Table of Content
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What is fleet management?
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What does a fleet manager do?
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What are the benefits of fleet management?
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Use of large-scale data (Big Data)
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Conclusions.
What is Fleet Management?
Fleet management within a field of road transport is defined as the process adopted by fleet managers for the design of a strategy aimed at maximizing safety, efficiency and productivity in the organization and daily management of commercial vehicles, trailers, loads and drivers.
Frequently, the above objectives are achieved thanks to the combination of the following elements:
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Real-time information on the location and status of vehicles and goods.
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Driver behaviour monitoring.
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Information on fuel consumption.
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Preventive management of vehicle maintenance.
The fleet manager is the person in charge of ensuring the correct performance of these activities and his position involves managing a series of key processes and tasks to achieve logistical and business objectives.
Companies and managers often use solutions thatcombine technological and human factors, to achieve improved efficiency and reduced operating costs.
What Does a Fleet Manager Do?
A fleet manager is generally in charge of the following tasks:
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Fleet Monitoring (Tracking): the tracking of the fleet is essential to guarantee the safety of cargo and drivers, as well as to be able to act in the event of unforeseen events that force to modify the optimal transport route. Fleet managers use GPS and IoT technologies to achieve the maximum possible visibility on operations, safety and the status of vehicles.
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Data analysis: analysing key data for performance, allows fleet managers to make both strategic decisions for the medium and long term, as well as tactics, the latter aimed at the shorter term. The analysis of the behaviour of drivers, to determine training needs aimed at achieving a reduction in the cost of fuel, would be an example of a strategic decision, resulting from the analysis of information provided by the fleet management system. While the adjustment of a route plan, in response to an incident on the road that could affect delivery time, would fit within the tactical decisions that data analysis allows us to make.
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Compliance with drivers 'working hours: within the functions of the fleet manager, it is also to ensure that the recording of drivers' working hours is processed correctly by the tachograph, in accordance with the applicable regulations in each case.
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Vehicle Purchase: planning the purchase of new vehicles is generally the responsibility of the fleet manager. The acquisition needs to be evaluated and predicted through the analysis of information, to determine the possible need for new vehicles in the more or less near future. Additionally, it is necessary to determine the most convenient acquisition method (buy or lease), based on the market situation and business objectives.
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Driver safety: one of the great challenges for fleet managers is to ensure safe driving behaviour on the part of drivers, who, logically, will be at a certain distance and in almost constant movement. Here again, the use of tracking technologies, along with the use of cameras, will go a long way in gaining real-time visibility of vehicles and drivers. Information that may also be used later in the design of specific training plans.
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Driver retention: preventing driver shortages is also an element to be managed by the fleet manager. The design of driver loyalty strategies is essential to ensure that the business always has the best professionals. Here the use of internal information collection channels, and ideally anonymized, complement the personnel management actions. Facilitating reinforcement in the relationship with drivers and their job satisfaction.
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Total cost reduction: in a sector with low margins such as freight and passenger transport, cost management becomes critical. The fleet manager needs to draw up a plan to minimize costs while maximizing productivity.
In short, the fleet manager is an indispensable professional for most companies in
the logistics and transport sector (whether for goods or passengers). Professionals dedicated to this function need both knowledge within the logistics and transportation area, as well as skills for data analysis, the use of monitoring tools and people management.
What Are The Benefits of Fleet Management?
The main benefits that intelligent fleet management brings are cost reduction and productivity improvement. However, we have to differentiate between business objectives in the short, medium and long term. From this point of view, the main benefit of fleet management lies in the possibility of generating a sustainable competitive advantage, as a consequence of the improvements derived from the processes involved in it.
The individual improvements that lead to the generation of this competitive advantage are the following:
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A reduction in fuel consumption.
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A more efficient cost distribution.
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Improvements in the safety of drivers, vehicles and cargo.
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Better optimized delivery routes and the possibility of updating routes in the event of unforeseen events.
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Two-way communication between drivers and managers is improved.
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Improvements in the talent retention ratios in the company.
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Vehicle performance is improved thanks to preventive maintenance.
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Finally, customer satisfaction and brand image are reinforced.
Use of Large-Scale Data (Big Data)
Large-scale data (Big Data) instantly provides fleet managers with information about their drivers, trucks and trailers through an on-board computer, telematics devices and connected software solutions. They collect all the information about your fleet, process and analyse it.
What is the end result? Practical information on issues such as:
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Driver performance.
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Fuel consumption.
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Profitable routes.
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Operational costs.
Through all this data, you can easily prepare reports for shareholders, detect problems and plan training actions to combat any problems. For example, TX-FUELCOMPASS is a software solution that uses large-scale data analysis (Big Data) to process large amounts of information about fleet fuel and refuelling costs.
Comprehensive visualization and analysis allow you to suggest cost-effective refuelling procedures based on past performance.
Conclusions:
Fleet management tools provide visibility into vehicles and their status, as well as real-time information on performance indicators. For this reason, most fleet managers already use solutions that help them maximize productivity, efficiency and safety. Key pieces in any winning fleet management strategy. Our developers at
HData Systems can assist you with excellent fleet management solutions.
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Harnil Oza is a CEO of HData Systems - Data Science Company & Hyperlink InfoSystem a top mobile app development company in Canada, USA, UK, and India having a team of best app developers who deliver best mobile solutions mainly on Android and iOS platform and also listed as one of the top app development companies by leading research platform.
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