Summer is here, and the sunny weather brings with it heat and humidity that can affect the temperature of your fleet’s trailers and other refrigerated compartments. As a result, distributors and transportation fleets are starting to feel the heat concerning the safe delivery of their temperature-sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals and food products.
From a fleet management and quality assurance standpoint, this presents a challenge because you must be able to prove that the cargo remains within an appropriate temperature range. After all, even being just a few degrees off can spoil tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars of perishable cargo and render prescriptions ineffective.
If this is your situation, what can you do as a fleet manager to ensure that the products remain at an acceptable temperature range? You could have your drivers stop every hour or two to check the temperature of their cargo. Or, you can do things the easy way and use a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device to aid your fleet management efforts. This technology can help you track a variety of data — everything from vehicle location to internal trailer temperature to vehicle engine performance to driver safety.
Here are some ways that GPS tracking can help with fleet maintenance, and a few tips for getting more out of a GPS tracking solution.
How GPS Tracking Can Help with Refrigerated Truck Maintenance in Summer
GPS Tracking Allows You to Monitor Temperature Levels
Contrary to popular belief, modern GPS tracking devices can do far more for your fleet management efforts than merely providing a vehicle location tracking dot on a map. Many of these advanced and versatile devices are designed to connect with a vehicle’s onboard diagnostics system and temperature monitoring sensors to provide up-to-date data about the environmental conditions in which the goods are traveling.
This temperature monitoring capability can be especially useful for helping your fleet adhere to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The rule, which became effective last year for large fleets and this year for smaller businesses, requires carriers to use “adequate temperature controls” and to “maintain records of shipper-to-carrier communication, written procedures, agreements and training.”
A GPS tracking system from a service provider like Rastrac provides the tools and documentation you need to meet these regulatory requirements. With automated data tracking and reporting, it takes the guesswork out of the temperature monitoring process. Some of the types of vehicle temperature conditions you can remotely monitor with GPS tracking for refrigerated trucks (reefer trucks) include:
- Temperatures and temperature fluctuations,
- Defrost cycles,
- Humidity levels,
- Door openings and closings, and
- Power fluctuations and disconnections.
If, for example, the cooling unit of one of your fleet’s refrigerated trucks was to suddenly malfunction, you could set up a custom alert event notification that triggers whenever the temperature of a reefer truck falls outside a specific range. The alerts can be sent in different ways, including an email or text message, depending on your specific preferences. Using this information enables you to reach out to the driver of the affected vehicle about the discrepancy to have them check their cargo and refrigeration equipment.
Real-Time Remote Tracking Increases Efficiency & Cost Effectiveness
Without GPS tracking for refrigerated trucks, a truck driver must pull to the side of the road or a truck rest stop periodically to enter the refrigerated trailer and manually report the temperature. Every time the driver opens the doors, this lets out the cold air and impacts the internal temperature of the refrigerated compartment by tens of degrees. This will then require more fuel and refrigeration resources to cool it down again. This process not only reduces fleet productivity, but it also drives up your costs and can result in the reporting of inaccurate information through the driver’s intentional misreporting or human error.
The good news is that an effective fleet management solution can help your trucks stay on the road longer. Equipping your vehicles with modern GPS tracking devices allows you to not only monitor temperature levels with ease, but also receive an accurate report of the data that is automatically generated. It also can make your fleet operations more efficient by allowing you to monitor the temperature conditions of your vehicles without the driver having to pull over and manually check the hold. On top of all that, you’re making fleet management and business decisions based on the most accurate information possible. Considering that the industry’s new electronic logging device (ELD) mandate requires truckers to drive no more than 11 hours per day, that is valuable time your fleet will get back.
An additional benefit of this remote tracking is that it applies to more than just temperature monitoring. By tapping into the vehicle’s remote diagnostics system, you can be more efficient in your fleet management efforts by ensuring that each vehicle receives regular preventative maintenance. This can help to keep your vehicles operating in top condition while also helping to prevent costly repairs.
Wireless Temperature Monitoring Available for Assets of All Sizes
If you’re like some of our other clients, you may not need standard-size tracking devices to track large equipment like semis and reefer trucks. Sometimes, you need the robust features of a full-size tracking device with the versatility of being able to track something that is physically small. We understand where you’re coming from and have created a solution that can help you meet those needs.
RastracGo is a portable location tracker that is the perfect solution for many fleet management needs. The device is small and thin enough to fit inside of a wallet, envelope, or even to be attached to a keychain. In addition to being able to track an asset’s location, it also can help you monitor temperature, pressure, light, speed, and other critical factors.
Tips for Using Your Vehicle Fleet Tracking Solution to Improve Summertime Maintenance
Summer weather can be brutal on your vehicle fleet. Long, hot days means more fuel used on running A/C systems, higher overall engine operating temperatures, and more stressed-out drivers. To help make managing fleet operations in the summer a bit easier, here are a few summer fleet maintenance tips for vehicles that take advantage of GPS tracking solutions:
1: Make a Habit of Checking Remote Diagnostics Reports
Preventative maintenance is the best maintenance. Spotting a small problem early and fixing it before it can cause larger issues such as a roadside breakdown can save time, money, and headaches.
Many modern GPS systems feature the ability to integrate with a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics system. Making a habit of checking these diagnostics reports can be vital for spotting maintenance issues early enough to prevent costly breakdowns.
2: Watch for Changes in Driving Behaviors
High temperatures have been known to cause people to act more rashly. However, the heat does more to change driving behaviors than just making drivers irate.
Prolonged exposure to severe high temperatures can damage sensitive vehicles systems, such as brake lines, pads, and discs. Excess wear and tear to such vital braking systems can make it harder for fleet vehicles to quickly and safely come to a stop.
When looking at driving statistics for a particular vehicle, a steady increase in braking distance can indicate wear and tear to a vehicle’s brakes. If you notice such an increase, have the vehicle’s brakes inspected at the next opportunity.
Additionally, have the tires checked to ensure that they’re at the appropriate pressure—high summertime temperatures can cause the pressure to fluctuate, impacting vehicle control and fuel economy.
3: Consider Using Apps That Enable Two-Way Communication
If you don’t have a GPS device mounted in your fleet vehicles, or just need to enable easy two-way communications between dispatch and drivers, consider using smartphone-based apps such as PocketRASTRAC.
PocketRASTRAC can provide key GPS data such as position, driving behaviors, and GPS data history to enable better control over fleet assets. The two-way communication feature also allows fleet managers to quickly and easily communicate with drivers, enabling better control of fleet assets.
Check out the PocketRASTRAC app’s features in this video:
4: Check Vehicle Use Logs for Signs of Misuse
The summer heat puts enough strain on your fleet vehicles without you having to worry about unauthorized use of your fleet vehicles for non-business tasks. Whenever a driver uses a company vehicle for non-work tasks, that’s putting extra wear and tear on the vehicle.
Illicit use of company vehicles can negatively impact the budget for maintenance. Worse yet, such unauthorized use of company vehicles can put operations behind schedule.
GPS tracking logs make it easy to see exactly where vehicles have traveled, when they made the trip, and how long vehicles were stopped at each location. This makes spotting abnormal or illicit use of company vehicles easy.
With this information, you can correct drivers who are not adhering to operation schedules and putting unnecessary wear and tear on company vehicles.
GPS is a powerful tool for optimizing vehicle maintenance year-round. With the right vehicle fleet tracking solution, fleet managers can keep their fleets operating a peak efficiency.
Learn more about how you can improve your fleet’s asset tracking system. Click on the image below to download our free resource.
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