Rocky Mountain Tracking

By Greg Bartlett

Whether your fleet has three vehicles or three hundred, managing them and ensuring that you know where each vehicle is and what each driver is doing can be a huge headache. You try to streamline the process as much as possible, but sometimes you wonder if your drivers are being completely honest with you. Did the trip really take that long, or did the driver take an unauthorized stop along the way? Are the drivers taking the most efficient routes, or just the ones they know best?

GPS fleet tracking can provide you with the answers you need and a solution to make managing your fleet easier. A GPS fleet tracking unit in your vehicle would permit you to monitor its location, speed, stops, and even the vehicle’s condition. You might be surprised at the amount of information that the GPS tracking unit will give you.

For instance, if your drivers are taking extra long lunch breaks, using company vehicles during unauthorized times or for unauthorized stops, or are driving outside predetermined boundaries – known as geo-fences – and are thus wasting time and resources, the GPS unit will let you know. Driving habits can also be monitored. If you see that an employee is driving like he’s in a tiny sports car while driving a tractor trailer truck on a mountain road, you can stop his erratic behavior before he damages anyone or any company property. The GPS tracking unit will even alert you if the vehicle’s speed exceeds a preset limit.

GPS fleet tracking can provide you with automatic updates when a stop is made and a delivery or pickup, for instance, is accomplished. Furthermore, the GPS unit will allow you to monitor your vehicles’ mechanical condition and will alert you if a vehicle needs maintenance. You can also use GPS tracking to see if your drivers are taking the most efficient routes. Many companies which have started tracking their fleets have seen increases in customer satisfaction and productivity and decreases in gas expenses, for instance, because they have been able to find the best routes for drivers to take. In addition, GPS units have an extra bonus – if a vehicle is stolen, you can use the GPS tracking information to recover the vehicle.

With GPS fleet tracking, you’ll be able to manage your fleet more effectively than ever, monitoring your vehicles’ locations and activities, and you’ll increase profits by saving time, increasing efficiency, and reducing expenses.

By Greg Bartlett

Cross-country merchandise transportation can be a risky business. Shipping large quantities of goods from place to place carries with it the inherent risk of theft, accidental loss or delay. Yet shipping by tractor-trailor remains a necessity for many businesses. In order to ensure efficient shipping as well as asset protection, fleet managers are increasingly looking to GPS vehicle tracking.

GPS vehicle tracking allows fleet managers to keep an eye on each vehicle as it travels across town or across the country. A transmitter placed in the vehicle sends signals to a computer or receiving device which allows location to be monitored in real time. Data can also be viewed in the form of reports over time. Not only does this allow monitoring of a driver’s efficiency on the job, but it also allows current information and scheduling updates to be provided to customers.

Many GPS vehicle tracking models provide much more information than simple location. Fleet managers can also save money for the company by monitoring fuel usage, idle times, stops, and speed of travel. If, for instance, a driver leaves his truck idling while he’s making deliveries, a manager could take note and address the problem. Unnecessary stops and personal detours could be eliminated, saving the company money by conserving not only fuel, but also man hours.

Companies who have implemented GPS vehicle tracking as part of their fleet management program have reported annual cost savings in the thousands. In these tough economic times, every penny saved makes a difference in company effectiveness. By encouraging employees to be more efficient with their time and to put better driving habits into practice, companies can realize enormous benefits. They can also promote a healthier environment by conserving fuel. Employees who know their movements are monitored will take fewer detours and will not leave the engine idling during a lunch break or while unloading cargo. Companies can make clear to their employees what actions are desirable to promote responsible driving practices.

