The Internet of Things (IoT) can drive strategic change for any business with fleet vehicles or machines as it connects physical assets with digital technology. By adding “smart” IoT tech to your logistic efforts, you’ll save time and reduce costs.
Here are some of the advantages of using IoT for fleet management.
What IoT Devices Can Do for Your Fleet
IoT devices allow efficient monitoring of fleet machinery by obtaining real-time data on maintenance, routes, driving conditions, and more. Without requiring human involvement, these devices can automatically gather information from equipment sensors and communicate it back to managers.
Using IoT has become prevalent in the fleet industry as it helps managers stay on top of operations. And the trend is growing—according to Facts & Factors, the IoT fleet management market could reach $12.3 billion by 2026.
How to Use IoT Fleet Management to Save Time and Money
There are many ways to improve operational efficiency with IoT devices, saving time and money. For instance:
- Log vital equipment data
- Analyze for trends
- Predict maintenance
- Adjust scheduling
IoT solutions help companies understand how their off-highway assets function. By connecting mobile equipment to the cloud via IoT, it’s simple to see a unit’s condition, how it’s being operated, and determine what maintenance it does (or doesn’t) need.
Industries that benefit from IoT fleet management include:
Heavy-duty vehicles are essential for business in these industries, but equipment costs can be huge. Because of this, companies are constantly looking for ways to save on repairs and operations.
Optimize Telematics
Manually recording equipment data is an arduous task. IoT devices can provide real-time information on an asset’s location, speed, driving route, and more.
By leveraging IoT combined with fleet management software, it’s possible to adjust route planning to minimize equipment drive time and fuel consumption. With rising fuel prices, improving vehicle efficiency adds up to significant savings.
GPS tracking with IoT makes it easy to see where equipment is located without communicating directly with the operator or on-site staff. IoT telematics can help estimate delivery times, capture equipment idle time, and even prevent vehicle theft.
Using IoT to optimize telematics, a fleet manager can make decisions that reduce equipment run-time, meaning less wear and tear on a machine and the longer it will operate between maintenance tasks.
Streamline Maintenance
Protecting the health of high-value fleet assets—whether it’s a concrete pumper, forklift truck, or an asphalt finisher—supports uptime and saves considerable cost over the equipment’s life. Refining a maintenance strategy using IoT creates a massive opportunity for savings.
Consider this—if a machine receives too much maintenance, it wastes time and money, takes up valuable staff time, and puts the equipment out of service longer than necessary. However, with too little maintenance a machine eventually breaks down. That means urgent, expensive repairs that cost a company money and cause significant downtime.
IoT tracking provides the information needed to streamline maintenance schedules, such as:
- Engine health
- Fuel usage tracking
- Tire pressure
- Equipment battery status
Creating a customized maintenance plan for each piece of equipment in a fleet is an enormous task, but with IoT’s automatic data collection, it’s well within reach.
Tracking assets with IoT can help identify small issues before they become large problems. Implementing a streamlined maintenance strategy built on real-time information boosts equipment uptime and could extend a machine’s lifetime by 20%.
Improve safety
A good safety record is key to the success of any fleet, and IoT can gather the data needed to keep operators, equipment, and cargo safe.
Automated notifications can help an operator or fleet manager deal with unsafe conditions. For example, sensors monitoring an equipment’s payload can send alerts when it identifies a problem.
Likewise, monitoring operator behavior can prevent accidents before they happen. Simply knowing that IoT monitors them may stop an operator from taking risks in the first place. And gathering data (such as RPM and accelerometer graphs) helps improve driver management and puts the focus on meaningful safety measures.
With IoT, managers can continuously monitor equipment, provide instant feedback to eliminate unsafe conditions, and improve overall fleet safety.
Reap the Benefits of Using IoT Fleet Management
IoT makes it possible to gather data that drives a wealth of business insight automatically. By analyzing information, such as machine hours, fuel consumption, labor costs, performance, and other parameters, our fleet management systems will identify ways to help you run a more intelligent fleet.
Now’s the time to consider how IoT will benefit your organization. Click below to learn more about HyrdaForce’s fleet management solutions.