsafe driving habits can have a huge impact on Fleet productivity and cost-efficiency. Reckless driving causes preventable accidents and unnecessary repairs. If your company is larger, managing all vehicles and drivers becomes much more complicated.
With Fleet Management software, it is simple to monitor your driver’s behavior in real time. Fleet Managers can also establish a baseline score across all drivers in your Fleet based on their driving habits. It is an easy and intuitive way to provide coaching to your drivers by analyzing and highlighting top critical events that contributed to their score. As the result, your operational costs will be optimized by improving engine idling, speeding, and other undesirable behaviors.
4. Reduce idling
Idling time attributes to one of the biggest unknown operating costs with unnecessary fuel consumed. According to Natural Resources Canada, idling Wastes Fuel and Money. For the average vehicle with a 3-litre engine, every 10 minutes of idling costs 300 milliliters (over 1 cup) in wasted fuel – and one half of a liter (over 2 cups) if your vehicle has a 5-litre engine. Unnecessary idling wastes fuel – and wasted fuel is wasted money. Average annual idling at 30 minutes per day, would cost a Fleet Owner $8,694 per year for a Fleet of 30 vehicles. That more than pays for the cost of implementing a Fleet Management solution, without considering any other ROI metrics.
5. Analyze Fleet lifecycle
If you know the best timing of maintenance, repairs, inspections, car washes, etc, you can prolong the lifespan of your vehicles without spending unnecessary costs. In addition, keeping your vehicles longer than necessary could cost you more than leasing new ones.
With a Fleet Management system, Fleet Managers can analyze and make key decisions on the timing of vehicles replacements by monitoring and Tracking data of Fleet maintenance, fuel usage, utility, vehicle wear, breakdown, accidents incurred by bad driving behavior.
We can help you
Astreon is one of the leading providers of solutions in the AVL/GPS Tracking industry. We are consistently introducing new wireless platforms, shaping the future, and changing the way people do business. Astreon provides you with the services and applications that you need to be more productive and responsive to today’s increasing industry demands.
We provide an accurate and affordable means of Tracking your workforce. With compact mobile devices, combined with the extensive coverage of today’s wireless networks, we enable users to track and monitor virtually anything; not just where cellular service is available, but anywhere you can see the sky. The result is improved security, productivity, and a superior customer experience. Today we offer GPS Fleet Management services to businesses throughout North America. We offer location and telematics-based solutions vehicles or all shapes and sizes, equipment, high-value assets, and valuable cargo.
Our customers rely on our services daily as business process management tools and benefit from multiple add-on tools and applications such as Compliant ELD, Maintenance Management, Driver Coaching, Video Management Dashboard, KPI Management Dashboards, Logistics & Dispatch tools, and many more. Connect with us today to find out more about how Astreon can benefit your business.
Contact us today!
Tel: +1 (888) 647-4730
Email: sales@astreon.com
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