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Information Technology May/June 2008 Big Brother Is Watching Navman GPS lets contractors track vehicles and equipment By Debra Wood
Tracking every piece of heavy machinery and vehicle day or night with Navman’s global-positioning satellite fleet management tool helps construction firms improve productivity and recover stolen property. “I’d recommend it to anybody with a lot of equipment to keep up with,” says Charlie Allison, shop manager at Omega Contracting in Dallas. Omega has equipped about 100 trucks, backhoes, loaders and smaller construction equipment with Navman GPS. In less than two years, the system has enabled the company to recover three stolen backhoes and a Bobcat. “With the money saved on the stuff it has stopped from being stolen, it is well worth it,” Allison says. “You pay a monthly fee for them to track it, but you save $60,000 to $100,000” if a theft is prevented. Whenever the system detects something amiss, like an engine starting on a Sunday afternoon or a vehicle moving during off hours, it rings Allison’s cell phone. He grabs his laptop and checks the equipment’s location and whether it’s on a jobsite or moving quickly, on a trailer, for instance. He tracked a backhoe to an alley behind a house and watched as a man came out, got on the equipment and began digging out stumps. He called police, who arrested the man and charged him with grand theft. “That’s a $63,000 piece of equipment,” Allison says. Without Navman, “We would probably have never found it.” Another time, the device tracked a missing backhoe to Brownsville, Texas, and within 12 hours, police apprehended men planning to take it into Mexico. Navman has allowed Omega to put recovered equipment immediately back to work, and the company has earned an insurance discount. Besides helping Omega recover stolen property, Navman enables Allison to monitor drivers. All employees know the rules and that vehicles are equipped with GPS. If someone’s speeding or a truck is sitting while assigned to move dirt, Allison knows and talks with the driver. “We have very little problem with them using the trucks when they are not supposed to,” Allison says. “It is a tattletale on dump-truck drivers. It improves efficiency a lot.” Omega generates historic reports about where the unit has been, and the system alerts Allison when service is needed. Other companies have used the Navman vehicle-tracking system to control fuel costs by monitoring equipment’s working time, assigning equipment to jobs based on location, allocating costs for a certain piece of equipment to be on a specific job or determining the miles a vehicle was driven off-road for tax savings, says Renaat Ver Eecke, vice president of Navman Wireless North America, Glenview, Ill. It also helps drivers find the most expeditious route to a jobsite, he adds. “[Equipment owners] make an investment in our technology, and they end up saving multiple times more than their investment through tangible ways,” Ver Eecke says. “And there are intangible ways in which it helps customer service and the drivers.” Navman’s new OnlineAVL2 software integrates satellite mapping with photo images. “Satellite mapping lets you see the construction site and do more accurate reporting,” Ver Eecke says. “You can see the building or the unpaved road or dirt.” The latest upgrades will include a module to plan for maintenance and monitor associated costs, the ability to e-mail reports and a state mileage report function. Navman systems start at $45 a month for one vehicle on a five-year contract, including installation and training. “The potential for this technology is really exciting for construction,” Ver Eecke says. “Two or three steps down the road, it will give the ability to do accurate job estimating and costing, knowing what your real costs are.” Navman Wireless North America |
