How to cut fleet costs

The digitalization of a transport company optimizes costs and makes the business profitable.

The costs of operating a corporate fleet are usually higher than budgeted. The main reason for this discrepancy is the human factor. Drivers leak gasoline, use vehicles for other purposes, do not take care of the equipment, and ignore the rules of safe driving. Transport monitoring system and digitalization of ATP will help the management to establish full control over the actions of employees and make the business profitable.

Today, logistics companies have several directions to reduce operating costs:

1. Reducing fuel costs
2. Control over misuse of vehicles
3. Reducing the number of vehicles while increasing fleet efficiency
4. Control over maintenance and repair of vehicles
5. Control over driving quality

Saving on fuel

Fuel thefts can reach up to 50% in some farms, which are especially remote from civilization. There are still drivers who believe that half a tank belongs to them by right, as a kind of bonus to the reward for their hard work. The cure is operational, by installing a monitoring system. A GLONASS/GPS terminal is implanted in the car, and a fuel level sensor (FLS) is installed in the gas tank. Satellite telematics tracks the movement of equipment, calculates mileage, monitors refueling and fuel consumption. If the tank has “dried up” by 20-30 liters in a few minutes, it means that the driver has drained the fuel.

The accuracy of the FLS does not exceed 1%, so it is impossible to deceive the electronics and the dispatcher. Practice shows that installation of fuel control systems reduces fuel consumption by up to 30%. For large companies it saves millions of rubles every month. Fuel consumption is also influenced by the driver's driving style. Daredevils (sudden acceleration/deceleration) burn 5-10% more than rational drivers. In turn, rational drivers can waste fuel in idling mode without turning off the engine while parked. Telematics will inform the dispatcher about all these events via GLONASS/GPS channels. Transportation monitoring system pays off the cost of installation within 3-5 months of operation.

Leaving the route

Since the times of the USSR, some drivers believe that their “workhorse” can be used for non-business trips. It is not a sin to take your wife to the market or to go fishing on Saturday. But only at whose expense? But now the same GLONASS/GPS terminal will not let you leave the route. The management of the fleet online 24/7 on the monitor screen sees all the movements of vehicles: where and how long the car was standing, at what speed the vehicle moved on each section of the path. Information about the movement of vehicles is stored on the server. Drivers only have to strictly follow the established route. Otherwise - a fine or dismissal.

Increasing efficiency, reducing the number of trucking companies

According to the information of experts of the Analytical Department of the Group of Companies “MONTRANS”, before installation of monitoring and analytical systems the efficiency of vehicle fleets is 14-20%. Increasing the number of vehicles is often unjustified and does not bring positive effect. Such conclusions were made during the implementation of digitalization at enterprises of various industries. We analyzed the indicators of useful work of vehicles to the total time of transport presence at various sites.

For example, introducing telematics, one of the divisions of “Severstal” within 6 months increased the efficiency of machines from 22% to 48%. As a result, 2 trucks were written off and the purchase program was reduced by 3 more vehicles. The experience of recent years shows that after implementing monitoring and transport analytics systems into the enterprise management system, business owners get a tenfold economic effect compared to the costs invested in the company's digitalization. In such cases, there is no need to purchase new equipment.

For example, one of the clients of MONTRANS Group, the company AVTEK, delivers light oil products in Moscow and neighboring regions. Their refueling trucks are equipped with the latest telematic solutions that work in the MONTRANS cloud service. The system fully controls the technical condition of tractors and trailers, driver's work and operational processes. Nine video cameras monitor the actions of the employee and everything that happens outside the truck train. After implementation of telemetry, fuel savings at the company amounted to 20%. As a result of logistics optimization AVTEK reduced the number of vehicles.

Sergey Zabrodin, chief mechanic of AVTEK JSC: “Automation of fleet control allowed us to understand - how much faster we can make each trip. We can clearly see where all our vehicles are. It became easier for dispatchers to manage the fleet. Out of 42 vehicles, we've sold 8. And not all the vehicles are still in use. And the volume of transportation is greater than before. And tractors are now worth a lot”.

