Sales: 855-300-0527 | General: 877-467-0326
Sales: 855-300-0527 | General: 877-467-0326
The next generation of GPS vehicle tracking and fleet management technology incorporates engine diagnostics with GPS tracking data. The GO telematics system offers fleet managers. GO GPS devices provides the same GPS tracking information found on the GO RF and GO Live platform but also provides a connection to the J1708/OBD/J1939 port to collect engine fault codes. The engine diagnostic information is transferred with the GPS data on the same short range RF wireless download from vehicle to office computer for passive GPS tracking or across a cell phone network for most live tracking systems. Additionally, once the engine diagnostic information becomes part of standard maintenance practices, many issues are identified before a truck goes down.
Engine fault codes are used to diagnose potential and current engine maintenance issues before they result in a vehicle going down at an inopportune time. For operations and fleet managers this has a significant impact on the ability to accomplish the mission of deploying a fleet to deliver goods and service. It also has a significant impact on the cost associated with delivering these products and services. Any truck that is unable to make a delivery as a result of maintenance issues results in a significant financial loss. The breakdown of a single delivery vehicle can cost a company thousands of dollars.
Consider the financial loss of a regional delivery truck breaking down on the highway 100 miles from the warehouse. There are two kinds of losses in every situation. The first aspect is the hard cost which may include the inventory being lost or destroyed, towing fees, getting a second truck onsite to transport the goods, the labor to move the inventory either by hand or equipment, items being put back in inventory, repackaging the goods, reloading the goods on another vehicle and delivering the goods to the same customer without any additional revenue. Reducing these situations by 5-10% annually could save a mid to large fleet operator hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The second aspect of loss associated with a vehicle breaking down is the soft cost or opportunity cost. When a delivery is not made it reduces customer confidence or can even results in the loss of an account. It may require a truck and personnel that would normally be making other deliveries to work overtime to make up missed deliveries. It also requires managers to take extensive time coordinating the efforts to recover a vehicle and inventory. It may take a truck out of service for days or weeks which either results in a direct loss or a company buying a "spare" truck to handle these situations.
With engine data information being readily available, fleet maintenance technicians have a reasonable chance to forecast which issues are going to be most significant in the near future. With about 500 fault codes available, fleet maintenance departments can narrow the list to identify which codes are most important. This level of prioritization means fleet maintenance personnel can focus on the most important maintenance compared to just doing maintenance in hopes of preventing vehicle down time. With a focused fleet maintenance program and the controls provided by GPS tracking data, most maintenance departments can shift from four to three annual maintenance sessions. At an estimated value of $300 per large truck, a company can save significantly on an annual basis.
When calculating the return on investment for the GO telematics platform, consider the maintenance benefits and GPS tracking data benefits separately and then together. A typical ROI for a passive GPS tracking system is about 6 months and 3 months with live tracking systems. Although the benefits of engine fault code technology may take a little longer to implement, the benefit from a single incident forgone is very large and can likely be realized in the first six months. Companies have the potential to cumulatively save thousands more per vehicle annually for the life of the company with a passive tracking system. The GO telematics system offers more savings because the unit is installed by plugging into the J1708, OBD, J1939 port in the vehicles cab and sticking the antennas on the glass. Due to the simplicity an average of $125 per vehicle can be saved on installation contractor services for larger trucks. With this savings included the difference in the investment is about $175 per vehicle unit in the short term. In the long term the cost of the GO telematics unit is actually the same because companies do not have the expenses of switching a unit from one truck to another or having an installer come onsite to check the unit if an issue develops. Typical expenses for removing a unit are about $50 per vehicle with another $125 to have a unit wired to the new vehicle. With the GO J1708 unit any employee can unplug the unit from one vehicle and plug it into another. Based on these figures there is no reason companies with diesel engine trucks (International and Cummings) should not invest in the GO telematics unit.
