Capital Equipment News July 2018

FLEET MANAGEMENT

TALKING POINTS

management tool, Gavin says 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. Annandale says there are numerous ways in which Cartrack’s fleet management system can improve fuel consumption, including reducing speeding, idling and unauthorised kilometres driven. “Other important ways in which our fleet management system provides fleet managers with the tools to reduce fuel consumption is suggesting the best routes to travel and providing an overview of the times of day that their vehicles are operating,” says Annandale. Valentine is of the view that the single best control of fuel usage is a disciplined and efficient driver, “if you have one”. However, he says GLTC’s FMX can show a visible fuel usage graph, and has an Excess Idle Cut Out after three minutes. “There are also live alerts/reports from the system indicating which drivers/ machines have the greatest incident ratios of excess idle for further interventions,” says Valentine. “Other features such as rpm, transmission protection and speed limiters also reduce fuel consumption. In essence, if the desired parameter is exceeded, the machine can be disabled (safely), or an alert sent indicating the guilty party.” Huge savings There is a general assertion that one can reduce fuel costs by up to 20-25% through taking advantage of fleet management systems. Valentine agrees, saying the company has found this assertion to be true, and customers have easily achieved 10-25% fuel savings where the interventions/management system is used correctly. “This can translate to a R1 500-R2 500 fuel saving per month, dependant on application,” he says. Meanwhile, Swanepoel says UD Trucks has seen savings of between 15 and 20% by simply identifying drivers, through the telematics system, who are not driving efficiently, and then introducing measures to better their performance, for instance green band driving. “The UD Fuel Advice Services work with customer fleets to develop desired driving performance and skills for the specific routes the trucks travel,” he says. With Cartrack’s fuel management system, Annandale says customers can expect to save at least 20% in fuel costs. “Clients have experienced numerous benefits from our fleet management system, including an increase in productivity and reduced costs across their businesses,” concludes Annandale. ❂

“The single best control of fuel usage is a disciplined and efficient driver, if you have one. However, GLTC’s FMX can show a visible fuel usage graph, and has an Excess Idle Cut Out after three minutes.”

John Valentine, national systems manager at Goscor Lift Truck Company

“Clients have experienced numerous benefits from our fleet management system, including an increase in productivity and reduced costs across their businesses.”

Pierre Annandale, fleet manager at Cartrack

With Cartrack’s fuel management system, customers can expect to save at least 20% in fuel costs.

sender device or we can pull fuel usage from the CAN Bus of the vehicle,” he says. Fighting the enemies There are a number of enemies when it comes to fuel, all the way from unnecessary idling, fuel theft to poor driving. Available figures show that a truck idling an average of three hours a day can add an equivalent of over 43 500 km in engine wear and tyre in a year. That can add up to an additional R22 000 in maintenance costs. So, how does fleet management systems help fleet operators get the better of these problems? With a fleet management solution, you can view idle time per vehicle, fleet-wide idle time averages, and more. You can also monitor performance, track how improvement affects your fleet’s idle time percentage and educate drivers about

the importance of reducing idle times. According to Swanepoel, UD Trucks’ Fuel Utilisation analyses driver behaviour and generates easy-to-read reports to allow for identification of potential areas for fuel savings and optimise accordingly, through driver training, for instance. “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,” says Swanepoel. He adds that a special Fuel Loss Alert functionality protects the fleet owner’s asset by sending a notification should there be any unexpected drop in fuel levels through theft or damage. Besides being a driver and fuel

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