Capital Equipment News July 2018

UD Telematics Services is an integrated high- tech wireless communications system designed to maximise fleet profitability.

GLTC offers Crown’s InfoLink, a solution that enables greater efficiency of the fleet, giving a complete overview of equipment usage.

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“DAF’s Executrax measures harsh acceleration, speeding, harsh braking, among other parameters. It also has a device that cuts the vehicle engine off after a pre-determined amount of idling time.”

Mark Gavin, sales director, Transport Solutions at Babcock

However, the story is a bit different when it comes to forklifts. John Valentine, national systems manager at materials handling equipment specialist, Goscor Lift Truck Company (GLTC), says fuel is not necessarily the biggest cost on IC machines; the driver cost usually is, then followed by fuel, which ranges between 30-40% of total lifecycle costs, but application dependent. Fleet management to the rescue As fleet operators grapple with high fuel costs, it has become a necessity to put systems in place to be able to track and optimise fuel usage. Fleet management systems have provided an answer to some of these woes. Reducing the amount of fuel your vehicles burn can help you save money. A fleet management system can allow fleet managers to see the approximate amount of fuel used by each vehicle in litres and rands. Then action can be taken to drive down fuel usage, such as engine tune-ups or driver coaching. To help truck operators keep control of this biggest cost driver, Gavin says every DAF vehicle sold in South Africa comes standard with an on-board fleet

“The UD Telematics System also facilitates Fuel Coaching – a feature whereby the driver is given a real-time ‘Thumbs-Up’ or ‘Thumbs Down’ signal on his/ her dashboard to indicate if they are driving in the so-called Sweet Spot of optimised operation.”

Gert Swanepoel, MD of UD Trucks Southern Africa

management system – Executrax. Besides being a driver management tool, the system not only measures the amount of fuel injected, but also the variances in fuel tank pressure and fuel levels. “With any sudden increase or decrease in these parameters, an alert can be sent to the fleet manager to point out that something could be amiss,” says Gavin. Swanepoel says UD Telematics Services is an integrated high-tech wireless communications system designed to maximise fleet profitability. “It has features such as track and trace, geofence, fuel utilisation, fuel loss alert and proactive

support, which entails preventative maintenance, vehicle health monitoring, remote customer assistance and fuel advice service,” says Swanepoel. Valentine says GLTC uses its FMX system on its IC machines, which has a range of web-based live alerts and reports that can be used to determine actionable trends. “However, there are also some built-in mechanical protections that focus on preventing abuse or other unnecessary costs,” he says. According to Annandale, there are two ways in which Cartrack monitors fuel usage. “We can either connect to the vehicle’s fuel

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