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How Telematics Support Your Business Goals

Setting goals for your business is essential no matter what industry you are in. However, for those in the supply chain industry, setting goals is mandatory. As an industry that is reliant on being efficient with time, safety, and costs, fleet managers are a crucial part of ensuring those goals can be met.

But how do you know if the goals you set are attainable? And do you have the tools in place to make sure you are either heading in the right direction or need to make changes to reach them?

Being able to capture comprehensive and reliable data across an entire fleet is the key, and technology is how you will capture that data. Fleet managers involved in a warehouse, distribution center, or any supply chain businesses must rely on that data in order to set achievable goals and then know how to interpret the data to make the goals happen.

Telematics is essential for fleet managers to have the power to gather data that can help reach the goals of improving safety, productivity, and overall costs of an operation.

Safety Goals 

A warehouse, distribution center, or supply chain business should make safety goals one of its first priorities. Such goals ensure the wellbeing of the employees and ensure that no accidents occur that could disrupt operations.

So, let’s assume that you are a fleet manager at a busy warehouse. Last year 10 forklift accidents occurred in which five employees were hurt. The employees lost an average of one week of work time due to the accident. Now let’s say you are setting safety goals for next year. You want to reduce the accident and injury rates to zero.

First, you have to determine if that is a reasonable goal that could be attained. Then you need ways to monitor your employees and fleet of powered equipment to determine what caused the accidents and injuries. Once you know the cause, then you can take action to ensure that cause doesn’t occur again. You will also need the ability to track operator behavior so that you can make adjustments to ensure that you continue on a path of reducing accidents and injuries to zero.

Telematics provides you with the technology you need to set the safety goal and monitor events so that you can make adjustments to ensure that the goal is achieved.

Safety-First Telematics

Access Control Group offers telematics products that assist fleet managers with these issues.One product Access offers to assist with these issues is Advanced. It controls who has access to equipment so that only trained power equipment operators can use it. The device also offers data concerning driving patterns. This will not only assist you in identifying the operator that is involved in an accident but also help you identify the causes of the accident. The device even has the ability to shut off the engine of equipment to prevent pending accidents from occurring. This feature also allows control of the idle time and monitors fuel and maintenance.
All of this helps to ensure that your fleet operators comply with OSHA safety standards.You receive data in real-time so that you can monitor how the equipment operator has modified his behavior to ensure safety. The monitoring will also inform you when you need to follow up with the operator to ensure he continues his safe practices. Advanced features GPS tracking. So you know where the equipment is and where it is going. You also have access to a history of the operation of the equipment and geofencing technology to ensure the equipment is operated in areas where it is supposed to be.

Cost Savings Goals

As a fleet manager, there is no doubt that you set goals every year that focus on saving costs. Whether it is reducing fuel costs, maintenance costs, or equipment replacement costs, all of these are real concerns that affect your bottom line. Telematics products assist in collecting the data you need to help you make adjustments to ensure any of your cost savings goals are achieved.

As an example, let’s assume that this year three batteries used on powered equipment were damaged and replaced faster than you had planned. You are unsure why the damages occurred because you have no insight into the battery and start to wonder if the purchase of new batteries was a necessary expense.

Without telematics, you have zero knowledge of why your batteries may have been damaged. Something as simple as low water or excessive temperature could have been the cause, but you didn’t know to make changes, because you had no clue it was even happening. Telematics can alert you to any of these problems before damage can actually occur.

If you had caught the issue immediately, you could have given the batteries the proper attention they needed and saved yourself the cost of replacing the batteries altogether.

Telematics For The Black Box of Batteries

Knowing electric vehicles are becoming more commonly used in supply chain processes, Access Control Group developed a telematics device called CellTrac to provide insight into the mysterious black box of batteries. The device includes the ability to monitor water levels, temperature and SoC of a battery and alerts the equipment operator and fleet manager when levels are low, and maintenance is necessary. This assures that batteries are properly maintained and there is no chance of damage.
The device also gathers data that alerts the operator and fleet manager that preventive maintenance on the equipment is required. That assures that equipment stays in working order and downtimes for repairs are minimized if not eliminated.

Productivity Goals

No doubt you want to set productivity goals for your staff of fleet operators. In a supply chain operation, time is of the essence, and you want to be sure everyone is using theirs’ wisely so that you meet deadlines. However, is it possible to set realistic goals that can be successfully achieved?As a fleet manager, you might have wondered whether the routine of your fleet operators could be modified to ensure that tasks were performed more efficiently. You know that efficiency leads to better productivity.

With telematics, there is no need to wonder. You’ll know.

Access Control Group has telematics products that automatically record hour meter readings. One specific product is Vital; it collects hour meter readings that can indicate how much time equipment is used to complete tasks in a typical day. Keeping track of equipment and how it is used helps you determine if usage should be redistributed or whether there’s a need to actually retire a low used asset. It can also help in creating a plan that ensures that the equipment operator uses equipment more efficiently.

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Without insight into your operations, setting, and achieving goals can be a battle you will most likely use. Data can not only help you set achievable goals, but it will also help you reach them. Explore the advantages of telematics and learn how it can help you reach your goals for your warehouse, distribution center, or supply chain business.

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