Efficient vehicle fleet management is crucial for the long-term success of many companies, especially those that rely on their commercial vehicles to make deliveries, ship materials and carry out their daily tasks.

Proper fleet management can improve safety, increase efficiency and reduce costs in the long run.

A vehicle fleet is the collection of vehicles owned by an organisation to carry out its business activities. It can include different types of vehicles, from trucks for transporting cargo and goods, to cars, motorbikes or boats.

The correct coordination and control of these vehicles will be decisive in the success and profitability of the company and for this reason, it is important that the organisation has an adequate fleet management system.

What is a fleet manager and what are their functions?

A fleet manager is a role that helps companies monitor and manage their commercial vehicles. Let’s look at some of the key functions of a fleet manager.

Transportation fleet management is the tracking process by which a company locates, manages and controls all the vehicles it owns.

This tracking is based on three pillars:

  • Tracking the location of each vehicle.
  • Controlling the behaviour of these vehicles
  • Monitoring the condition of each vehicle

Based on these pillars, we can conclude that the main functions of a fleet manager are the following:

Real-time location tracking

A fleet manager uses GPS technology to track the location of vehicles in real time, allowing fleet managers to have complete visibility of the location of their vehicles at all times.

Monitoring driver performance and efficiency

In addition to tracking location, a fleet manager can also monitor speed, fuel consumption and driver efficiency. This helps companies identify areas for improvement and take steps to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

1.Driver statistics

Monitors various employee statistics. These include the number of hours worked and time spent on journeys, which help manage productive time and ensure driver safety, with appropriate working and resting hours.

2.Driver communication

Send instructions, orders and messages about specific routes or new destinations directly to the driver. The driver can respond to messages and confirm instructions.

3.Route and task planning and assignment

A fleet manager allows companies to plan and assign routes and tasks efficiently, helping to reduce travel time and fuel costs.

4.Maintenance logging and tracking

A fleet manager keeps detailed records of vehicle inspections and maintenance, helping to ensure that vehicles are in good condition and safe to use.

5.Data analysis and reporting

Fleet managers provide data analysis and reports to help companies make decisions about their fleet. These reports can include cost, efficiency and performance information.

In addition, the use of a fleet manager can improve communication between drivers and the company, which contributes to better collaboration and greater efficiency in completing tasks.

Another important benefit of fleet management systems is the security they provide for drivers and vehicles. By monitoring the location and performance of vehicles in real time, fleet managers can help companies detect potential safety issues and take action to prevent them.

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Benefits of a fleet manager

Now that you know what a fleet manager is, you can imagine that proper fleet management brings multiple benefits to companies. Here are just a few of them:

  • It creates a safer working environment for employees:
  • On the one hand, by identifying driver behaviours that require corrective initiatives and training.
  • On the other hand, monitoring vehicle maintenance contributes to improving the employee experience, increasing satisfaction, effort and efficiency.
  • It enables more efficient cost management, reducing fuel consumption and maintenance costs.
  • Routes are optimised and in case of sudden changes, these routes can be updated.
  • Communication between drivers and the company is improved and can be instantaneous.
  • The company receives updated information in real time. This information can be shared with customers, which improves service conditions.
  • Preventive maintenance improves the performance of vehicles and increases their service life.

All these advantages have the direct consequence of increasing customer satisfaction and improving the company’s image, as the service offered by the company improves in terms of quality.

Fleet management challenges and opportunities

For optimal fleet management, large amounts of data need to be collected regarding fuel consumption, maintenance frequency, engine diagnostic codes, delivery times, vehicle location, driver performance information, etc…

Traditional telematics solutions are based on GPS systems, with multiple data sets that need to be collected and aggregated in order to be analysed for effective decision making.

Therefore, advances in technology, especially IoT (internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence), together with the rise of e-commerce, are driving the digitisation of fleets and the digitisation of the supply chain.

This means moving from multiple independent data collection systems to single systems that can consolidate dispersed data, process it in near real-time and transmit it to the cloud for storage and analysis.

Having a fleet management system allows your company to operate with complete peace of mind because you have a solution that ensures your business is future-proof.

At BOXXPORT, we are a leading company in online container trading, thanks to our digitisation of logistics you will be able to obtain benefits for your company in a scalable and prominent way. We have the most advanced technologies in global logistics. Call us!