Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania demonstrated its Fleet Management System last March 9 at its showroom in Balintawak, Quezon City.
The Fleet Management System is an add-on service that allows clients to monitor their vehicles and drivers in real time via Scania’s desktop and smart device applications. This gives companies and organizations an in-depth look at driver performance and important vehicle data such as fuel consumption, geographical location, and repair or check-up schedules.
Apart from being able to access the information anywhere, anytime, Scania’s fleet-monitoring service will also give weekly e-mail summaries that show daily fuel consumption, emission levels and driving behaviors. Drivers can then be evaluated on different parameters such as coasting, braking, speeding, or idling. Balancing these actions greatly affect the fleet’s resource efficiency on things like fuel and vehicle parts.
The package also provides remote diagnostics and scheduling of truck maintenance plans to keep track of which vehicle is due for a tune-up. Parts for replacement can be prepared beforehand to reduce downtime.
The system is Scania’s way of improving customer profitability by being able to monitor how efficient fleet drivers time and cost-wise, as well as taking a preventive approach in vehicular maintenance, according to Scania country manager for Southeast Asian export markets Mariano Colombo.
The Fleet Management System is already built into every Scania track and is only a matter of activation with a minimal fee per truck. “The good news is all new Scania trucks that are being sold in the country come pre-installed with the Scania Communicator telematics unit. This device regularly collects, saves, sends and receives information for analysis and presentation on the Scania Fleet Management portal or through the Scania Fleet Management app that can be downloaded for free. Operators just need to activate the service in order for them to be able to connect to their fleet’s data,” said Leilani Lim-Tan, vice president of BJ Mercantile, Inc., the distributor of Scania products in the Philippines.
Scania also offers a driver training program that teaches truckers how to drive safer and more efficiently which the company believes will have a positive impact on profitability while at the same time reducing emissions.