Both fleet management and tracking and recovery systems have one thing in common –they both accurately track vehicles. Accuracy may vary particularly with recovery operations as some companies use RF technology to pinpoint a vehicle on the spot with sub-metre accuracy.
The difference between the two is that the output is different. The output of a tracking and recovery operation in the case of vehicle theft is that the vehicle is recovered as rapidly as possible, hopefully without any harm to the occupants (if any). The output in the case of fleet management is to allow the user to gather relevant information to facilitate improved efficiency and control of the assets.
Tracking and recovery
We have all heard of, and are familiar with, the 'big three' tracking and recovery companies in this country, namely Tracker, Netstar and Matrix, this order of names reflecting the number of systems installed. All of these companies have been covered in Hi-Tech Security Solutions previously and all have withdrawn from the Vehicle Security Association of South Africa (VESA) for some or other reason. Despite this, VESA still lists five vehicle tracking and recovery companies as active members, these being Bandit Vehicle Security Systems, Global Telematics, DigiCore Technology, Cartrack and Mobile Tracker. In addition the South African Insurance Association (SAIA), to which the big three are now affiliated, lists Mtrack while VESA lists CellSecure under equipment suppliers. As these are relatively unknown it is useful to cover some of their features briefly.
DigiCore is gearing up to launch full scale on the local tracking and recovery market in mid 2006 and is likely to create a major headache for the existing leaders in this technology. DigiCore's product is C-Track Secure (Secure) and while others might boast that they check the system automatically once a month (Cartrack offers twice a month free, so presumably you can check more often for a fee), Secure checks itself automatically once a day. DigiCore believe in the remote Panic Button and while GPS is the prime location method (4 m accuracy) the device is also set up to carry out GSM triangulation. Secure has been thoroughly evaluated in Pakistan and with a 20 000 vehicle fleet there, the company boasts a recovery rate of 98%. DigiCore has a very large number of fleet management systems installed in both Europe and South Africa, and believes that with its competitively priced and technologically superior product it will soon become Number 1 in South Africa in terms of tracking and recovery. In its fleet management products such as Assist, DigiCore already offers remote immobilisation of the vehicle and a driver's Panic Button is standard. Trailer Assist comprises a similar module that can operate for weeks in untethered trailers and containers, using its own battery. With the introduction of C-Secure, one can ask whether recovery of fleet vehicles is not far behind. The information (assuming both tractor and trailer are equipped with C-Track) is already there and a simple call or automatic transfer to the recovery section at C-Track Secure can obviously lead to retrieval of both tractor and trailer, even if they have been decoupled. Alternatively I can see DigiCore rapidly coming up with a combined fleet management and recovery system as the tracking part is already built into both modules.
Proudly African
Bandit is a South African company and boasts in excess of 14 000 installations. Bandit uses the MTN network for tracking and communication. If the vehicle is fitted with the Executive system then Bandit can report if the engine is running, and if moving, in what direction and at what speed. Coming to the controversial self-test, Bandit provides this on a two week cycle. Bandit also offers fleet management systems, some of which come complete with vehicle recovery.
Cartrack is interesting for this article as a fleet management feature is an optional extra. The origins of Cartrack go back to 2001 when the technology was developed and the first rollout of the device took place in 2002 and the system effectively covers Tanzania, Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana and Lesotho. Cartrack obtained VESA approval to operate in South Africa during 2003 and the official launch in this country was in 2004. In total, Cartrack claims to have an installed base of 20 000 customers, with 200 new units being installed each month. Cartrack uses GPS with GSM for communication but one of its unique features (which might be attractive to the business community) is that it offers cross-border tracking as it already has fully fledged operations in many neighbouring countries. The fleet monitoring facility allows Internet-based access for clients to track their own vehicles, together with customised reports that generate a signal. These include when the ignition is turned off or on, time intervals driving or stationary, and an historical report of all previous positions of the vehicle. Many of these features are already available from the other tracking and recovery companies so it is unlikely that this is a true fleet management system.
