TEL
EM ATICS
35
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015
access
INTERNATIONAL
GaryClark, JLG’s customer supportmanager, national accounts, explains that JLGbeganofferingClearSky in
September 2009 toprovide customerswith realtimemachinedata for fleetmanagement. Someof theoriginal
functions includedalerts, GPSmapping, remote contractmanagement,maintenanceplanningandusage reports.
“Themost useful information formanufacturers from telematics is visibility of themachineandalarms, allowing
OEM service teams to respondquickly andmore
effectively toassist in troubleshootingunits in thefield.
“For customers, utilisation trackingwouldbeone
of themost useful benefits, includingmachinehealth
warnings, suchas faults andalarms, remote site
operationmanagement, and run-time reportingand
invoicing.
“At first, basic information, suchas run timeand
locationwas all thatwas being communicated. Over
time it has expanded intooverallmachinehealth
and control. Formany customers it is showinga
measurable impact on their bottom lines.
“Telematicswill beused toprovidemachine-to-
machinemanagement. Itwill likely reduceor eliminate
theneed for handhelddiagnostic tools for technicians
to identify faults. Theywill know theproblembefore
making thefirst service trip, so theywill beproperly
equippedwhen they arrive. Thiswill reduce service
timeandeliminate repeat trips.
“On-demand information readswill improve remote
troubleshooting. On-demandwrite functionswill allow
for remotely updatingmachinepersonalities. GPS
mappingwill bemoreaccurateandmoreusable. The
reportingwill bemoreusable, soanalysis of historical
machinedata improves and thepossibly extend the
machine’s lifespan. Itwill allowowners togo from
reactivefleetmanagement toproactivemanagement.”
V
IEW FROM AN OEM
AsMrRaguse explains, telematics has now
caught the attention of the access industry.
“Smallmanufacturers thatmight produce 5000
to 10000machines are realising it’s becoming
amarket requirement when youdeliver your
machine.
One of the drivers is cost. “I think before,
some systemswere very expensive and there
was not amatch between the benefits and
the actual cost.Suddenly there is a huge
requirement from themarket and the price
level has been going down.
“We are looking atmore utilisation of
equipment and it’s linkedwith training and
security - that is somethingwewill seemore
andmore of.”Thiswill seeTrackunit working
with organisation like IPAF, saysMrRaguse.
Looking at the use of telematicsworldwide,
the only real limitations are linked toGSM.
“Worldwide, there is an improvingGSM
network to bring back the data, so as long as
there is a network, it can be used anywhere;
Africa,Asia - It is going global.”
In the future telematics systemswill be
automatically integrated into themachine like
any other standardparts, explainsMrRaguse.
Increased demand
For the past three years,Geotabhas been
recognised as one of the fastest growing
technology companies based inCanada. In
November, it was named as one ofNorth
America’s fastest growing technology
companies in theDeloitteTechnologyFast
500, ranked at 406.
JohnDay,productmanager, says, “As
telematicsmature and customers seekmore
ways to use their data,we are seeing increased
demand from customers andpartners tohave
this data available for other applications.”
Geotab’s devices are primarily usedwith
vehicles, fromheavy duty and light duty
trucks, for example. While access equipment is
not a huge focus for the company, “our devices
support andhave aGPS, an accelerometer, a
wirelessmodem to connect to all the different
engine protocols.”
The company also supplies a three-wire
install which is plugged into equipment that
does not have diagnostics as part of the asset or
connects up to power on the ground,which is
an area of interest for access.
“Historicallywe have seen the tracking of
assets asmore to prevent theft orwhen they
leave their lots orwhere they are on a lot.”
Talkingmore broadly about the challenges
foundwithGPS,he adds, “For example, in
warehouseswe have a highly sensitiveGPS
in our units.They are installed under the dash
and you get very good coverage but often the
problemwithwarehouses is that youdonot
necessarily have themapping, you can see the
quadrant but you can’t seewhere it actually is,
particularly if you are onmultiple floors.”
Prices are coming down for telematics
devices, confirmsMrRaguse, “Ten to 15 years
ago you only saw them inheavy duty trucks
and on the fleets that were of high value,but
now it’s becomingmore-and-more prevalent
across all sorts of fleets.Every fleetmanager
will know about tracking their vehicles,better
safety and about their drivers andproductivity.
Ten years ago they didn’t, you educated them
onwhat it coulddo for them, to understand
the value,nowwe are differentiating on the
number of features.”
Themajority ofGeotab’s fleets are in
NorthAmerica and the company hasmade a
concerted effort over the last couple of years
tomove intoEurope andLatinAmerica,
especially.
MrDay adds, “We have had some fleets in
Europe in the past but we took it fairly slow,
and focused onNorthAmerica because that is
where our businesswas. It got to a point where
wewere ready tomove intoEurope -we did a
lot of research as towherewewanted to focus
our energies.Youhave got to understand the
rules and regulations of entering a country and
make sure the product is right for themarket.
“Frankly, it’s quite different inEurope and
LatinAmerica.LatinAmerica ismore similar
toEurope certainly on the vehicle side than
NorthAmerica.”
Last yearGeotabpartneredwith fellow
telematics providerTelefónica inEurope.
The agreement will initially focus onSpain,
Germany and theUKwithplans to explore
LatinAmericanmarkets in the near future.
Neil Cawse,CEO ofGeotab, adds, “We
are seeing tremendous growth for fleet
management solutionsworldwide and
thewireless carriers are now becoming an
integral component of the fleet telematics
and connectedmachine ecosystem.We are
impressed by theTelefonica team and look
forward toworking togetherwithTelefonica
todeliver themost advancedfleet telematics
solution in themarket.”
AI
Geotab GP
S fl
eet management solutions
