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Fleet management is the management of a company's vehicle fleet. Fleet management includes vehicle tracking, mechanical diagnostics, management of ships and driver behavior tracking.
The most basic function in all Fleet Management systems, is the vehicle tracking component. This component is usually GPS based, but sometimes it can be based on a Cellular triangulation platform.
Advanced Fleet management systems can connect to the vehicle's onboard computer, and gather data for the user. Details such as mileage, fuel consumption, and much more, are gathered into a global statistics scheme.
By combining received data from the Vehicle Tracking system and the onboard computer, it is possible to form a profile for any given driver.
Fleet management software enables people to accomplish a series of specific tasks in the management of any or all aspects relating to a companies fleet of vehicles. These specific tasks encompass all operations from vehicle acquisition to disposal. The software, depending on its capabilities, allows function such as driver/vehicle profiling, trip profiling, dispatch, vehicle eficiency, etc. and it can provide remote control features such as Geo-fencing and active disabling. Current vehicle diagnostic information can also be related to a management site, depending on the type of hardware installed in the vehicles.
Fleet management also refers to the management of ships while at sea. Ships are normally given to fleet management companies like Fleet Management Limited (http://www.fleetship.com/), which handles aspect like crewing, maintenance and day to day operations. This gives the ship owner time to concentrate on cargo booking.
Recent advances in fleet management allow for the addition of over-the-air (OTA) security and control of fleet vehicles. Fleet Security and Control includes security of the vehicle while stopped or not in operation and the ability to safely disable a vehicle while in operation. This allows the fleet manager to recover stolen or rogue vehicles while reducing the chance of lost or stolen cargo. The additional of Fleet Security and Control to a fleet management system gives a fleet manager preventative measures to address cargo damage and loss.
The timely replacement of vehicles and equipment is a process that requires the ability to predict asset lifecycles based on costing information, utilization, and asset age. The industry standards for asset lifecycles are produced annually by Mercury Associates, Inc. (http://www.mercury-assoc.com), which are calculated using the CARCAP modeling resource. These numbers are used to establish the expected date for a type or class of equipment, which can the be used to identify replacement dates and funding requirements.
Funding requirements are also an issue, because many organizations, especially government, purchase vehicles with cash. The ad hoc nature and traditional low funding levels with cash has put many operations in an aged fleet. This lack of adequate funding for replacement can also result in higher maintenance costs due to aged vehicles.