Nov/Dec 2003

James & Son (GM), an animal feed supplier, has installed an unusual combination of real-time vehicle tracking and fixed resource monitoring to streamline its collection and delivery operations.

The system has been supplied by BOX Telematics, and features two main components. Real-time GPS-based tracking equipment has been fitted in the company's collection and delivery vehicles, and a silo level management system is being used to monitor the fill status of the grain and feed silos from which the vehicles make collections.

The company had experienced problems in the past when its vehicles had to wait at suppliers' premises until it was possible to collect full loads. This prejudiced subsequent collections, which in turn could cause problems for the suppliers (brewers and food processors), since full silos could halt production.

With the new system, James & Son traffic managers can monitor the location of the vehicles in real time, and redirect them as necessary to ensure that silos don't reach critical fill levels. There is also an alarm system which is triggered automatically when pre-programmed silo threshold levels are reached.

The company says it also sees benefits in route planning, trend monitoring and stolen vehicle recovery.

Altogether 16 silos across the country have been fitted with the monitoring equipment, and all ten vehicles in the James fleet have been equipped with tracking systems. A PC Card-based wireless modem has also been fitted in one of the company's laptop PCs, allowing managers to interrogate the system remotely.