|
Mobile Resource Management Systems Improve Asset Utilization As hardware prices drop and wireless service expands, a growing number of fleet managers are turning to mobile resource management (MRM) systems to help improve fleet asset utilization and productivity. According to Clem Driscoll, managing partner at C.J. Driscoll & Associates, there are 20 million fleet vehicles, 4.9 million trailers, nearly 2 million pieces of heavy equipment in the U.S. that could potentially benefit from MRM technology. "Many fleet operators need to have better information on the location and status of their trailers, in addition to using automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems for monitoring tractors and vehicles," says Driscoll. "There is a growing recognition of the benefits of MRM." Traditionally, companies have used Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers from companies like Qualcomm to track fleet vehicles and other mobile assets. "A lot of companies are really just interested in knowing where their trucks and drivers are," says Adrian Gonzalez, director of the Logistics Executive Council at ARC Advisory Group. "Throughout the day, there may be order changes or requests for pickups, so they want to be able to figure out which driver or asset is closest to that location." Now, there are a variety of technologies available to keep tabs on workers and vehicles, including GPS-equipped mobile phones and portable computers, as well as broadband cellular communications and satellite data networks. These systems can also incorporate wireless sensors, wireless LAN technology and RFID to provide vehicle diagnostics, security information, and cargo tracking capabilities. Although there is only about a 10% to 12% market penetration among U.S. fleets using some kind of automated asset tracking, interest is growing. There are approximately 2.5 million MRM units in service managing fleet vehicles and mobile workers, and the $1.2 billion market is expected to reach $2 billion in revenues by 2009. U.S. MRM subscribers units and revenues are growing approximately 20% annual rate, according to Driscoll. "Mobility is no longer a 'nice to have' feature for fleet operators. Rather, it is instrumental to keeping customers and maintaining a company's competitive position," says Beth Enslow, vice president of enterprise research at Aberdeen Group. "Fleet operators need to design a comprehensive strategy for fleet mobility to maintain customer satisfaction and profitability." According to Aberdeen's "New Fleet Mobility Strategies" study, 87% of respondents said that customer service improvements from mobility technology met or exceeded their expectations, and smaller fleets typically achieved greater than a 10% boost in productivity and on-time delivery performance. Local Fleet Use Growing Rapidly Local fleet operators are one of the fastest growing segments for MRM technology, increasing at about 30% per year, according to Driscoll's "Mobile Resource Management Market Study." "Local fleets are the ones where there is a real value to real-time information," says Gonzales. "You find that in time-sensitive delivery and other dynamic environments." These include local utility companies, delivery services and other smaller fleets with a limited geographic range. According to Driscoll, these fleets are often tracked and managed using mobile phones and text messaging. This market is fragmented, with more than 100 suppliers of vehicle-installed tracking systems and services in the U.S. and Canada. Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative in Kaufman, Texas, is implementing a fleet-wide deployment of Wireless Matrix Terrestrial MBS2 communication units and FleetOutlook vehicle monitoring services, to provide real-time position and data updates from their vehicles in the field, supporting vehicle management, technician deployment, and critical service and repair operations. These will be deployed in combination with Milsoft Utility Solutions' Dispatch Outage Management application, and the in-vehicle client, Milsoft Unplugged. Automated Waste Disposal in Danbury, Conn., is using the @Road GeoManager for its fleet of more than 200 trucks. The systems shows managers the vehicle routes, speed, idling, stop locations, stop durations and more. The company achieved a return on investment (ROI) in just two months, and saw a 75% drop in overtime in just one week as a result of more accurate tracking of driver time. Better tracking also helped prevent drivers from moonlighting using company equipment, and better optimization allowed the company to reduce its fleet by several vehicles (costing $175,000 to $200,000 each). "@Road gives us the ability to pinpoint the driver closes to a specific location," says Ciro Viento, AWD operations manager. "In the past we had to call each driver individually and ask 'where are you?' Now we know. It saves us time and it's a great benefit for our customers when we need to get to someone who was missed or who requests a special pickup." Other growth areas include trailer monitoring, which could increase from 450,000 units to 650,000 units in service in 2007, according to Driscoll. The principle benefit of trailer monitoring for most fleet operators is more efficient utilization of trailer inventory. The installed base has tripled in past two years, with large fleets accounting for