Fleet management anywhere, any time

With rising costs and increased time pressures, fleet managers are under pressure to operate their fleets in the most economical and efficient way possible. JACO DE KLERK finds that Mercedes-Benz has an enormously sensible application that’s even available on iPad and iPhone.

Any fleet operator can tell you that the effective control and management of a company’s fleet is particularly important and challenging in these times. To address this, Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles is offering FleetBoard – a telematics system that provides safe, reliable and economical services to cut costs and relieve operators of some of the burdens of fleet management.

The system rapidly supplies relevant up-to-date information, helping fleet managers to make informed decisions that will lead to improved efficiency and profitability. Mercedes-Benz also provides innovative mobility solutions so its customers can achieve even greater profitability through the responsible exploitation of current and new opportunities in the transport industry.

“We achieve this, not only through the development of industry-leading hardware,” says Pascal Weiss, FleetBoard sales manager at Mercedes-Benz South Africa, “but also through the provision of cutting edge products along the value chain, such as our FleetBoard, CharterWay, TruckStore, after sales, financial services and fleet management offerings.”

The company added two new products to this list:
• FleetBoard Stolen Vehicle Recovery Services – a new service option providing vehicle management data and tracking; and
• A new driver training concept under FleetBoard Professional Training, offered in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz Driver Training Services for all Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle brands.

Keeping up with current trends, the FleetBoard application is also obtainable on the iPad and iPhone. Mercedes-Benz furthermore offers a new mapping conversion facility, with 30-second tracking and tracing, including area monitoring – and it can all be viewed using a topographic map. This mapping conversion system allows trucks and vans to be controlled at all times while on the road, and an operating analysis of the last tour can be shown.

The success of FleetBoard is demonstrated in the thriving participation of Mercedes-Benz customers in the company’s international driver’s competition – Truckermania in Germany. The FleetBoard system is used to monitor participants and evaluate their driving style. Last year, one South African driver attained 11th position while another came 25th out of 9 000 participants worldwide, a sterling achievement if one considers that the finals were held in European driving conditions – driving on the opposite side of the road and sitting in what is usually the passenger seat in the cab.

Registration for the 2012 Truckermania competition starts this month, with the event taking place in June. The two drivers with the highest FleetBoard scorecard will compete in the finals in Germany in September.