Saving Cost With Vehicle Tracking, Mapping & Routing
September 21, 2007 – 8:43 pmA friend of mine, Poh, runs his family hauling company in Penang. If I mention the name of his company you would probably remember seeing one of his haulers plying the roads from Thailand to Singapore. Yes, his fleet is HUGE! I visited him at his office a year ago and he told me that he tracks his fleet of vehicles via GPS. It is quite interesting when you can see your vehicles as little moving dots on the screen. He showed me how everything works and why he implemented GPS tracking for his vehicles.
According to Poh, with GPS tracking and routing, the company managed to save on fuel due to routing efficiencies, save on labor for without having to pay errant drivers or at least dock their pay and have less speeding tickets to settle. As his vehicles run 24 hours a day, it is also important to keep each vehicle in sight in case it is involved in an accident or in case of a vehicle breakdown.
This morning, I was introduced to a company that provides GPS tracking, routing, navigating and mapping. However, this company, GPS Insight is based in the United States and is more technologically advanced. Besides, they are using their hardware technology together with Google Earth and Google Sky. From reading the Wiki of GPS Insight, I get to understand in depth how this company works.
A client is provided with hardware to install in the diagnostic port of the engine of his fleet of vehicles. Compared to other GPS services company where they make clients wait for weeks or months before the tracking set up is ready, clients of GPS Insight can begin tracking their vehicles just one or two days after installation. At an average cost of $1.50 to $2 per vehicle per day, GPS Insight is relatively cheaper than other companies offering similar services and definitely more cost effective than what Poh has.
It is interesting to note that GPS Insight is the only company that could obtain direct engine diagnostics and this is due to their hardware that plugs into the diagnostic port of the vehicle. With this alone, GPS Insight has an added advantage over its competitors.
From talking with Poh previously, there are not many companies using GPS technology yet but it should be made compulsory in vehicle management especially for companies with long haul vehicles running non stop. And I can see why.
Interestingly, I found the GPS Insight Blog while surfing GPS Insight. Although it is still new, I believe that it will soon be filled with more informative posts in the near future. Check out GPS Insight for more information on how GPS technology works and if it will help your company.
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