Driver Watch Systems Blog

Driver Watch Systems is happy to inform you that Navman Wireless has announced the new Qube 3, an upgrade to the GPS vehicle tracking device that is a core component of our OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking system. Featuring the lowest failure rate in the industry, the Qube has now been enhanced with advanced tamper detection, eight-day backup battery, built-in motion sensor and related alerts.

The Qube 3 also offers:

• A tamper-resistant cover that protects all connections and thwarts employee efforts to disable the GPS signal in order to hide unauthorized vehicle use. If the cover is tampered with, the system detects the interference and automatically sends real-time email or text alerts to designated personnel.
• An eight-day backup battery in standby mode, and eight hour backup battery in full operation, (with one minute updates) that enables continued GPS tracking even if a thief cuts the wires that connect the Qube to the vehicle. The new battery is built into the Qube device to prevent removal.
• A built-in motion sensor that detects and alerts dispatchers or other personnel to off-hours vehicle movement. This feature can help managers prevent theft, moonlighting and personal use of the vehicle.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn how your company can benefit from fleet tracking.

Navman Wireless has just released the M-Nav 760, the newest edition of their all-in-one in-vehicle dispatch, messaging and GPS navigation unit designed for use with OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking system. The device increases fleet productivity and reduces operating costs by automating communications and job routing with drivers on the road, enables compliance with hands-free phone regulations via new built-in Bluetooth technology, and is the only product in its class built with a rugged rubberized housing and touchscreen to withstand heavy commercial use.

The M-Nav 760 also features:

• Built-in Bluetooth technology that enables drivers to make and answer phone calls wirelessly for safety and regulatory compliance without the expense and installation of a separate hands-free kit.
• Routing based on truck attributes such as length and weight, helping to prevent fines for non-compliance with road regulations. Dispatchers can also configure the system to guide drivers to their destinations by the shortest or fastest route.
• Driver ID functionality enabling the back-office OnlineAVL2 software to capture drivers’ hours, generate time cards electronically, and analyze attributes such as speed and mileage to evaluate individual driver and overall fleet productivity.
• Pre-programmed messaging, with up to 100 customizable preset messages, that enhances safety by enabling drivers to tap the screen to communicate with dispatchers instead of typing a text or email while driving.
• Real-time forms-based reporting enabling drivers to indicate how much time they spent at a job site, what consumables they used, what they charged and other key data from the field for instant integration with the back-office software.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn more about the Navman fleet tracking system!

Have you been looking at a fleet tracking system for your company?

You probably understand the economics; you realize the system will pay for itself in just a few short months but you either don’t want to pay for the system or you don’t have the cash to pay for the system upfront.  That is very understandable in this economy, it’s also very understandable that you want to save money with your fleet expenses.  Navman Wireless is a leader in the GPS vehicle tracking industry and with a leading system comes a leading partnership; from purchase through implementation to everyday use.  We make it very easy to get a system for your company, with our bundled pricing for one payment a month you get the equipment, shipping, installation and service.  It’s that easy to begin tracking and saving money on your fleet.

If you pay to keep commercial vehicles on the road we need to talk; contact Driver Watch Systems today!

Increase your productivity with Navman Wireless:

• Gain instant visibility of your fleet’s location and eliminate calls to the driver.
• Improve routing and send the nearest vehicle to a site using turn-by-turn navigation on the M-Nav.
• Be proactive to reduce downtime and waiting time of vehicles and accomplish more jobs in a day.
• Streamline the workload for everyone in the office by running reports for easy analysis.
• Use Navman Wireless Messaging to communicate with your fleet more efficiently – send all job details quickly and accurately
• Get your team up and running with the Navman Wireless system in no time – it’s easy to install and use, even by those who don’t use computers often.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today!

Less Overtime

• Driver efficiency increased instantly upon implementation of Navman vehicle tracking.
• Quicker return times have enabled the company to utilize drivers in the warehouse, as well- for even more savings in manpower and overtime.
• Land ‘N’ Sea pays $15 per hour for overtime.   They consider a savings in overtime of one-half hour every day per vehicle to be a conservative estimate.

Fuel

• Navman Activity Reports have helped Land ‘N’ Sea to optimize delivery routes to save both time and fuel.
• Idle Reports tell them when a truck starts, when it stops and how long it’s left idling.
• Delivery trucks use about $800 of fuel a month.  The company has seen a 10% reduction in fuel use.

