<wf&fsa TECH
report>
Written by
Mark Berglund
Washington Floral Service, Inc.
Tacoma, WA
WF&FSA Technology Committee
Global Positioning Tracking (GPS)
based truck tracking is a technology many Wholesale Florist and Florist Supplier Association (WF&FSA) members may find useful. In recent years the cost has come down considerably, and the capabilities of the equipment and services available have increased. Washington Floral Service has been using a tracking service for the past 5 years and recently rolled the plan out to our entire fleet of trucks. This write-up is not meant to be comprehensive – this is only an overview based on the information we put together evaluating the different services available and the quotes we received.
Global positioning tracking services consist of a mobile GPS unit which travels with the driver or truck, and either a data storage device or data transmitting device. The type of service you would choose depends on the particular problem you are trying to solve. Some general benefits you might expect to see are:
• Tracking drivers’ use of time
• Start time – Quit time for outside based employees • Sales stops – where did salespeople stop? For how long? • Track driver speeds and routes
• Reduced mileage and fuel costs • Confirmation of delivery times
• Estimating delivery times while driver is en route • Theft tracking of trucks
• Driver safety • Insurance savings
• Elimination of unauthorized use • Maintenance tracking
I had two issues I was looking to work on – drivers use of time (and my overtime costs), and streamlining our vehicle maintenance tracking.
We saw immediate and dramatic improvements in the times our delivery
routes were completed.
If I didn’t know better I would assume there may previously have been wasted time during the day. We also did streamline our maintenance tracking for the trucks. I’ll provide better details of our service later.
There are two main types of GPS tracking units – active and passive.
Passive Think of a passive unit as a black box GPS receiver with batteries and a recorder. You mount the unit in your truck, and it tracks whatever it is designed to track. Usually this would include the location of the truck every 10 minutes, route traveled, speed, stop locations and time spent at each stop. Depending on the unit you buy you could get this information from a report, or as a map overlay. This information stays in the “black box” until you pull the box and attach it to your computer. An example of this type of system would be LandSeaAir Tracking Key available
from www.vehicle-tracking.com . Major benefit of this type of system is cost – there is a lower up front cost, and no monthly fees.
Active An active solution would include the same type of information, but instead of sitting in a black box in the glove compartment until the end of the day or the next day, this information is periodically uploaded via a cellular network. This makes all the information available to you as you need it via your computer. This allows for much more streamlined delivery of reports, and the ability to track your trucks and drivers in real time. What time will Andrew make that delivery to Floral Concepts? Pop up the map and see where he is. He’s currently stopped at the shop down the street – let’s estimate 10 minutes.
Active GPS solutions can be divided further into two types of products – self hosted or outside
hosted.
Self Hosted This is like hosting your own e-mail or website. You’re in charge. It is programming that lives on your computer – the truck units upload all info to your location and it is available there in whatever format you choose. In our shopping we felt that for organizations larger than us this may well be the way to go since the monthly costs were somewhat less expensive. We just aren’t large enough to make it pay – especially when you figure the upfront software cost and the ongoing care and feeding of another computer system. An example of this system would be something from the SageQuest family of products, available at www.sage-quest.com .
Outside Hosted With an outside hosted system, your interaction with the tracking system is all web-based. You can access the information from anywhere you have an internet connection. Monthly costs, depending on the provider, are probably a little higher than a self-hosted service, but you don’t have any programming to worry about, no extra computers to keep and you have access from anywhere. This is the solution we chose, from @Road, Inc. www.atroad.com .
We decided to go with @Road, Inc. The service is hosted outside, and our interaction with the system is all online. They provide a variety of different reports, real-time mapping, exception reports (truck out of area, over speed, etc.) and vehicle maintenance tracking. They also offer a service using a Sprint / Nextel phone instead of an installed black box. We use one of these for an outside salesperson.
We have set up the service so that each morning we receive an e-mail with a link to a report. I’ve posted a sample to our website for you to view: http://www.washingtonfloral.com/Custom/Documents/files/Daily_Detail.html
The sample shows a table-based report with a separate section for each truck. Each line is either a stop, or a regular 15-minute interval check on position. Each stop is color coded: no color means a less than 3 minute stop. Green stops are 3 to 15 minutes, yellow are 15 to 30 minutes and red are 30 minute stops and over. These times can be
customized. You will also notice that most stops are also labeled by customer name – this information can be uploaded either stop-by-stop, or as a batch upload of your customer base. Each stop gives the date, time, distance (from start of day), customer name and / or location and county. Each scheduled 15 minute increment will tell the same info, plus their speed and direction. You can get this same information immediately during the day if you need to track someone’s progress without waiting. This is a concise, easy to scan report that you can review with drivers as needed. We’ve caught and corrected quite a few issues using this report – including daily naps and visits to
girlfriends’ houses.
The other view we use constantly is the map view. These are generated in real-time, so I’ll include some samples at the end rather than to link online. In short, the map view brings up a customizable map of your area, with icons for each of your trucks. A diamond icon represents a stopped vehicle – hover your mouse over it to determine how long it’s been stopped. An arrow indicates a moving vehicle, and it’s direction. Hover your mouse over it for more info. You can also enable a “breadcrumbs” view of the map, showing the route a particular truck took during the day.
The last portion of the service which we are using is the maintenance tracking feature. The black boxes track the mileage your trucks run fairly accurately. The maintenance feature allows you to enter your routine and periodic service needs into the system, enter your trucks current mileage (one time, with occasional checking needed) and receive reminders when the service is due. You can schedule reminders based on either time or on mileage traveled. With about 15 vehicles on the road, we are just large enough for manual tracking of all this to be a problem. We’ve found this system to be much more streamlined and easy to use.
The @ Road monitoring system has worked well for us, but it isn’t cheap. Plan on about $55 per truck per month on an ongoing basis, with an approximate $400 up-front fee for the hardware. You’ll have to do the cost analysis for your own business. I hate paying the bill every month, but in a more objective way I know how few hours I have to shave off each drivers timecard to make up for that monthly fee. It’s not a lot of hours. The customer service you can provide giving better delivery ETAs is nice as well, but keeping control of the hours is where the money is at for us.
If you have any questions I would be happy to discuss our experience, or to let you borrow a log-on to our system and walk you through. You can reach me at (253) 472-8343, or mberglund@washingtonfloral.com .
Mark Berglund Washington Floral Service
Sample of an overview map
One of us usually keeps this open on our computers as a guide to how the drivers are progressing on their routes during the day. Positions update automatically every 15 minutes.
Sample of a city-level map
We named each of our trucks with their truck number, and each is assigned a different color. Diamonds are stopped trucks, arrows are moving trucks. You can use the tools at the top to zoom in or out, or to select different features on the map for viewing.
Sample of street-level map, showing the “customer landmark” feature enabled.
This overlays your customer shop locations on the map. Useful at a detail level.
WHOLESALERS. Because it takes more than flowers to grow your business.®
Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association
147 Old Solomons Island Rd., Suite 302, Annapolis, MD 21401 Phone: 888-289-3372, Fax: 410-573-5001
e-mail: jwanko@wffsa.org www.wffsa.org
