data

Data Driven: ELD’s can open door to big data

If knowledge is power, then Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) could be the most powerful device on the truck. Sure, the device at its most basic is responsible only for monitoring hours of service, but the potential of networking and integrating data is impossible to ignore. Why settle for simple electronic logging when it can serve as a total fleet management solution in a box? A friend of mine drives for a 10-truck floral distribution company and makes regular runs from Ontario's Niagara region to Chicago, Michigan, and western New Jersey. The picture he paints of his distribution manager would be amusing if it were not (most likely) true. The manager must be a fellow who grew up trucking in the '60s, and still listens to eight-track tapes of Red Sovine and Dave Dudley. The routes are badly planned, trucks are frequently diverted en route, the vehicles are always breaking down, and all communication with drivers is done over the -telephone. And he doesn't believe in ELDs. My friend says his boss will wait until the last possible moment to equip his fleet - and then only because he must.

Fleets looking to connect more data: Chevin

FITCHBURG, MA - Chevin Fleet Solutions, which provides web-based fleet and management software, says fleets are increasingly looking ways to use and consolidate a wider variety of data -- whether it's generated internally or externally."With fleet operations under continuing pressure to keep costs down and reduce workloads and reduce deadlines to a minimum, many organizations are increasingly recognizing the potential of using data more 'smartly' to help streamline processes, improve efficiency and reduce expenditure," said Ron Katz, senior vice president - North American sales, in a document including predictions for 2017.