Additional Benefits

• Land ‘N’ Sea knows their customers need their parts ASAP.  With Navman GPS tracking, they know the precise location of every truck and every order.  They also provide their customers instant, up-to-date ETAs on their deliveries.
• Land ‘N’ Sea has set Geofences to alert the warehouse when a returning driver is 5 miles out.  When he arrives, his manifest and invoices are ready, and his next load is waiting at the bay.
• Replay a Day has enabled Land ‘N’ Sea to optimize route planning- expediting deliveries and, at the same time, saving fuel.
• Using Mileage Reports, Land ‘N’ Sea can tell which trucks need to be rotated to lower-mileage routes to keep them within the allowable lease mileage.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn how we can help your company save time and money with the Navman Wireless system.

School Transportation Provider Also Increased Safety

Navman Wireless announced today that Provider Enterprises, a New Hampshire-based school transportation company, has been recognized in the InfoWorld Green 15 2010 Awards for its use of Navman Wireless’ OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking technology to reduce fuel usage and achieve other operational efficiencies. Provider is one of only 15 companies to be named to the magazine’s list of “Green IT Stars of 2010″ for their use of information technology to promote sustainability.

Provider handles transportation services for more than 1,500 special needs children attending 200 different schools. With Navman Wireless’ technology, the company is able to track the location of its 188 vehicles in real time, monitor fuel consumption, optimize vehicle maintenance schedules, notify drivers electronically when a child does not need to be picked up, quickly route buses with or without wheelchair lifts as needed, and more.

In the first year of use, the Navman Wireless system helped the Provider reduce fuel expenses by nearly 10 percent for a savings of approximately $50,000. Contributing factors included the system’s ability to alert dispatchers when vehicles are idling in violation of company policy, route the closest appropriately equipped vehicle to meet the passenger’s particular impairment, eliminate unnecessary trips when a child does not need transportation on a given day, and identify unauthorized personal vehicle use.

The system also has helped Provider increase safety by identifying drivers who speed, fail to stop at railroad tracks or neglect to enforce seat belt requirements.

“This recognition by InfoWorld highlights both the green benefits and the business value of our technology, ranging from reducing fuel, labor and operating costs to improving productivity,” said Navman Wireless CEO T.J. Chung. “Having real-time insight into fleet activity makes it possible to identify waste, squeeze out inefficiencies and otherwise optimize fleet operations.”

Navman Wireless’ OnlineAVL2 vehicle tracking and fleet optimization software tracks all vehicles in the fleet in real time as well as measuring fleet, vehicle and driver performance. It works in tandem with the Qube, the Navman Wireless tracking device installed in each vehicle. The system’s real-time insight into fleet usage helps reduce fleet operating costs by improving dispatch efficiencies, reducing fuel usage, and identifying problems such as inaccurate timesheets, unauthorized stops and personal vehicle use.

Customers also have the option to equip drivers with mobile Navman Wireless communication devices enabling easy and low-cost two-way message exchange with pre-programmed push-button responses that eliminate manual texting. The company’s MDT 860 offers mobile dispatch and messaging capabilities, while its M-Nav 750 integrates dispatch, messaging and turn-by-turn GPS navigation on the same unit.

To learn how your company can save please contact Driver Watch Systems today!

Driver Watch Systems would like to welcome Universal Engineering Sciences as a new customer. With nearly 200 fleet vehicles they are one of  the premier engineering consultants in the South East.

Universal is a company that has been using a GPS vehicle tracking system for over 10 years, they understand the importance of a state of the art system!  They have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years and we are honored they have chosen to partner with DWS and Navman to continue this tradition of saving time and money!

We are looking forward to reporting the success of this new relationship for years to come!

Improved Fleet Management

• Roadside Transport used to track their fleet with another system.  Whether they’re lost, late, or just to provide ETA, Roadside needs to find their trucks fast. Director of Operations, Joe Best, “The Navman querying and reporting is the best I’ve ever seen.  It really makes our jobs a lot easier.”
• The State Mileage Report particularly helps Roadside when paying Road Use Tax.  In a click of the mouse they’ve replaced hours or routing and calculation.  It gives Roadside piece of mind to know Navman Wireless has the most reliable and accurate reporting.

Reduced Fuel Costs

• Idling is a major cost for Roadside Transport.  “When the weather’s nice, there’s no reason to be running the engine.”  Navman’s Idle Report allows Roadside to keep a close eye on their fuel budget.
• Also serving to reduce engine hours Overspeed Reports help to keep driver under 70mph cutting down on fuel costs as well.
• Roadside Transport estimates they’ve slashed fuel costs by at least 10%, a savings of $843.75 per vehicle per month.

