March/April 2005

Logistics contractor Lloyd Fraser is fitting Susie-Track trailer tracking equipment on all 240 of the road trailers used on one of its key contracts. Susie-Track manufacturer TMC innovations claims the deal is biggest ever placed for trailer tracking in Britain or Europe.

The selection of Susie-Track follows comparative trials run by Lloyd Fraser last year, in which this make is said to have scored highest in three key areas - reliability, price and functionality of hardware and software (including the operational effectiveness of the product).

According to Keith Spencer of Lloyd Fraser (Contracts): "We looked at trailer tracking for some time to add another dimension to our logistics services to obtain operational cost savings and increased customer satisfaction. We believe TMC has the best product available on the market and we are impressed with their product and quality of support."

There are two main components to the equipment - a permanently fixed bracket with its own identity (this is wired into the trailer electrics), and a removable "cassette" containing the tracking unit, complete with GSM communication module and GPS antenna.

 

Unusually, the equipment is being fitted on trailers hired to cover seasonal peaks as well as to Lloyd Fraser's own fleet.

The position and status of each trailer is transmitted regularly over GPRS to TMS's FleetFacts back-office software via its central server, showing the position of the trailer on a street-level map. Details include time and location of coupling and uncoupling, whether the trailer is on the road or parked up, and times of door openings and closings. Any number of depots and customer sites can be geofenced.