a significant portion of that growth. The heavy equipment sector, which sees estimated annual losses of more than $1 billion due to vehicle theft, could also grow as much as 50% this year. Costs Dropping Falling equipment costs and new technology developments have helped expand the market in recent years. "I think the biggest factor is the introduction of broadband cellular networks," says Driscoll. "Since those networks were rolled out several years ago, it has made a huge difference to have broad availability of cellular data services at a reasonable price, with good coverage." "There's been a considerable drop in the price of hardware, as well as the availability of text messaging and GPS-enabled phones," says Gonzalez. "These systems can be as simple as having the drivers use phones to relay their location." "Another factor is just the awareness of GPS all around us," adds Driscoll. "In the consumer market, there's been growth in vehicle navigation systems, cell phone navigation, and people are very aware of GPS. That carries over to the commercial space." Increasingly, fleet operators are looking for more than just location information. According to Aberdeen's report, private fleet operators, commercial transportation carriers, logistics service providers, and field service businesses are budgeting for mobile computing technology across four categories: basic driver communications, value-added information collection, automatic vehicle location (AVL), and vehicle sensors. In a previous Driscoll survey, 86% of respondents rated location monitoring as a high priority. Just under half of respondents were interested in trailer arrival and departure times, and "geofencing" capabilities that would enable to them to establish an electronic fence around a trailer or asset that would provide alerts if it left a specified area. Some vehicle-monitoring systems go even farther. The Vorad safety system from Eaton Corp., for example, can provide collision warnings, side sensors and adaptive cruise control A variety of temperature, vibration and status sensors are also available that can provide data on the integrity of a shipment, and even record whether or not a trailer has been opened in transit. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems recently won a $3.1 million contract with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for a Hazmat Truck Security Pilot that incorporates Safefreight Technology's fleet management and hazmat security technology. The system will provide location and onboard sensor data in real time to the TSA Truck Tracking Center. Midwest Industrial X-Ray is using the same system to track its fleet of mobile dark room trucks that carry radioactive hazardous materials. The system fulfills the communications requirement under the Safety Fitness Procedures regulation from the Federal Motor Carrier Security Administration. It includes sensors to monitor the opening and closing of doors, and an alarm system that serves as a local deterrent. Drivers are equipped with pagers with alert capabilities. Mobile phones are playing a larger role in tracking employees and vehicles, too, particularly newer models with GPS functionality. This type of tracking could account for more than one-third of all MRM market revenues by 2009, according to Driscoll. Savi Technology and Comtech Mobile Datacom, meanwhile, have developed a GPS tracking systems that also reads RFID tags on cargo while en route. According to Aberdeen, about 29% of fleet operators utilize sensors today, while 45% have plans to deploy the technology. About 9% have piloted RFID for these applications, while another 20% have a budgeted project in the works. Barriers Although there is significant growth forecast for some segments, adoption of these mobile asset management systems has remained relatively low because of a number of barriers. The cost of the initial investment and ongoing wireless network costs are still too steep for many smaller fleet operators. Respondents to the Aberdeen survey also cited a lack of internal IT resources, a weak business case, and not finding need capabilities in off-the-shelf solutions. Many large fleet owners also cited the need for additional functionality in commercially available solutions in order to provide "competitive differentiation." Some segments don't necessarily see any immediate benefit from real-time tracking. "We've talked to a number of large companies that have hundreds of sales vehicles in their fleets, and very few of them are using a tracking system," says Driscoll. "Their sales people simply call in every day, and they don't require that kind of real-time data." There is also some employee resistance to vehicle monitoring systems, particularly in municipalities with strong union representation. Employees should be brought into the system implementation process early, both to make the systems more user-friendly, and to help staff understand the value of the technology. "On the flipside, these systems can be linked to performance metrics and compensation, and actually benefit the drivers," says Gonzalez. Companies should also focus on how these tracking solutions can help improve customer service, in addition to making internal process improvements. "Fleet mobility is increasingly instrumental to retaining customers and maintaining a company's competitive position," says Enslow.
|
