I don't think I am the only one on here that has thought of this, but I am curious to see what sort of systems you all use to track trucks, mileage, maintenance, etc.
Any body using anything that they would recommend?
Simple Mileage book and write down odometer reading on last day of year.
I had a look at ArcGIS Workforce yesterday ... Lots of possibilities.
Chr.
The company I work for uses Telogis ( https://www.telogis.com ). GPS, email alerts and doubles as a WiFi hotspot.
IndianaT, post: 406406, member: 1302 wrote: The company I work for uses Telogis ( https://www.telogis.com ). GPS, email alerts and doubles as a WiFi hotspot.
I looked into Telogis. I didn't know if double as a wifi hotspot...I will have to look deeper. Thanks.
We used Advanced Tracking and were able to analyze and create profiles for the time of day, route and travel time expectancy with time. These profiles turned out to be the best of what we got from it. Keeping actual track of the vans turned out to be not that big of a factor for us. The constant software update so that virus detection didn't kill the software got to be very annoying, but, this was 2003 to 2008 and there has to be better available now.
Our company vehicles are gps tracked and we get a monthly report on time of vehicle running, speeding events, hard accelerations hard braking, idle time, hard cornering. The reports are from Navman Teletrac. http://www.teletracnavman.com/
VA LS 2867, post: 406736, member: 1444 wrote: Our company vehicles are gps tracked and we get a monthly report on time of vehicle running, speeding events, hard accelerations hard braking, idle time, hard cornering. The reports are from Navman Teletrac. http://www.teletracnavman.com/
Too much big brother
I've done a few jobs where I WANT to be tracked. There is also value in figuring out routes and timing in some urban centers.
If you have to track your people to keep them in line it's a whole different deal. Save money on tracking and find yourself a better zip code to call home...
I'm glad I don't work for some of you 🙂
...but to each his own.
thebionicman, post: 406812, member: 8136 wrote: I've done a few jobs where I WANT to be tracked. There is also value in figuring out routes and timing in some urban centers.
If you have to track your people to keep them in line it's a whole different deal. Save money on tracking and find yourself a better zip code to call home...
You bring up a good point BionicMan. This is not a trust thing, it is a cost and budget planning item as well as liability. How do you know how much to charge based on mileage if you don't track mileage versus time? Futhermore, I thought there might be a system that would take video at the same time in the case that say someone claims that you ran a red light when you really didn't and they try to sue you. I have heard of a surveyor that got sued because they had their name on the side of their truck and literally a lawyer and plaintiff drove by and saw the name of the company on the side of the truck and added that surveyor to the lawsuit. I thought there might be a system that incorporates both video related location.
Hence the question about GPS.
What I don't understand folks that assume the "man" is always trying to get one on them. This idea implies two things.
1. That even though they are on someones clock that they shouldn't be monitored, that it is somehow inhumane or downright scandalous.
2. That your intentions are other than managing time wisely and doing your job. I worked for a company that used GPS and had no issues, because I kept my nose close to the grindstone. The only time I saw issues was with crews that spent a couple hours a day screwing off.
Our county has the road graders monitored courtesy of Caterpillar. The range of information being gathered constantly is downright scary. Of course, the only data they know how to use is that suggesting the driver isn't doing what they assume he should be doing at any given moment.
Holy Cow, post: 406891, member: 50 wrote: Our county has the road graders monitored courtesy of Caterpillar. The range of information being gathered constantly is downright scary. Of course, the only data they know how to use is that suggesting the driver isn't doing what they assume he should be doing at any given moment.
Exactly my thoughts. The only actions that I ever see taken once this is implemented is to go after the crews, regardless of the "public" message to the company about saving money. Trust your crew cheif to be honest and get it right. I know several well respected people who always did the right thing that started getting calls from their managers/HR.
However, I know it's tough dealing with lazy employees as well. So to each his own...I would personally just never do it. I saw a recent Undercover Boss episode on Orkin. They rigged an automatic cut off for 15-20 minutes if the company vehicle was idling for more than 5-10. The worker was a pregnant woman working in the Arizona summer. She couldn't even finish writing her report in the air conditioning before it shut off and she'd have to wait. Which, to me, if you don't care that an idling air conditioner could save someone's life, at least realize you could save your company a wrongful death lawsuit.
Jon Collins, post: 406802, member: 11135 wrote: Too much big brother
Well I currently work for a Heavy Highway/Site Construction company, with a captive group insurance, so the corporate risk management on high looks for any way to reduce risk on our insurance. It has resulted in a large savings over our previous insurance policy. There is added cost benefit to gas savings resulting from trucks not idling all day or excessive "personal" use.
I believe we found a solution. There is an app called Dash and it handles most of the diagnostic tools, tracking trip mileage and also handling other little nick nacks that we tend to need information on.
Thank you for all of the input.
We use http://us.fleetmatics.com/login.aspx . A previous employer put tracking on the survey vehicles. I told him we didn't need it. A month latter I had to apologize. A small firm that see their crews everyday shouldn't need it. If you have multiple crews working a large geographic area, I see it as a necessity. I could write a book on issues discovered by reviewing reports or receiving an email of a vehicle exceeding 80 MPH. I understand the Big Brother concern. I also understand the liability an irresponsible employee can create.
C.Tompkins, post: 406835, member: 975 wrote: This is not a trust thing, it is a cost and budget planning item as well as liability.
Safety as well....especially in the age of the one man crew. When I was a party chief I broke my leg in the field; it would have been nice to know that if I had been by myself at least someone would know where the truck was to start looking for me when I didn't show up.
When I was working in northern BC the crews checked in with their GPS positions hourly using SPOT so we could find them when they were away from the trucks on ATVs or snow machines.
There are definitely benefits to being able to see the locations of the vehicles. We don't use it as a "big brother" thing unless we have a reason to. We do, however, receive excessive speed notifications.
Talking about safety,
Have a look at this app, anyone doing fieldwork or just out in the elements for fun should consider to have it installed on the smartphone. I hope I will need it only to call for help for other people but you'll better be prepared.
Christof.
christ lambrecht, post: 408595, member: 284 wrote: Talking about safety,
Have a look at this app, anyone doing fieldwork or just out in the elements for fun should consider to have it installed on the smartphone. I hope I will need it only to call for help for other people but you'll better be prepared.
Christof.
I looked at this app and it looks like something we could benefit from, thanks for sharing. Do you know if it works in the USA?