A bird's eye view
CellSecure offers the Eagle Findit and Eagle Tracee products for vehicle tracking. These are both based on a combination of GSM (triangulation), GPS and RF, and GSM is the mode of communication. The Tracee can be used by the owner to track his or her own vehicle, position being reported via an SMS. Like the DigiCore products the Tracee does a daily self-check. If the vehicle is stolen or hijacked then all messages will be sent to the recovery/tracking company (if contracted). In other words the Tracee can be used as a personal tracker without incurring the costs associated with tracking and recovery. The Tracee can store up to 250 fixed positions and for individual use the SMS will indicate position relative to one of these locations (eg, 200 metres west of Nandos Sunnyside). The Findit is a full-blown tracking/recovery system and while reporting to the owner anytime via an SMS, the vehicle's position in the event of theft is automatically redirected to the tracking/recovery company. As all messages are sent to the cellphone there is no need to log into the Internet. CellSecure also offer a product called Eagle CargoSure which is wireless and can be located anywhere in the load. It is a portable GSM triangulation and RF-based cargo tracking unit. This system reports position to the owner's cellphone, while tracking messages are sent automatically to the recovery/tracking company. The internal battery lasts for between four and 300 days depending on settings and can be recharged in 8 hours. If the vehicle does not move in six days the CargoSure can be put into a sleep mode.
One of a kind
Mtrack is a unique technology in the tracking/recovery operation in that it is a self-contained, self-powered wireless device that has a battery life of up to four years. Mtrack uses a patented battery usage concept involving sleep and brief awake periods. When the battery is down to 30% life it will alert the monitoring station, which then phones the user and books him or her in for a battery change. In addition, Mtrack performs a system check every day, free to the client. As it is not embedded in the vehicle and is compact (125x70x 35 mm) it can be moved from vehicle to vehicle and could even be located inside a woman's handbag. One application out of the ordinary is its use by car dealers who want to be able to track their demo vehicles, and it also has an application for truckers where it would be hidden in the load. The statistics tell us that when a truck/trailer combination is hijacked it is the load the thieves are after. So Mtrack joins DigiCore's Trailer Assist and CellSecure's CargoSure in being able to track the load as well, or separately from the tractor. While relatively new to South Africa, Mtrack has been widely adopted in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK. By September 2005 it has been reported that some 1400 of these devices had been sold locally. While Mtrack currently works in South Africa only, coverage is in the process of being finalised for Mozambique, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho.
Who is responsible
While some tracking and recovery companies (such as Netstar) do have their own response teams, most companies use one of the specialist providers of the service who make use of ex SAPS personnel. Some of the larger players are Rentrak, ITA Group and Capital Air who use both helicopters and vehicles to execute recoveries. Tracker has its own team but relies heavily on the SAPS whose vehicles are fitted with location units.
Note that not all tracking and recovery systems are the same, and each company usually has a range from entry-level up. In some cases the theft has to be reported before tracking commences, while other devices like Matrix have value-added components. The latest Matrix tracker will respond to a serious collision and the control room will be informed of that situation to organise response from Netcare or other medical emergency response group. Another difference is that while most tracking/recovery systems offer panic buttons (located close to the driver or in the boot), others do not, as they believe that panic buttons increase the risk that the occupants of the vehicle may be injured or killed.
Fleet management
When it comes to fleet management systems, the number of options increases and players include Siemens VDO, Irenco (Observer), DigiCore, Orbtech, DuO Solutions, Tracker, Astrata, Bandit, SmartTrak, SkyTrax and StarTrak, in no specific order, to name but a few. In fact if we consider imported systems or those operating overseas, transport experts estimate that there are at least 90 to 100 different fleet tracking devices on the market.
Of the systems listed here many already incorporate vehicle recovery features, the recovery operation being triggered by the use of the panic button, unauthorised movement etc. Many of these are new rather than 'legacy' fleet management systems and included are DigiCore, Orbtech, Bandit, SmartTrack and SkyTrax. These systems still include all of the usual fleet management features, often including realtime information on driver behaviour, vehicle abuse, unauthorised stops etc, besides full tracking capability, typically using GPS with GSM communication. SmartTrack, introduced in 2003, already uses GPRS, which many other systems are introducing because of the significantly lower communication costs. Note should be made of the fact that in some of the older fleet management systems, much of the data (eg, driver behaviour) is not available in realtime, but is downloaded after the vehicles had returned to the depot.
While the tracking and recovery business has a single focus and offers different systems based on value-added features at additional cost, this is not true for the fleet management industry, where every customer has his own specific needs depending on his business. Thus, I have read that some companies, DuO Solutions for example, offer an ideal solution for a logistical supply company delivering products to a number of vendors, but do not have the features to operate effectively in other parts of the industry. This is definitely a situation where one size does not fit all and software often has to be customised for a particular application. As the Siemens VDO systems were developed in South Africa it is pleasing to note that they alone seem to have got the message as they offer a number of different modules that can be combined (without software modifications) to provide a solution closest to the requirements of the fleet operator. As the VDO system evolved out of a Shurlok tracking device (the EV100) I am sure than a recovery module could easily be included in the VDO portfolio.