Maintenance

MRO is a parable about those who pay twice. By extending maintenance intervals and saving money on consumables, the owner of a trucking company runs the risk of going bankrupt. “Bald” tires, old engine oil, a torn penny gasket or a dirty filter can cause serious accidents or breakdowns. For example, scheduled maintenance of a car costs from several thousand rubles. If the car flies into the oncoming traffic because of poor grip of wheels with the road or the engine jams on the highway, the repair can cost hundreds, if not millions of rubles. And it is not always possible for a car service employee to accurately determine the timing of a particular type of maintenance.

Russian programmers have developed a unique monitoring and fleet management system MONTRANS.ANALYTICS. The service helps to minimize the costs of fuel and lubricants consumption and increase vehicle productivity. The top management of the company receives final reports with absolutely true and accurate indicators, as the human factor was excluded during their preparation. The management of the company controls the movement of vehicles, idle time, engine and machinery operation time, refueling and fuel drains, facts of traffic violations, technical condition of machinery units and mechanisms.

For example, in the Far North, one maintenance of special equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of rubles, and millions for the fleet as a whole. If the service is carried out more often than it is required, for a large corporation it can cost significant sums. To avoid additional costs, it is necessary to obtain accurate information about the work of machines and mechanisms and, guided by the actual indicators of operation and mileage, to plan maintenance.

Evgeny Maksaev, Managing Partner of MONTRANS Group of Companies: “MONTRANS.ANALYTICS cloud service makes control objective and the process of fleet management transparent. IT-solution helps to save considerable funds. The program module helps to monitor the condition and physical wear of the units, which helps to extend the service life of the vehicles. One of the main points is that transportation is used more efficiently, which increases the efficiency of the entire enterprise.”

Driving quality

Unfortunately, daredevilry and rudeness behind the wheel are still present on domestic roads. These factors can bring significant losses to car companies if they do not “educate” drivers. Once again, transportation telematics comes to the rescue.
The latest IT solution in the field of road safety is MONTRANS DVR. The intelligent video system is essentially a co-pilot in the car cockpit. The equipment works on “two fronts” at once. On the one hand - the electronic assistant helps the driver to avoid dangerous road accidents, and on the other hand - the head of the fleet receives full information about the work of the equipment.

According to the traffic police, in Russia 93% of accidents occur due to the loss of driver's attention. Someone is distracted by the phone, someone smokes while driving, and someone's eyes close due to a night out on a trip. In case of such events, the video system will warn a person about possible danger. Practice confirms that if the driver's attention is attracted 1.5 seconds before the expected accident, the accident can be prevented in 90% of cases.

In addition, the MONTRANS DVR solution monitors various dangerous situations on the vehicle's route. The system prompts the driver about such events as: moving out of the lane on the highway, the appearance of a pedestrian, the dangerous approach to an object. When such situations occur, the electronic pilot warns the driver by voice, and warning signs appear on the monitor. According to the statistics of experts from the field of satellite monitoring, such video monitoring systems reduce the accident rate by up to 80%.

For example, in 2021 in Angarsk, RN-Fire Safety equipped 83 cars with the MONTRANS DVR system. As a result, not a single accident was recorded in the fleet during the year.

Andrey Shevchenko, head of the department of technical and technical equipment of RN-Fire Safety LLC (Angarsk): “Our company has already implemented MONTRANS solutions. This is the MONTRANS DVR system of control and driver assistance. The very fact of placing such equipment in the cab increases the attention of employees and driving culture. The system helps to comply with traffic regulations and to control drivers' actions online”.

Thus, MONTRANS DVR brings a double benefit to the trucking company:

For the driver:
1. Increased driving safety
2. Reduction in the number of fines
3. Compliance with work and rest schedules

For the supervisor:
1. Reliable reports on personnel and transportation activities
2. Establishment of a motivation system for drivers
3. Evidentiary base in case of disputable issues

By transferring its fleet to a cloud service, the fleet owner significantly reduces fleet costs, fuel and lubricant expenses, transportation begins to work with greater efficiency, equipment lasts longer, and drivers are less likely to violate and have fewer accidents. Taking these factors into account, the logistics company's costs can be reduced by up to 40%.

2024-07-30 10:15