TELEMATICS Telematics Sensor- Equipped Trucks Help

CoUntrPol CoSsts

Telematics helps the delivery company determine a truck’s performance and condition, as well as identify ways drivers can make small adjustments that yield major results.

By Shelley Mika

ciency, UPS recently announced chang- K es that will improve both. By the and data is uploaded and end of 2010, the company plans to oper- sent to the UPS data cen- ate more than 22,000 delivery trucks at te e 144 locations (including two in Canada) telematics devices capture equipped with telematics technology. data on more than 200 el- emee nts, including speed, An Old Program Learns RPM,R oil pressure, seat belt New Tricks use, number of times the Since 2008, UPS piloted the technol- truck is placed in reverse, ogy on 1,500 delivery trucks across the and idling time. country, testing the equipment in various the company plans to improve are idle Telematics help UPS determine a geographies and climates. In 2009, the ciency. truck’s performance and condition, as company installed telematics in rough- “Telematics isn’t new to UPS. We’ve well as identify ways drivers can make ly 10,000 vehicles and plans to expand been using telematics for more than 20 small adjustments that yield major re- the program to another 10,000 this year. ciency and safety sults. Together, improved data and driv- at makes nearly a quarter of the com- eet,” Donna Long- er coaching help reduce fuel consump- pany’s 95,000 delivery vehicles equipped ino, a UPS spokesperson, said. “What is tion, emissions, and maintenance costs, with telematics. new is the proprietary information and while improving customer service and As part of the initiative, UPS is install- sophisticated algorithms we developed driver safety. ing GPS tracking equipment as well as to analyze the rich stream of data cap- “UPS is always looking for ways to im- sensors in key areas, such as brakes and tured by more than 200 sensors on our ciency and customer service, slash ese delivery trucks.” energy consumption and emissions, and devices will help UPS track the location As drivers complete their routes the UPS make our drivers safer on the road,” said of its delivery trucks as well as identify telematics equipment captures streams of eet op- ways in which drivers can make adjust- data via a 900 MHz radio and sends it in erations. “We realized this cutting-edge ments and improve their performance real-time to servers for analysis. At the end technology enables quick, fact-based de- based on collected data. Two key areas of the day, drivers return to their centers, cisions to improve these areas.”

8 GREEN FLEET I SUMMER 2010 Training & Information Management Keys determine the right time to pull trucks to Success Idling Reduced & off the road for maintenance, the com- With a large-scale implementation of Maintenance Improved pany can reduce downtime and wasted telematics in its delivery truck fl eet, UPS So far, the telematics initiative has maintenance expenses. Telematics also anticipated and planned for challeng- yielded positive results, including re- allows UPS to more accurately allocate es. Hance said two areas were critical to duced idling and fuel consumption, main- replacement dollars, as the system helps the company’s success: training staff and tenance costs, and waste, as well as in- identify trucks performing less effi cient- managing the information. creased safety. Th rough telematics, UPS ly, or when to simply place a vehicle on “We have some of the best-trained driv- reduced idling by 15 minutes per driv- a shorter route. ers in the world, and they are really com- er per day, totaling 25 gallons of fuel per Safety is another critical area of im- mitted to doing an excellent job. We fi nd driver per year. While that reduction may provement. While UPS already has an that quite oft en when a supervisor uses seem a small change, on the large scale, exemplary safety record, the company the data to coach drivers on improving it’s a major improvement. didn’t shy away from improving it. One safety, service, and performance, the re- “When telematics is fully deployed in key metric tracked through telematics is sponse is very positive,” Hance said. the small-package delivery fl eet in the U.S., seat belt use. Test sites showed that driv- In addition to training drivers how to the reduction of idle time by 15 minutes ers wore their seat belts a nearly perfect improve driving behavior based on the per driver per day would save 1.4 mil- 99.8 percent, up from 98 percent. reports, other UPS employees are also lion gallons of fuel annually,” Longino Likewise, providing drivers with in- trained how to employ it to get the most said. “Multiply results like that by more formation on the number of times they from the telematics investment. than 90,000 drivers worldwide, and you placed trucks in reverse — behavior UPS “Telematics is information-rich. Our can see the potential.” drivers are trained to avoid for safety reports and data are profi led to pinpoint Maintenance is another key area in reasons — reduced this behavior by 25 what is important to impact results,” Hance which UPS will benefi t from the pro- percent. said. “We invested in training to ensure gram. Prior to installing telematics, the In addition to reducing idle time, we leverage this technology to eff ectively company performed maintenance at reg- telematics systems provide other envi- impact service, safety, and cost.” ular time intervals, regardless of a truck’s ronmental benefi ts. By helping UPS op- UPS plans to continue using telemat- mileage or use. Now, UPS mechanics base timize dispatch planning and driver rou- ics technology, with the next major initia- maintenance decisions on the actual ve- tine, the system reduces overall driver tive focused on reducing idling time on hicle use and performance. miles, cuts fuel consumption, and reduc- its LTL (less than truckload) fl eet at UPS Telematics also helps identify which es emissions. Further, by optimizing ve- Freight. Hance said telematics technolo- parts to replace. For instance, UPS found, hicle performance and improving main- gy is also used to monitor several test ve- in some cases, mechanics were replacing tenance, telematics help UPS increase the hicles, such as hybrid electric, hydraulic fuel injectors when the truck simply re- useful life of parts and decrease the dis- hybrid, and automatic transmission trac- quired an inexpensive “O-ring.” posal of parts, including lead acid bat- tors, in the UPS fl eet for effi ciency, per- Because UPS can more accurately teries and tires, Longino said. formance, and reliability.

GREEN FLEET I SUMMER 2010 9