Fleet Management At Your Fingertips - Resources For You     June/July 2011
 

Fuel Efficiency = Smart Money Management

The Summertime Blues are already upon us, with gas prices in the $4 per gallon range. Are you monitoring fuel usage through your AVL program?

One of the top benefits of Mobile Resource Management is fuel economy. Speeding, idling and poor route planning can add up to a lot of wasted fuel – thousands of dollars’ worth over just a few weeks, even for relatively small fleets of vehicles.

These are all issues fleet managers can monitor and improve through their CompassCom AVL program. Your Return on Investment is guaranteed when you take these steps:

  • Track mileage:
    • Monitor mileage per vehicle. If there is variation in fuel efficiency, ensure that all fleet vehicles are working at top efficiency by scheduling maintenance to match actual mileage.
  • Track idle time:
    • When vehicles are idling, they are using up gas and putting pollutants in the air. Drivers might leave the vehicle on for air conditioning or heating while filling out reports or eating lunch. The cost of the gas burned up during that time might be a lot more than the cost of the meal. NOTE: verify that the vehicle is wired to monitor when the engine is actually running – if the key is turned in the ignition, for instance to listen to a radio – but the engine not running, some vehicles will report an idle.
  • Track routing:
    • Use the Turn Report to know how many left turns your vehicle makes. More left turns means more idle time, more emissions and more gas used.
    • Ensure vehicles are not passing each other on the way to field appointments. Use the real-time monitoring of vehicles so the closest vehicle is sent to a new call.
  • Track vehicle usage:
    • Drop extra fuel usage as well as vehicle wear-and-tear through checking real-time and historical reporting of where every vehicle is, when and for how long.
    • Designate Geo-Coding to ensure vehicles stay in the geographic area where they are supposed to be when off-duty, and on their designated routes when in use.
    • Speeding reports can inform you of what vehicles are speeding, by how much and how often. Heavy vehicles like street sweepers and snow plows can’t be driven above what seems to some drivers like very slow speeds – but when they are pushing for time, they are wasting fuel.

The cost of gas varies across the country. Check out the AAA’s daily “Fuel Gauge Report” for national gas price averages and comparison numbers.

For more information on how CompassCom can help you control your fleet and reduce fuel costs, contact Mike Kovacs at mgkovacs@compasscom.com, 800-787-0651 or 303-999-3024.


About CompassCom
CompassCom®, an Esri business partner, enables fleet management, ensuring worker safety, efficiency and accountability through reliable AVL solutions that integrate GPS, Geographic Information System (GIS) and wireless technology. CompassCom clients currently manage more than a hundred thousand vehicles, allowing government agencies, utilities operations, oil and gas companies and service fleet managers to monitor in real-time and provide reports for every asset with a push of a button. Our AVL systems are the most flexible in the industry, allowing customers to use their preferred wireless carriers, leverage their investment in GIS, host data on or off-site, choose a variety of hardware options and even work with their existing two-way radio systems. Training, consulting and partnering with our clients, we’ve been optimizing Return on Investment since 1994. For more information, visit us at CompassCom.com or call 800-787-0651.

 

 

Visit Our New Website!

We look forward to your feedback as we work to make our new website a resource for you!

Let us know what you think about the new site and what elements you would like to see as we continue to build out. We intend to soon bring on a customer-specific Log In; a blog providing tips and best-practice information; and educational materials. What else would you like to see?

We were glad to see so many friends at Esri’s International Users’ Conference, July 11-14, in San Diego!

It was great to see so many friends, customers, business partners and fans at the recent Esri International Users' Conference. Many Esri customers are discovering they can leverage their Esri investment, save money on fleet costs and use real-time analytics to improve ther customer service, increase accountability, provide worker safety and show fast ROI.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS

These lucky visitors to the CompassCom booth at the Esri International User's Conference have won remote control vehicles:

Christopher McConn, Idea Integration, Houston, TX

Darrel Redfort, LDS Church, Salt Lake City, UT

Bill Thompson, TracPlus Global, Alpine, CA

William Keever, City of Aurora, Colorado, Aurora, CO

Murty Korada, CyberTech Systems & Software, Trevose, PA

Winners will be able to pick their model: police car, dump truck, fire engine.

Don't worry - if you want another chance at winning, we will soon offer registration through our new website. Check back often!

Next big show: APWA Congress and Expo in Denver, CO, Sept. 18-21

Our Public Works customers are very important to us - we can't wait to welcome them to our corporate home town, Denver! See us there at booth 1442.

 

Contact us for a live demonstration and a consultation on how AVL can provide Return on Investment for you: 800-787-0651 or email mgkovacs@compasscom.com.

 

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