Other features are incorporated into some fleet management systems targeting specific markets. As an example, some companies have now introduced dual compartments in the vehicle for frozen and chilled products. Temperatures of both these compartments must be monitored continuously so management of such a fleet must include this feature. Observer has been modified so that it can handle the logistics (management) of operating for example a fleet of fork lift trucks. Also the needs of management of a fleet of trucks hauling ore out of a mine are very different to those required by a company delivering bread to supermarkets. Here is where the VDO system stands out again as different modules can be combined to handle different requirements.
Fleet management is all about cost savings and in general the company wants to reduce the cost of their normal day-to-day operations without considering the risk associated with vehicle or trailer hijacking or theft (according to the fleet management companies). What is more important to the fleet manager is whether Joe's Supermarket is going to get his frozen consignment from I&J on time, are his vehicles being used optimally? And are bad driving techniques by some of the drivers going to lead to expensive repairs and deprive the fleet of a vehicle at a critical delivery time?
Convergence of the technologies
Will all the tracker companies enter the fleet management market and vice versa? Highly unlikely! Stephan Joss is quite firm on this and says that Matrix for one will stick to its core competency which is vehicle tracking and recovery. He believes that the technologies are very different and stresses the fact that while the needs for fleet management vary from application to application, for tracking and recovery one shoe fits all, providing the company provides entry-level and more automated solutions. Matrix has looked for years at the possible convergence of the two technologies but integrated solutions that they came up with had the same result, the primary task of one or the other had to be watered down. Another good reason for sticking to ones knitting! This is the same attitude expressed by fleet tracking company Geotab, which feels that vehicle recovery is not part of fleet management.
This is echoed by others, the excuse being that fleet management is all about using one's assets cost-effectively and that risk (such as hijacking) is not part of the equation. One must refute this of course, as ensuring that deliveries are made timeously is one of the major concerns of the actual fleet operator. So what if an expensive and urgent load of, say, liquor is hijacked? The fleet operator is unlikely to have spare vehicles sitting around ready to take up on this delivery and the supplier may not have the same stock available. The fleet management system will ensure that the costs of idle vehicles are eliminated, thereby ensuring that spare vehicles are not available. So what is the alternative? The most obvious one is rapid recovery of the vehicle and its load and it is my simple hypothesis that this is part of fleet management. Hijacking is definitely a risk and the insurance company will cover the cost of the event, but no doubt with increased premiums in a business where the core objective is for the fleet owner to save money.
Generally the hijackers are not interested in the tractor, but the trailer, and the procedure used is to unhook the trailer, hook it up to another tractor and head off to a safe location. If the tracking device is fitted to the tractor it will be located by the recovery team but the trailer (which could be loaded with several millions of rand worth of cargo and worth much more than the vehicle itself) will have disappeared. Some of the fleet management providers (such as DigiCore, CellSecure and Mtrack) also offer trailer devices and this would solve the problem. Most other fleet tracking devices will raise an alarm if the trailer connection is tampered with and this could allow early dispatch of a find and recovery team. Exception reporting is core to a good fleet management system and if disconnecting the trailer is not a major exception then what is?
Although we have spoken about the need for convergence of the two technologies, the tracking and recovery business will remain profitable in its own right as its main business is the recovery of stolen private vehicles. So the remarks made by Stephan Joss are in fact correct for his business. Matrix has a slogan that people always come first and by adding added value to their system as in the accident alert situation they are authenticating this adage. I believe it has enormous value as the other tracking and recovery companies have been selling their products merely on the statistics of vehicle recovery and have not thought to add additional true value. An exception is perhaps Tracker as with expensive vehicles they are often driven straight to the nearest border. Having Tracker location systems installed at each of the main border posts minimises the possibility of the vehicle being taken over the border and lost forever.
Conclusion
In conclusion it is obvious that fleet management companies will increasingly add recovery to their product's portfolio. In the case of the tractor and trailer, both must be capable of being tracked independently. Likewise, the tampering of the connection between tractor and trailer must be considered as a recovery situation with teams being dispatched immediately (note teams as it may be necessary to recover both tractor and trailer independently). Panel vans will be adequately covered by having a single tracking system on the vehicle, but here again an unscheduled long stop could be a recovery operation as the hijackers could be transferring a very expensive load to another vehicle.
As for convergence, it already seems to be a reality as many of the more recent fleet management products offer tracking and recovery, without seemingly reducing the quality of the fleet management data made available. Several of these companies offer trailer systems as well as tractor tracking and this seems to be the way forward as trailer and tractor can be tracked independently and the cargo together with the tractor can be independently recovered. In my opinion, those fleet management companies that are not offering tracking plus recovery are not keeping up with the trends in the industry. The wide availability of private recovery companies means that recovery is not an excessively high overhead.
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