Additional Benefits

• Satellite Mapping eliminates downtime and improves safety.  Dispatch is quick to re-route trucks, saving them the trouble of searching maps.
• Querying allows dispatch to accurately and quickly give customers a location and ETA. “The system eliminates uncertainty.  Being able to verify where a driver is at all times without a doubt, is teh main reason we use Navman Wireless.”
• Some of Roadside Transport’s trucks are kept at the drivers’ homes and off site locations.  Geofences report the exact times that trucks leave in the morning, stop at their designated locations, and return at night.
• Payroll can be time consuming and tedious especially when your drivers take the vehicles home.  Time Sheet Reports help Roadside to pay their employees without spending any time adding up hours or dealing with disputes.
• Providing the very best customer service is Roadside’s number one priority .  Route To functionality allows Dispatch to route the closest vehicle to the job site within moments of a customer call.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn how your company can save!

Any transportation or service business wanting to excel in today’s marketplace needs real-time, continuous, accurate information on the activities of every vehicle in the fleet.  Want to increase productivity?  Reduce overtime and other operating costs?  Deliver a new dimension in customer service?

GPS Fleet Management Benefits:

Reduce Costs

Enjoy lower fuel costs and communication costs, less vehicle wear and tear, eliminate unauthorized vehicle usage and see fewer timesheet and billing discrepancies.

Optimize Productivity

With our ability to help you improve scheduling, you can reduce downtime, optimize the use of your vehicles and complete more jobs in a day.

Upgrade Customer Service

Become a trusted partner of your customers by providing more efficient service, more accurate ETAs and more accurate invoices.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn how we can design a system for your company!

Upgrade Also Expands Messaging & Improves Map Views for Larger Fleets

GLENVIEW, Ill., May 12 Navman Wireless today announced the addition of route compliance reporting to its OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking software, providing the first AVL-integrated SMB solution for monitoring driver adherence to daily routing schedules. The new Version 10.1 also includes a major expansion of OnlineAVL2’s messaging platform for in-vehicle communication between drivers and dispatchers, new vehicle clustering for easy at-a-glance map views of larger fleets, and other technical and usability upgrades to optimize fleet performance and costs.

The enhancements extend the benefits that have made OnlineAVL2 one of the leading GPS-based fleet tracking solutions in the world, with deployments on five continents that are helping companies reduce fuel usage, trim other operating costs, improve fleet productivity and maximize customer service. Highlights of the 10.1 release include:

• Route compliance reporting allowing users to compare planned stops generated by a third-party routing or scheduling application with actual vehicle activity as recorded in the OnlineAVL2 application. Separate vehicle and driver compliance reports show completed, missed and unplanned stops plus planned and actual arrival time, stop duration and departure time at each location. This information can be used to help enforce schedule adherence for school buses, service delivery vans, and other fleets. Integration with OnlineAVL2 eliminates the need to purchase and deploy a separate compliance application, minimizes costs, and provides fleet tracking and compliance from a single interface.
• Enhanced message tracking for interactions between the dispatch center and the in-vehicle Navman Wireless mobile communication device. Upgrades include a new email-style messaging center for easy message visibility, message status icons, optional message read receipts, map display of driver-sent message location, expanded message reporting, and the ability to view entire e-versations between a given driver and dispatcher by thread for rapid event reconstruction.
• Vehicle clustering allowing vehicles within a certain geographic proximity to be merged together in a single vehicle icon on the OnlineAVL2 map for faster map loading and easier real-time tracking of larger fleets. The number of clusters as well as the number of vehicles within each cluster changes as users zoom in or out, providing multiple views of fleet location and distribution. Users can define the color of the cluster icons based on the number of vehicles per cluster.

Version 10.1 also adds support for Citrix environments, increased capacity for sending large numbers of routing messages simultaneously, faster report generation, and a variety of other upgrades.

“This release of OnlineAVL2 equips fleet managers and operators with new real-time insights into fleet usage, from planned versus actual route stops to easier message visibility, message analysis and rollup/drilldown of map views – all at no additional cost to our customers in keeping with our standard upgrade policy,” said Renaat Ver Eecke, Vice President and General Manager, Navman Wireless North America. “These features provide new opportunities for optimizing fleet activities and achieving incremental reductions in fuel, labor and vehicle operating costs and inefficiencies.”

All OnlineAVL2 upgrades are included with new product purchases at no extra charge and provided free to current customers, either on request or during the next scheduled automatic software update.

Contact Driver Watch Systems today to learn how you can take advantage of this money saving system!