Managers who have come to depend on GPS vehicle tracking find it hard to manage a fleet of vehicles efficiently without it. No longer must they rely on guesswork or the reports turned in by employees who may forget to record mileage, neglect to mention a personal sideline, or take longer than necessary on a job. They can have all of this information at their fingertips. They can also help drivers by encouraging them to map out the most direct route to a destination, saving time and money across the board. Each time mileage is reduced, fuel is conserved or a driver’s time is used more efficiently, the company as a whole profits. By the end of the year, it could be the factor that saves the business.

by James Neely, freelance writer: click | HERE | to inquire about writing services

There are certain things that fleet operations must do in order to be successful and maintain profitability.  These principles must be incorporated in a daily pursuit of excellence as they try to meet and exceed customer expectations.  These methods are all included in the singular action of implementing a GPS Tracking system.

Here are the five ways that fleet management operations will benefit from GPS Tracking.

Monitoring Driver Safety

Good drivers are hard to find.  And, even when they are, it is only human nature to take advantage (even just a little bit) of the rules and laws in order to get the job done quicker.  With GPS Tracking, drivers are held to the standards in a closer manner.  It is no doubt that when people are being watched, they change their behavior.  Fleet drivers are no different.

Monitoring Moving Violations

Speeding, unsafe lane changes, lack of signaling, and other infractions of posted traffic laws gets drivers in trouble, and puts your business at risk.  And, that does not include the fact that they put the public in danger as well.  These types of activities need to be addressed and monitored daily.  Notifying your employees of the existence of GPS Tracking devices is a judgment call, but once they find out that they exist, it will affect how they work and acts of indiscretion will dwindle.

Monitoring Performance

How are your drivers doing in getting to their appointed stops?  Are they consistently late and always blaming traffic?  Do you suspect that they are taking too long at stops or are making unauthorized stops along their routes?  Now you can know, and you can make changes in schedules when there are real problems with getting routes completed in a timely fashion.

Monitoring Schedules

Making sure that schedules are realistic will help you insure that your customers are happy with their service level.  Watching for pick-ups and deliveries as they come in and making instant changes in schedules based on what vehicle is closest helps you cement your commitment to service in the eyes of your customers.

Monitoring Legal Support

When you need to verify driver actions which can mean the difference between a happy client, and having a judgment filed against your company is an important business activity.  A GPS Tracking system will provide you with court-admissible evidence that can show compliance with laws and contracts.

Making GPS Tracking a part of your fleet business is like having a silent partner that keeps you in line and on the road to profitability.  Get one today and watch it go to work for you.

By Greg Bartlett

Because of the current economy, most individuals and companies are searching for ways to save money and reduce spending. That may mean trying to cut back on fuel costs, taking fewer trips if possible, or reducing travel time. For companies who use fleets, however, these options may not always seem sensible. After all, you have to send your vehicles out in order to keep the company in business, and you already have the vehicles being as efficient as possible, right?

Fleet of Delivery Trucks Utilize GPS

Maybe, but maybe not. Companies who have started using GPS fleet tracking have discovered that they can often save money by cutting fuel costs, finding more efficient routes, eliminating unauthorized use of company vehicles, reducing extra stops or long stops, and keeping up on vehicle maintenance. Even if the company thought it was being efficient before, GPS fleet tracking helped save the company money and more than paid for the expense of purchasing the GPS units.

For instance, GPS tracking devices can help your drivers determine the most efficient routes. While cutting off a couple miles on one driver’s trip may not seem like much, when you multiply it by the entire fleet, you have saved quite a bit of money in fuel costs and time. Furthermore, with GPS fleet tracking, you can determine where each of your vehicles is, and if someone calls in and needs your company to pick up something, you can find the best vehicle to send and can find the fastest routes to and from the additional stop.

Since GPS tracking can tell you where each of your vehicles is, what stops it made, how long the stops were, and how fast the vehicle was going, you can determine if drivers are taking much too long on lunch breaks or are making unauthorized stops. You can also determine if your vehicles are being driven responsibly and can even correct things like sudden acceleration and breaking, which wear out brakes and reduce fuel efficiency. Many GPS tracking devices will even monitor the vehicle’s mechanical condition, letting you keep track of its maintenance needs and fixing things before they become a problem.

