Fleet management
Encyclopedia
Fleet management is the management of a company's vehicle
fleet
.
Fleet management includes commercial motor vehicle
s such as car
s, van
s and truck
s. Fleet (vehicle) management can include a range of functions, such as vehicle financing, vehicle maintenance, vehicle telematics (tracking and diagnostics), driver management, speed management, fuel management and health and 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 and staff 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 grow from 1.5 million units in 2009 to 4 million in 2014. Even though the overall penetration level is just a few percent, some segments such as road transport will attain adoption rates above 30 percent.
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 GLONASS
or a Cellular
triangulation
platform. Once vehicle location, direction and speed are determined from the GPS components, additional tracking capabilities transmit this information to a fleet management software application. Methods for data transmission include both terrestrial and satellite. Satellite tracking communications, while more expensive, are critical if vehicle tracking is to work in remote environments without interruption. Users can see actual, real-time locations of their fleet on a map. This is often used to quickly respond on events in the field.
, and gather data for the user. Details such as mileage and fuel consumption
are gathered into a global statistics scheme....
.
New platform, based on Fleet management software
, is fleet controlling
with higher amount of information available for both drivers and dispatchers of a fleet. At this time (2010) online software platforms are very popular: users no longer have to install software and they can access the software through a web browser.
booking.
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.
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.
Directors and business owners may not be aware that privately owned vehicles used for business journeys are treated exactly the same as company owned vehicles. Directors have an equal responsibility under the law to ensure these vehicles are also roadworthy and correctly insured.
It is vital that every company has a ‘Driving at Work’ policy in place covering every element of their business vehicle operation, no matter how few vehicles are involved and who owns them. Every employee driving for business be required to sign up to the policy. In this way the directors can reduce the risk of being prosecuted and a possible custodial sentence.
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
fleet
Fleet vehicles
Fleet vehicles are groups of motor vehicles owned or leased by a business or government agency, rather than by an individual or family. Typical examples are vehicles operated by car rental companies, taxicab companies, public utilities, public bus companies, and police departments...
.
Fleet management includes commercial motor vehicle
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...
s such as car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s, van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
s and truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
s. Fleet (vehicle) management can include a range of functions, such as vehicle financing, vehicle maintenance, vehicle telematics (tracking and diagnostics), driver management, speed management, fuel management and health and 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
Productivity
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input...
and reducing their overall transportation and staff 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
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
will grow from 1.5 million units in 2009 to 4 million in 2014. 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
See more: Vehicle tracking systemVehicle tracking system
A vehicle tracking system combines the installation of an electronic device in a vehicle, or fleet of vehicles, with purpose-designed computer software at least at one operational base to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle's location, collecting data in the process from the...
The most basic function in all fleet management systems, is the vehicle tracking
Vehicle tracking system
A vehicle tracking system combines the installation of an electronic device in a vehicle, or fleet of vehicles, with purpose-designed computer software at least at one operational base to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle's location, collecting data in the process from the...
component. This component is usually GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
-based, but sometimes it can be based on GLONASS
GLONASS
GLONASS , acronym for Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema or Global Navigation Satellite System, is a radio-based satellite navigation system operated for the Russian government by the Russian Space Forces...
or a Cellular
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...
platform. Once vehicle location, direction and speed are determined from the GPS components, additional tracking capabilities transmit this information to a fleet management software application. Methods for data transmission include both terrestrial and satellite. Satellite tracking communications, while more expensive, are critical if vehicle tracking is to work in remote environments without interruption. Users can see actual, real-time locations of their fleet on a map. This is often used to quickly respond on events in the field.
Mechanical diagnostics
Advanced fleet management systems can connect to the vehicle's onboard computerEngine Control Unit
An engine control unit is a type of electronic control unit that determines the amount of fuel, ignition timing and other parameters an internal combustion engine needs to keep running...
, and gather data for the user. Details such as mileage and fuel consumption
Fuel economy in automobiles
Fuel usage in automobiles refers to the fuel efficiency relationship between distance traveled by an automobile and the amount of fuel consumed....
are gathered into a global statistics scheme....
Driver behavior
By combining received data from the vehicle tracking system and the on-board computer, it is possible to form a profile for any given driverDriver
-Surnames of people:* Alexander Gooch and Alice Driver , English Protestant martyrs* Andrew Driver , English professional footballer* Betty Driver , English singer, actress and author...
.
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 functions such as driver and 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.New platform, based on Fleet management software
Fleet management software
Fleet management software is computer software that enables people to accomplish a series of specific tasks in the management of any or all aspects relating to a fleet of vehicles operated by a company, government, or other organisation. These specific tasks encompass all operations from vehicle...
, is fleet controlling
Fleet controlling
Fleet Controlling is a new platform of telematic systems for wagon-vehicle and mobile equipment that allows service for back-office management in any company...
with higher amount of information available for both drivers and dispatchers of a fleet. At this time (2010) online software platforms are very popular: users no longer have to install software and they can access the software through a web browser.
Management of ships
Fleet management also refers to the management of ships while at sea. Shipping fleet management contracts 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 cargoCargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
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.
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. 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 then 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.
Duty of care
In the UK, in April 2008, the Corporate Manslaughter Act was strengthened to target company directors as well as their drivers in cases of road deaths involving vehicles used on business. The Police have said they now treat every road death as ‘an unlawful killing’ and have the power to seize company records and computers during their investigations. They will bring prosecutions against company directors who fail to provide clear policies and guidance for their employees driving at work.Directors and business owners may not be aware that privately owned vehicles used for business journeys are treated exactly the same as company owned vehicles. Directors have an equal responsibility under the law to ensure these vehicles are also roadworthy and correctly insured.
It is vital that every company has a ‘Driving at Work’ policy in place covering every element of their business vehicle operation, no matter how few vehicles are involved and who owns them. Every employee driving for business be required to sign up to the policy. In this way the directors can reduce the risk of being prosecuted and a possible custodial sentence.
See also
- Fleet telematics
- Fleet trackingFleet TrackingFleet tracking is the use of GPS technology to identify, locate and maintain contact reports with one or more fleet vehicles in real-time. Immediate access to the location history of individual fleet vehicles allows precisely time-managed, current and forward journey planning, responsive to...
- GPS trackingGPS trackingA GPS tracking unit is a device that uses the Global Positioning System to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record the position of the asset at regular intervals...
- Satellite tracking
- TelematicsTelematicsTelematics typically is any integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as ICT...
- National Association of Fleet AdministratorsNational Association of Fleet AdministratorsThe National Association of Fleet Administrators, Inc. is a not-for-profit, individual membership professional society for professionals who manage fleets of automobiles, SUVs, trucks, vans, and a wide range of specialized mobile equipment for organizations in the United States and...
- Vehicle remarketingVehicle remarketingVehicle remarketing is the controlled disposal of fleet and leasing vehicles that have reached the end of their fixed lease term.In vehicle leasing, after the lease expires, the lessee either returns the vehicle to the supplier or buys it...