KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation recently announced plans to significantly expand the capabilities and product offerings of the company’s Vehicle Solutions Business Unit (VSBU) throughout 2007.

According to Roderick Jones, VSBU manager, the expansion will include the introduction of a new suite of “functional packages” for Fleet Resource Manager a web-based fleet management tool tailored to fit the unique needs of any truck fleet.

The web-based Fleet Resource Manager will include a new Fleet Health package and Driver Behavior package.

“It is our intention to provide a full suite of systems and solutions to the telematics/mobile resource management marketplace,” said Jones. “In doing so, we believe the next generation of VSBU products will give us the opportunity to better tailor our offerings in a manner that will benefit everyone in the heavy truck industry.”

The Fleet Health package will be available with a Diagnostics or Advanced Diagnostics package. Highlights of the Fleet Health package include: Advanced Mobile Resource Management (MRM) tools to view real-time vehicle locations, track stop times and mileage totals, see travel paths with automatic 15-minute updates, store and display landmarks and points of interest; the ability to generate and retrieve an array of fleet management reports; administration tools to monitor, maintain, and manage maintenance schedules and data; and service tools that provide trip report summaries, fuel usage reports, braking summaries and low engine oil notifications.

The new Driver Behavior Performance package will be available with or without a safety package featuring Eaton’s Vorad Collision Warning System. The package includes most of the Fleet Health functions and additionally features including Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) and Miles Per Hour (MPH) details and summaries, and an evaluation report; and additional service tools that provide information on sudden acceleration events and coasting exceptions.

“Looking further ahead into 2007, we plan to launch vocation specific packages,” added Jones. “This will include packages custom designed for many applications like construction fleets, refuse fleets and on-highway fleets.”

Fleet Resource Manager is developed through an alliance between Eaton Corporation and @Road Inc. The alliance was formed to develop and deliver advanced field asset management solutions to the global commercial vehicle market.