Spireon announced a new feature in its cloud-based FleetLocate trailer tracking system called the PAR trend analysis report. The new feature was designed to give commercial and private fleets a simple business intelligence tool they can use to compare and monitor trailer count, by location, to an established baseline each day and over time.
The PAR trend analysis report was developed in consultation with a private fleet customer, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. The fleet was looking to decrease the expense of leasing trailers and ensure that trailer capacity matched daily production at each distribution center. With this new reporting feature, fleet managers are able to see which distribution centers have too many or too few trailers–i.e., over or under “par.” Coca-Cola has significantly reduced its lease expenses by increasing utilization of its trailer fleet and ensure the assets are at the right locations at the right time.
In addition to viewing the reports online, alerts can be set up to automatically notify managers if the trailer count at a location is under or over “PAR.”
“Things start smoothing out when you get information to them right when they need it,” said Brian Boling, chief executive officer of Spireon, at TransForum 2012, the annual user conference and technology exhibition of TMW Systems, in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 24. During the conference, Jarvis gave CCJ a demonstration of the new PAR feature and an overview of the company’s product and marketing strategy. He explained how FleetLocate can solve the “pain points” of managing trailer fleets.
Currently, the trailer tracking market has a penetration rate of 10 percent, meaning that 10 percent of the trailers on the road are equipped with some type of tracking system, he said. When conducting market research, Spireon found that fleets without a system have not been able to calculate a return on investment from traditional trailer tracking technology at a cost of between $400 and $500 for the hardware plus monthly communication costs, per trailer, only to “ping” trailer location once or twice per day.
Spireon has designed the FeetLocate platform as a service offering with no upfront investment in hardware, real-time data and “actionable” business intelligence. The company has created a product and road map of future developments that are aimed at solving other pain points in the trailer tracking market.
FleetLocate captures GPS locations every second and reports every 10 minutes. This level of detail or granularity sets FleetLocate apart from the competition, he said. Spireon also offers a service platform with no upfront hardware costs and the flexibility for customers to upgrade to new hardware as it becomes available without any additional out-of-pocket expenses.
“We are a technology company but the device is not the end-all,” Boling said. “The device is an enabler. Technology is progressing. We built that into the process.”
Other features of the FleetLocate trailer tracking system include extensive power management and robust batteries. The system also integrates trailer mileage based on second-by-second GPS records with TMW Systems’ fleet maintenance management system called TMT. In addition to capturing accurate mileage, fleets can set up imaginary perimeters called geofences around their maintenance facilities to automatically receive alerts when a trailer that is due for PM service is within close proximity.
