Vehicle Tracking

Do You Need To Know Where Your Trucks Are?

Imagine yourself owning or managing a fleet of trucks. May be twenty or thirty of them. You have to move produce all over the country, and your responsibility, or even your business survival was dependant entirely on having these units work their schedule as efficiently as possible. With the increases in fuel cots over the last two or three years, the margins for cost control have become tighter and tighter, and there is almost no room for error whatsoever. You need to know where each and every vehicle in your fleet is at all times. And the good news is that by utilizing the power of GPS you can do so!

GPS (Global Positioning System) came into general circulation way back in the late 1980's and heralded a breakthrough in location technology. GPS is powered by a network comprising 24 satellites which were placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. These satellites circumvent the planet and form a constant grid covering every centimeter of the Earth's surface. Every GPS transmitter sends a signal for example every hour, or every fifteen minutes. This signal is gathered by the nearest satellite to it in the GPS, which bounces it back to Earth. With this information, the GPS system can track the transmitter's location exceptionally accurately.

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very precise orbit and transmit signal information to earth. GPS receivers take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user's exact location. Essentially, the GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Now, with distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and display it on the unit's electronic map.

Think for a moment, what installing a GPS transmitter can do and is doing for operators of large fleets of commercial trucks. An operator can know in real time where each of his trucks is situated and how the truck's location equates with the schedule that has been set for it.

What this location-tracking technology has done to streamline supply chains for corporations, seeking to move products to the market faster, and to monitor assets and prevent inventory loss, has compensated for the rise in fuel costs that these companies have had to absorb over the last few years, by increasing the efficiency of their operations dramatically.

Fleet tracking systems are becoming more affordable and within the reach of everyone. The rapid return in investment that installing a GPS system makes it a must for any company or organisation who has even one truck, van or private car to worry about.

• Insurance companies are reducing premiums, sometimes by up to 30% for those who install GPS Systems in their vehicles.
• Fuel expenses are dropping, as employees are less inclined to make personal journeys, using company fuel.
• Increased sales and customer service, due to being able to provide customers with an accurate delivery time.
• Ability to track unauthorized use of company vehicles after work hours.
• The ability to track whether company drivers are breaking speed limits!

These are just a few examples of the cost savings and rises in levels of company efficiency companies and corporations are realizing by installing a GPS vehicle location system in their fleet. This technological breakthrough has been a major weapon in the battle to prevent the unnecessary use of fuel, which is constantly on the rise.