Saving your company money and making your fleet more efficient is possible, no matter how efficient your company is right now. GPS fleet tracking will help you to monitor you fleet and to find ways to make your company more profitable. Even if it’s many small things, they can add up to save your company thousands of dollars a year.

By Greg Bartlett

No matter whether your fleet consists of cars, tractor trailer trucks, taxis, emergency vehicles, buses, or construction vehicles, keeping track of your fleet is important. You have to know where your vehicles are in order to be effective, efficient, and, of course, profitable. It won’t help your delivery company if your trucks are taking longer routes than necessary, and not knowing where your emergency vehicles are could risk people’s lives.

Fleet Management

One of the best ways to keep track of your fleet is with GPS fleet tracking, which will give you the precise location of each vehicle of your fleet. You can use the GPS data to find the most efficient routes, cut fuel costs, eliminate unnecessary stops and unauthorized use of company vehicles, and even to prevent theft.

A delivery company is using GPS fleet tracking to discover each vehicle’s movements, finding and correcting inefficiencies. GPS tracking can also help the company keep customers happy, updating them if the delivery will be late or early and providing customers with a much more accurate delivery time. Furthermore, the GPS tracking permits the company to find the best routes, adding stops if necessary by locating the nearest vehicle to the stop and making necessary adjustments.

Some emergency vehicles, such as patrol cars and ambulances, are being equipped with GPS fleet tracking so that dispatchers can find the nearest vehicle to send to an emergency site. The quicker the vehicle arrives, the more likely any victims will be saved, so the dispatchers need to know where each vehicle is and be able to send it to the site immediately.

A construction company has recently put GPS tracking in its vehicles and equipment, allowing it not only to cut fuel costs and monitor its equipment, but also to track items if they are stolen. The GPS system will even notify the company if the tracked item leaves certain boundaries, which permits the company to alert police almost immediately if a vehicle or piece of equipment is stolen.

The advantages of GPS vehicle tracking for your fleet could go on and on. Panic buttons for the drivers in case of emergency, for instance, are another popular and helpful option. Your priority is to manage your fleet effectively while finding the most efficient routes, locating the nearest vehicles, and reducing fuel costs and extra stops. GPS fleet tracking will help you monitor and manage your fleet, reduce theft, and increase profits.

By Greg Bartlett

When it comes to managing fleets of vehicles, speed, efficiency, and reliability are indispensable attributes if you want to have a successful business. If you are the manager of a fleet of vehicles you want to know how productive your drivers are being. Factors such as how much wear they’re placing on the vehicles, how long and how frequent their stops and breaks are, and how direct their routes are all make a big difference on how much money your drivers could be losing or saving you. With so much at stake financially, many fleet managers are turning to GPS vehicle tracking systems to help keep tabs on their drivers.

Fleet Tracking is the Way to Go!

Basically, a GPS vehicle tracking system utilizes satellite feeds to give an exact location of any vehicle in your fleet, no matter where they may wind up. This means that at any given moment if you want to know where a vehicle of yours is you can find out! Not only does a vehicle tracking system display current location, it will keep a record of the entire history of the route. This can be a very helpful feature when planning the most efficient routes for the next departure.

Besides giving detailed information about location, vehicle tracking systems offer alert features that can notify a fleet manager of any problems with a vehicle or driver. For instance, you can set a maximum speed for you drivers to go and when a driver exceeds that limit you will receive a computer notification. Also, you can view notifications about when a driver began for the day and when he stopped for the night. This information is helpful for finding out just how much work a driver is getting in, and what he may using the vehicle for when not on route.

There are other great benefits to using a vehicle tracking system. Several are customer service related. Your clients can be assured that you are monitoring all activity with your fleet, and if a dispute occurs concerning a pickup or delivery, having a record of the route taken may clear you of any liabilities. There are also several benefits to the drivers. One being that if a driver were to get lost in route, a dispatcher who knew his exact location would be better able to help get him back on the right path.

