New 'Green' Strategy for Bulldozers & Other Construction Equipment

GLENVIEW, Ill., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate and public works fleets are increasingly using GPS fleet tracking systems to curb fuel consumption for on-road vehicles such as company cars and service vans, but use of the same technology to help 'green' construction equipment has been limited. Barriers have included a lack of GPS tracking devices able to operate reliably in extreme off-road conditions, as well as an inability to manage both on- and off-road vehicles from the same application.

Today those stumbling blocks are being removed, paving the way for efficiency gains based on insights into equipment usage patterns such as excessive idling that wastes fuel. Fleet tracking systems provide these insights by correlating GPS data with other information to analyze fleet performance.

One sign of the new GPS tracking capabilities for construction fleets is Navman Wireless' just-released Qtanium 300, a ruggedized GPS tracking device with an IP67-rated waterproof enclosure and connecting cables designed to withstand the dirt, weather and vibrations suffered by bulldozers, excavators, cranes and other off-road 'yellow iron' assets.

Roughly the size of an external hard drive, the Qtanium 300 installs anywhere on any make or model of construction equipment, monitors each vehicle's location in real time via GPS, and transmits the data to Navman Wireless' OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking and management software for analysis and reporting. With this information, fleet managers can track real-time vehicle usage, minimize fuel and other operating costs, and identify other opportunities for increasing productivity and profits.

Complete Visibility

At the most basic level, the Qtanium 300 allows dispatchers to see the actual location of all construction assets in their fleet on a desktop map in real time. When the new tracking device is used in conjunction with its Navman Wireless counterpart for on-road vehicles, called the Qube, all vehicles in the fleet can be merged on the same map for a complete view of fleet deployment. That includes construction equipment, on-road support vehicles such as fuel and lube trucks, and non-construction assets such as cars, vans and buses.

Different map icons can be assigned to different types of assets so that authorized users can differentiate vehicle types at a glance. Front-end loaders can instantly be distinguished from backhoes and pickup trucks, for example.

In addition, the data gathered by the Qtanium unit is used to generate new OnlineAVL2 construction-specific reports that document asset utilization, asset location, engine hours and sensor-based equipment information such as how many times a crane arm wired to the Qtanium unit by a sensor moves up or down. These reports equip fleet managers with key information for leaning and greening their operations.

One contractor using fleet tracking technology, for example, slashed more than $800,000 in diesel expenses for its 400+ heavy construction machines last year by identifying fuel-wasting practices such as excessive idling. Equipment utilization data collected by the system also is enabling that contractor to improve job billing and bidding accuracy, optimize maintenance schedules and achieve other efficiencies.

"Being able to see the location of both on- and off-road fleet vehicles in real time on the same map display, and access reports on the entire fleet from the same application, is far more efficient and effective than using different programs for different kinds of vehicles," said Renaat Ver Eecke, Vice President and General Manager, Navman Wireless North America. "Dispatchers, fleet managers and executives now have all the information they need to monitor and optimize their operations in one place."

In-Depth Reporting

In addition to pinpointing opportunities to reduce fuel consumption, the new construction reports help reduce downtime of construction fleets through proactive maintenance management based on actual engine hours. They also provide accurate equipment utilization history that can be used in developing job bids, improve daily cost management by accurately charging each piece of equipment, and help maximize fleet productivity and profits in a variety of other ways.

The new reports complement and extend OnlineAVL2's extensive reporting library for on-road vehicles, which cover a broad range of additional information on fleet, vehicle and driver performance such as driver stops, driving speed and geofence violations.

OnlineAVL2 is delivered under the Software-as-a-Service model with no major in-house software installation or maintenance required. The OnlineAVL2 application and all accompanying hardware – including the Qube on-road and Qtanium off-road GPS tracking devices, plus mobile messaging/turn-by-turn GPS navigation devices available for use with on-road vehicles - are developed and manufactured by Navman Wireless.

About Navman Wireless

Navman Wireless is a global leader in GPS-based fleet optimization products and services, including real-time vehicle tracking and OEM GPS solutions that enable companies to track, monitor and communicate with their movable and fixed equipment assets. The company's flagship OnlineAVL2/Qube system is installed in more than 110,000 vehicles owned by over 8,500 customers worldwide, making Navman Wireless one of the world's largest fleet management providers with coverage on five continents. Navman Wireless is based in Glenview, IL, with facilities in the U.S., Mexico, UK, Italy, Taiwan, Ireland, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. For more information, visit www.navmanwireless.com.

SOURCE Navman Wireless