zest : track article base
This is one of a selection of general interest articles relating to the application of GPS tracking.
To find out more about how Zest Tracking helps its clients to exploit GPS tracking, whether it is for vehicle tracking, mobile phone, or Blackberry tracking or dedicated tracking units please explore the rest of this site, or contact us for an informal discussion
What our clients say...
"
It is comforting to know that my support team knows where I am continuously.
I drive thousands of miles alone to remote rural locations in all weathers but I can be confident that if anything untoward were to happen then my progress could be retraced and appropriate action taken"
Julia Scott, Sports Nutritionist, Equestrian World Class Programme Read More...
Vehicle Tracking
Fleet Tracking: Examples of Real Life Business Benefits
Everyone will agree that GPS vehicle tracking is an interesting application, that can provide a company's management with detailed and up-to-date information on their fleet, but many will ask themselves what actual value it can deliver to the bottom line.
This article takes a look at just three examples of published case studies related to GPS vehicle tracking to illustrate how different types of business that rely of road transport have themselves stated that they gain real business benefit simply through being able to make use of the information arising from GPS vehicle tracking systems in their wider operations.
Track Your Fleet of Vehicles
Zest : trak™ enables you to keep updated on your vehicle's whereabouts with our dedicated Fleet Vehicle Tracking solution.
Read more about our Vehicle Tracking Solutions
The first example relates to a typical small business that has around half a dozen engineers who maintain heating systems around the local region.
Even with a relatively small fleet of six vehicles it was clear that improvements in its management could be made. Keeping track of vehicles and allocation of jobs was time consuming relying on regular calls in and out of the office. Emergency call-outs required calls to every engineer to determine the most appropriate response. Scheduling involved a degree of guesswork and paper based management information records were difficult to maintain.
The adoption of GPS vehicle tracking enabled the business to make immediate savings. Initial savings stemmed from reduced private usage. Now, 18 months on, fuel bills have on average more than halved. In addition, the comprehensive reporting made possible has made compliance with VAT regulations and business planning straightforward. In terms of customer service and efficiency savings, just having reliable information about each engineers location makes emergency call-out management much more effective than previously possible.
A second example relates to a regional distribution business. Again the immediate benefit was found to be a saving in fuel. On fuel savings alone, the return on investment was four-fold - after three months the system had paid for itself for the whole year. Moreover, the effect on management was significant. In this case the company tracked the vans to each and every stop they made and from that they could see where they encroached on each others' areas. As a result, workload is now balanced across drivers, vehicles and postcodes in order ensure that working time is fairly distributed and mileage is accrued evenly across the leased fleet.
The third example is for a medium sized road haulier with a fleet of around 50 trucks. Here the challenges for the transport management team include compliance with limited drivers' hours, the need to maximise vehicle usage whilst reducing fuel costs and overheads
With fleet tracking now operational, customers are kept up to speed with accurate arrival estimates and the system helps with planning; driving time, wasted fuel and inaccurate overtime payments have all been reduced, making the best use of the entire fleet. Even small reductions in mileage can deliver a significant saving when a vehicle does just six to eight miles to the gallon.
So, from these three very diverse examples of real case studies, ranging from a small fleet of vans up to a large fleet of HGV trucks, to common themes emerge.
Firstly, all cases report a significant saving in fuel expenditure - and that saving in itself far outweighs the running costs of the tracking system used. Secondly, each business in its own way has found it relatively straightforward to improve their overall operational efficiency through applying the additional knowledge that fleet tracking can deliver, to either working more efficiently or delivering enhanced customer service.