Drive & Track: IoT Cuts Costs Sustainably
With fewer miles logged, less wear and tear and less fuel consumed, IoT solutions have enabled the parcel delivery service J.R. Company to reduce its vehicle fleet’s running costs by ten percent.
Hop out of the vehicle, hand over the parcel on the doorstep and on time, have the recipient confirm delivery on the handheld scanner’s display and input his or her name as you walk back to the van. For a parcel delivery service these workflows simply must run smoothly. Under contract to UPS in Austria, the J.R. Company’s couriers deliver up to 6,000 parcels a day in Styria and Carinthia. Its 120 vehicles cover 26,000 km a day on the routes they serve. How fast do they drive? How hard do they brake and accelerate and how long do they spend idling? These are interesting facts for fleet manager Günter Flicker because an unruly style of driving has a palpable effect on the delivery service’s business statistics. But rather than just hoping his drivers will show common sense and be resistant to stress as they drive and deliver, the fleet manager prefers in the performance of his duties to rely on facts and figures from the Internet of Things (IoT).
IOT FOR SUSTAINABLE FLEET MANAGEMENT
For about three years Flicker has managed his vehicle fleet digitally with Drive & Track, a Deutsche Telekom IoT solution consisting of a tracking module that is permanently installed in every delivery vehicle. The tracker contains a GPS module and a SIM card. The tiny device sends its sensor readings from the vehicle to a cloud via Telekom’s wireless network and the Internet. When a driver takes a seat in his van in the morning he clocks in with his ID and the cloud-based system knows who is at the wheel and which route he will be taking today. The fleet tracker records automatically the location, speed and time spent driving and sends this data continuously to the IoT platform. On the solution’s Web portal the fleet manager plans all routes efficiently and monitors his drivers’ work. Drive & Track helps him to manage the firm’s fleet operations more sustainably. The drivers save time and mileage, the J.R. Company saves fuel costs – and the fleet’s carbon dioxide emissions are reduced.
Fleet Management by Drive & Track: The Benefits at a Glance
- Efficient: Optimal deployment of vehicles, employees and company goods
- Transparent: Constant clarity about vehicles’ actual location
- Optimal: Proactive vehicle maintenance based on mileage
- Controlled: Detailed analytic reports on all IoT data
- Uncomplicated: A plug-and-play upgrade solution with an intuitive Web interface
- Safety: Prevention of traffic infringements and coaching for drivers
COSTS CUT BY 10 PERCENT
Fleet manager Flicker has worked out – jointly with his drivers – an optimal style of driving based on evaluation of the IoT solution’s data. The connected delivery vehicles have since been driven more carefully, effectively reducing wear and tear. Hard acceleration, taking bends too fast and speeding have become the exception. The J.R. Company can see in its own workshop the extent to which the new style of driving reduces wear and tear of its vans. Thanks to modern fleet management the vehicles are subject to 30 percent less damage. The cost of spares such as tires, brake linings and clutches has been halved. In addition, efficient fleet management saves the company between € 300 and € 400 a day in fuel costs. So the new technology saves € 90,000 a year.
Smart technology has enabled the fleet manager to reduce fleet running costs by 10 percent. Along with efficient route planning the solution makes employees’ day-to-day work simpler and easier. The smart IoT application can allocate a fuel receipt digitally to the vehicle that is refueled, for example. It also keeps a logbook automatically. Tiresome and time-consuming administrative and damage management is dealt with swiftly and easily and there are fewer errors.
Fleet Management by Drive & Track: The Functions
- Live maps: Vehicles and goods can be located live and optimal routes can be planned
- Reporting: Detailed analytic reports on all data, including engine and sensor readings, reported events and interactions
- Fleet performance: Event-based measurement of vehicle performance
- Real-time alarms: Automatic notification in the event of theft or vehicle use outside working hours
- Accident recognition: Immediate notification when a vehicle is involved in an accident
- Driver behavior and driver ID: Driver analyses and notification about traffic infringements such as speeding
Further information:
- How to reduce the fuel costs of my vehicle fleet? A guide
- Video: Drive & Track in Use at J.R. Company parcel delivery service
- White Paper on Vehicle Fleet Management: Everything that fleet and mobility managers need to know
- More Sustainability with the Internet of Things
Ümit Günes
Marketing Manager IoT
Ümit has been working at T-Systems since 2015 and knows a great deal about many facets of the Internet of Things. He is particularly interested in topics related to the digitalization of the business world. For the blog, he reports on new developments and trends in the IoT world that offer real added value for customers.
Ümit Günes
Marketing Manager IoT
Ümit has been working at T-Systems since 2015 and knows a great deal about many facets of the Internet of Things. He is particularly interested in topics related to the digitalization of the business world. For the blog, he reports on new developments and trends in the IoT world that offer real added value for customers.
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