IRIS FMS technology seamlessly integrated with
Ryder Systems online management software
"Fleet Care Online"
Background
Ryder Systems Inc is a global provider of commercial vehicle rental, contract hire, maintenance and dedicated delivery solutions. The company has been trading for more than 40 years and offers technical and operational expertise to fleet management companies in a number of different continents including the US, Europe and the UK.
Ryder Systems provides fleet management solutions to a wide range of companies including: The Royal Mail, Dominos Pizza, Premier Foods and Simmons Group. The company also provides fleet management technology to fire and rescue organisations and maintains a fleet of more than 2,500 vehicles for the army and RAF stationed in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands..
The Problem
Increased fuel prices, management and maintenance costs are having a significant impact on fleet management and haulage companies in terms of profitability and running costs. As markets become increasingly competitive, these companies must have the capabilities to monitor a number of different elements relating to vehicle, driver and fleet performance in order to operate efficiently and protect their market share.
Existing telematics solutions didn't provide enough accuracy as they generally operated by sampling CANBus data at predefined intervals (every 30 seconds, for example) and then transmitting it as and when the data was received. This approach failed on two levels:
1) CANBus networks have many sensors transmitting data as quickly as 1/1000 of a second. Taking a sample at predefined intervals does not give an accurate picture; for example a vehicle could accelerate harshly and break aggressively in 30 seconds. This type of information did not show up on the existing systems.
2) Transmitting the data over GSM each time it was received does not take advantage of available data compression technologies and leads to higher data costs.
The Opportunity
In order to expand its customer base, Ryder wanted to develop a fleet management solution for smaller fleet management companies that are not yet taking full advantage of telematic technology.
The company also wanted to offer increased value to its existing customers by providing them with greater fleet management functionality, such as operational efficiency, cost management and best practice. For transparency purposes, the new system had to integrate seamlessly with the company's existingmanagement software, "FleetCare Online",
a web-based application that allows managers to monitor their vehicles in real-time and run a number
of operational, efficiency and cost related reports.
IRIS Technology was chosen as the preferred development partner because of its experience in developing advanced and resilient fleet management systems for a number of different fleet management and automotive applications, as well as its proven experience in the oil, gas and offshore industries.
The Challenges
The Solution
Ryder's fleet management solution is based on IRIS Technology's proven fleet management system that has already been deployed by a wide range of different organisations. The solution has been customised to satisfy Ryder's specific requirements, is highly resilient and can be configured to monitor a wide range of parameters including: operational efficiency, cost management, compliance and best practice.
Ground-breaking hardware has been developed that overcomes the two main challenges of incumbent solutions:
1) IRIS FMS units sample the data from the CANBus in real time, as quickly as the vehicle sensors can operate. This is the only way to generate accurate vehicle performance and driver behaviour data.
2) IRIS FMS units have on-board data binning capabilities, which means CANBus data is processed and held on the vehicle until the end of the journey. This is highly efficient and results in much lower data charges.
In addition to this, real-time positional data is fed back to the control centre, enabling fleet managers to view the location of each vehicle on an interactive map and have access to accurate information relating to overall performance, so they can take appropriate action when needed.
Fleet managers are also provided with detailed driver profile information such as: harsh acceleration, over-speed, deliveries and collections which results in improved control and greater efficiencies.
The system, powered by sophisticated back-end software is capable of collecting data from a wide range of different parameters and processing complex data sets and algorithms instantaneously. This information can be quickly converted into a user-friendly report that can be exported as a CSV document to third parties for forecasting and control purposes. It also comprises a locate-on-demand option, which means the tracking unit can be woken up, even if a vehicle is stationary to provide positional data.
The Benefits
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Improved control - fleet managers can use driver profiles as well as operational data for logistical purposes
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Reduced overheads - by automating a number of processes including clock-in information, timesheets and man-hour reports |
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Accurate reporting - fleet managers have immediate access to different data such as mileage, driver hours, fuel consumption, driver acceleration which can be analysed for efficiency purposes |
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Improved efficiencies -by knowing the location of each vehicle allows control room staff to plan the shortest routes |
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Reduced fuel consumption - by planning routes and monitoring driver performance |
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Imrpoved driver profiling - allowing managers to match appropriate personnel to different job types |
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The Future
The solution IRIS Technology have provided to Ryder is proving to be invaluable and plans are currently under way to roll the solution out across the entire fleet, amounting to over 10,000 vehicles.
In addition, IRIS Technology is currently investigating the possibility of integrating the device with Smartphone technology and has already begun a development programme using the Android platform.
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