There are many other positives to implementing a vehicle tracking system, but to sum it up peace of mind and large financial savings are what makes equipping a fleet of vehicles with a GPS an absolute must for fleet managers today.

by James Neely - freelance writer for hire

Now, more than ever, close tracking of a fleet of vehicles is not just a nice thing to do, but is a major activity that will help reduce costs. While fuel costs remain a concern (with uncertainty as to whether they will go up or not), maintenance costs are also eating into budgets and reducing profits.

That is why GPS fleet management is the best solution for your company vehicles. These devices installed on each vehicle provide a measure of control over the information that is critical in the scheduling of maintenance.

The overriding measure of maintenance needs on a vehicle is mileage. While fleet drivers can be required to bring in the mileage reading of the vehicle in question, the consistency in doing so often lacks. But even more than this, if fleet vehicles are scattered over a wide area it makes it even more difficult to gather that information.

What if you could perform closer monitoring of your fleet from one central location and be able to track closely the number of miles driven which will trigger maintenance alerts?

You can with a GPS fleet management system. Adding device to each vehicle will allow you to track location, direction of travel, and even speed. Imagine being able to counsel your fleet drivers on maintaining adherence to speed limits and other driving laws. Not only does it help save lives and reduce moving violations, but it keeps wear and tear on a vehicle at a lower level. And that saves money.

Driver awareness of an active program such as one that can be implemented with a GPS fleet management system will help them become better drivers and employees as well. And, if not, they can be weeded out from your team and replaced with those who value the same things.

The other benefits surround the success of your business with regard to fleet routing and scheduling. Your operations can closely monitor the routes of your drivers and make changes that can help them do their job better which increases customer satisfaction.

A GPS fleet management system is inexpensive, easy to administer and provides so many benefits that there are no valid reasons to keep from implementing it into your operations. You save money by performing scheduled maintenance on your vehicles on time, lower fuel costs by closely monitoring driver behavior and by reducing insurance premiums.

Now more than ever, the time is right for GPS fleet management systems.

By James Neely

In the GPS Tracking systems offered by RM Tracking, you will find a very valuable web-based software called NavIQ. This software is what allows you to track your assets as they are ‘on the move.’ The ability to pan, zoom, and provide 3D perspectives and fly-over routing makes this software worth gold to your operations. Not only that, it is available for use in over 56 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.

GPS Tracking Software

Here are some of the benefits of these systems:

Trip playback. Monitoring daily activities of your fleet is possible on a map and in text format. This is great for verification purposes and allows you to provide evidentiary support for business activities.

Event overlay. Enhance the safety of your operations with event flagging for items such as ‘overspeed.’ This helps keep your drivers aware and responsible as they perform their duties.

Custom reporting. No software updates are required for making new reports because of the ‘hybrid-web’ technology. Using reports in your business helps you deliver greater customer satisfaction. Imagine being able to submit an invoice with a backup report attached that shows details of activities performed. You will find that customers will appreciate that level of service and it will come to be expected. It is one thing that will help separate you and your competition.

Robust I/O Support. These systems provide an additional value in the ability to send email alerts related to an I/O event.

Geofencing. No, this is not a new Olympics event. This provides the ability to set boundaries in a geophysical area on a map in order to detect violations of those boundaries. Keeping fleets in their areas is important and provides evidence of compliance to rules as well.

User-defined grouping and status codes. Built into this system is the ability for the end user to establish groups and status codes. Your fleets can be logically grouped or sorted based on a number of user-specified criteria. For example, if you have multiple ‘teams’ of deliver operations, you can assign each unit to a team and monitor the group from that perspective.

Allows third-party development and IT staff. The NavIQ Developer Services allow in-house customization in capturing and using real-time data directly from our servers which is then delivered in popular formats of either XML/SOAP, .Net web services, etc. This allows larger operations to build interfaces and displays that meet their specific needs and thereby deliver better customer service at the same time.

