Oct/Nov 2007

A lone worker tracking system has been launched by handheld computer manufacturer Psion Teklogix in association with TMS2, the tracking systems specialist.

The system is based on TMS2's

i-Track Internet based fleet management and telematics solution, adapted for this new role and modified to work in conjunction with Psion's next-generation Workabout Pro rugged handheld computer (m.logistics, issue 29).

The Workabout is fitted with a GPS unit, and reports its position back to base wirelessly. The system does more than simply monitor the current position and status of workers and/or vehicles; it can also be expanded to monitor the status of jobs such as service calls, deliveries and so on.

 

The system is being supplied as a managed service. According to Vipul Palan, commercial director of TMS: 'By combining it with a handheld computer device we believe we have made state of the art telematics available to a far wider user base.'

'How tracking can save you fuel' - Microlise explains

In the face of fuel prices of over £1 per litre at the pump, Microlise is throwing extra emphasis on the ability of its vehicle tracking and telematics solutions to save operators fuel.

In pursuit of this objective, the latest version of the KPI Reports module offered as part of the Microlise portfolio of solutions includes a tool to reduce fuel consumption. It produces a report which ranks individuals or groups of drivers against the average fuel consumption for the organisation, and also shows longer-term trends to indicate if individual performance is improving or declining.

The report determines automatically how much of a route is urban or highway on the basis of average speed, and results can be viewed for groups of drivers (for instance, selected by vehicle type, route type or branch location) or for individual drivers.

The results highlight anomalies, which can then be investigated for either repair of vehicle faults or driver performance training.