There is so much more, but suffice it to say that GPS Tracking systems that are fully integrated into your business operations gives you control like you have never had before. And, you will begin to realize that using the system is no longer an option, it becomes the very lifeline of your business. Make it yours today.

By James Neely

The trend toward creating a ‘green’ environment in which businesses and individuals strive to use less of the earth’s resources and be conservative in the ones that we do use is prevalent right now.

Go Green

The debates about the validity of some of the tenants of living or working with a ‘green’ mindset will wage on but it still is wise to get involved because it can help your company save money. That advantage alone is worth the effort. And if it helps with the environment at the same time, then, all the better.

A GPS Tracking system can help you ‘green up’ your fleet operations in this way:

Reduce fuel and maintenance costs. With the cost per vehicle estimated at about $1.50 per mile, you can see that this is an area that can use additional oversight in order to reduce those costs. Fuel and maintenance are based on the number of miles driven, but there is also another issue and that is the idling of engines during stops. Discussions wage as to how much fuel is wasted and pollution pumped into the air we breathe, but it is worth making the effort to shut down engines during deliveries, pickups and other stoppages.

Eliminates paper waste. Online reporting creates the ability to see and monitor activity. Reports can be generated which are then electronically transferred and distributed based on need. This keeps paper waste to a minimum. Print outs can be relegated only to billing needs and or verification needs in case of litigation or proof of performance questions.

Reduces excessive and unnecessary driving. By monitoring the routes and driving habits of fleet drivers, companies can make sure that as few miles as is necessary are driven which saves fuel and maintenance costs as mentioned above. Also, drivers can be monitored for unauthorized trips in company vehicles.

Sets geofencing borders. Keeping a fleet within ‘green’ borders established by service area helps reduce waste as well. Having the ability to re-route vehicles based on who is closest to a location further enforces the ‘green’ mentality.

Gains in environmental responsibility are achieved one step at a time. There are those who participate with no apparent effect from a positive standpoint at all. But the bigger picture must prevail; any and all conservative efforts are to be rewarded no matter how small or seeming insignificant. (GPS tracking) systems can be a major player in helping reach the goals for a ‘greener’ tomorrow – today.

All of us need to be concerned with doing what we can do preserve our planet and the environment, but if you operate a business that is specifically tied to environmental issues, you have to be even more concerned.

Yes, the idea of being “green” gets tossed around so much it is in danger of becoming a cliche, but you shouldn’t let this stop you from doing all that you can to be energy efficient. The cars and trucks that we drive do use a lot of fuel and emit a lot of toxins into the air.

No one is asking you to give up cars altogether or that you make your employees walk everywhere they need to go to conduce business, but you can make better use of your company’s vehicles. By using GPS vehicle tracking, you can streamline routes and make sure that your company vehicles are not being used wastefully.

Any driving habits that waste gas also waste money and can contribute to environmental damage.. A GPS tracking device can alert you to the amount of time your drivers spend idling and speeding and to the number of sudden stops they make. Granted, they may be doing some of these things with the idea that they are being efficient and getting the job done. And if tasks are being completed within a reasonable time frame, you may never be aware of the fuel being wasted or the amount of carbons being emitted. And just think: the wasteful habits of one driver are multiplied many times over if you have a large fleet of vehicles. Installing GPS tracking devices on the vehicles that you and others in your business or household drive could really be an eye-opener.

It is hard to count your footsteps if you don’t know where you are going. A GPS tracking device can provide a comprehensive record of where your employees are going and when. There are times when you think that you are sending people out on the most expedient routes and really you are not. It is not just the roads they take that matter, but also the time. There are certain times of the day when it doesn’t make sense to take certain highways. GPS tracking devices  can give you the information you need to make changes that will not only be better for the environment, but better for your bottom line as well.