Benefits of Fuel Management
Managing vehicle fuel consumption doesn’t need to be a time-consuming task. For reliable fuel tracking, use fleet management systems to their fullest potential through fuel management and see the difference.
One of the biggest responsibilities managers take on is finding ways to minimise the costs associated with running a fleet. Fuel management just makes this process a lot easier.
Here’s how fuel management can help you calculate the average fuel consumption rate in your fleet.
Fleet management and your business’s fuel economy
Fleet management fully monitors vehicles and gathers data on each vehicle as they run. With each trip taken, the system automatically tracks fuel consumption levels and notes the speed at which the fuel is burned.
With this information, telematics gathers all vehicle data and translates it into easy-to-understand information, and compiles it on the manager’s fleet platform.
The type of information gathered for prime fuel efficiency includes:
- Speed
- Full history of vehicle usage
- Vehicle routes
- Maintenance issues
- Idle time
- Driving behaviour
Now, managers will have full access to fleet diagnostics and valuable insights that will allow them to make informed decisions about how to improve their fleet for a greater, greener business.
How to boost vehicle performance
Managers are constantly looking for fresh and inventive ways to keep up with their fleet and get the most out of their work operations. With fuel being one of the most valuable resources in use, managers need to take the necessary steps to ensure it is not being wasted.
Fuel management is a subdivision of a fleet management system that uses fleet telematics to:
- Read fuel levels in real-time
- Keep track and improve fuel efficiency
- Reduce fuel consumption
- Instantly notify managers of fuel change
Fuel management systems can give you detailed information about your fleet’s fuel economy. You can determine whether your fuel usage has increased as a result of incorrect tyre pressure, misaligned tires, or vehicle weight.
All this ultimately helps managers better handle their fleets’ fuel consumption performance automatically, making fuel monitoring a crucial component of fleet management.
If you are a part of the food, beverage, medical or pharmaceutical industry, you know having the right temperature is the key to safeguarding your products against the outside environment. Temperature monitoring systems can be easily tailored to fit every industry and provide the right temperatures every time.
There are numerous remote temperature monitoring systems on the market that might be more suitable for one industry than the other. Read on to find the right one that will benefit both your business and your products.
Fuel economy defined
Fuel economy is the distance vehicles travel with a given amount of fuel, meaning it’s a form of vehicle thermal management that measures how much a vehicle consumes energy in fuel and turns it into kinetic energy to travel.
Fuel economy technologies show that vehicles with reduced fuel consumption burn less fuel than other vehicles and produce lower levels of carbon emissions.
So, how does a fuel management system work to preserve energy?
With GPS technology, fuel management systems automatically create different graphs comparing fuel usage based on previous trips taken. These graphs give business owners operational insights that aid in identifying a variety of technical and usage-related problems.
Fuel consumption management is extremely beneficial to fleet managers for the simple reason of its ability to reduce operational costs. Fleet management also provides a complete overview of transportation to manage your fleet operations and business logistics in the current economy with ease.
A fuel management system provides you with accurate data on:
- Cost per mile
- Fuel theft
- Driver behaviour (risky driving, overspeeding, Idling)
How to reduce fuel consumption with fuel monitoring
Fuel expenses seem to grow with each passing year, so when it comes to planning, budgeting, and managing fuel costs, fleet managers use a few tips to give their tanks a break.
1. Driving Behaviour
They investigate how their team of drivers operate their vehicles and, through training, can change their driving behaviour for the better. Poorly driven vehicles use up more fuel than expected and contribute to maintenance issues in the future.
2. Vehicle inspections
Bad driving habits result in damaged vehicles, so frequent vehicle inspections for any maintenance issues that could contribute to excessive fuel usage and increased maintenance costs are recommended.
3. Route management
Finding the most fuel-efficient route avoids excessive fuel consumption and cuts down on overall delivery time.
How does a temperature measurement device monitor?
Finding out how a temperature monitoring device works can be overwhelming. There are many moving parts all working together to get this system up and running.
Usually, a remote temperature monitoring system has six common temperature sensors that each play their part and contribute greatly to the system.
1. Temperature sensor or probe
A temperature sensor is what allows the temperature monitoring system to track environmental temperatures and detect any changes in degree, while a system temperature probe converts signal levels, changes impedance levels and provides easy connection methods.
Measuring temperature is the whole point of the sensor. Without it, the system wouldn’t be able to work. These are the three most common temperature sensors you’ll find:
Thermocouples: These are the most affordable and common temperature sensors. If you don’t mind extreme high-temperature data accuracy, a simple-to-use sensor and a cost-effective solution, this is the right sensor for you.
RTD sensors: They have a higher accuracy percentage than thermocouples and offer more accurate readings. This is ideal for freezers and refrigerators as the sensors’ temperature range is limited.
Thermistors: Similar to RTD sensors, thermistors have a limited temperature range, but they are more resistant to non-linear thermocouples fluctuating. For this sensor to work, it has to be paired with a system that supports the non-linear resistance curse.
2. Thermal buffers
A material or liquid is used to buffer response time in temperature sensors. They aid monitoring systems in accurately measuring product or ambient temperatures.
A sensor with a lower reaction time will be able to detect slight temperature changes in a short period and alert necessary personnel to the switch.
Examples of thermal buffers include:
- Glycol bottles,
- Nylon blocks
- Vials filled with glass beads
3. TMD (temperature measurement device)
Every modern-day system has that one critical element and a temperature monitoring system is exactly that. (TMD) is responsible for doing the following tasks:
- Connects to sensors for digitising the temperature value
- Records temperature data
- Temporarily stores data before transmission to the storage destination
This works with three types of temperature measurement devices:
- Standalone temperature measurement device – this standalone temperature monitoring is an all-in-one independent device that doesn’t need a helper device to record or process temperatures.
- Networked temperature measurement device – this needs to be connected to a PC, server, or cloud via a LAN or wi-fi to send through and receive data.
- Wireless temperature monitoring – this is a popular option that needs a little more technology to run. It includes a wider wireless monitoring system range and a higher data update rate. Ideal if you have multiple fixed points, like stationary freezers or refrigerators, that require automatic data collection and live alerts.
4. Data storage
Any system used to collect and send data needs a big place to store all that information. Depending on your business, you might need to store temperature data frequently, or even once a week.
Data storage options for temperature monitoring systems include:
Local memory storage: Simply use any USB stick or memory card you have to store data. Unfortunately, this is only suitable for small businesses as USB sticks and memory cards are easy to lose and don’t usually have large storage space.
Local gateway: This can connect to and use a cellular network for the temporary collection and storage of data. The data is later transmitted to a larger storage device like a local PC.
Cloud solutions: These automatically transfer data to servers and additionally offer a wide variety of features to managers. Connected cloud-based solutions, like Cartrack, are becoming increasingly popular in temperature monitoring systems and are being implemented more with each passing year.
5. Alarms
One of a temperature monitoring system’s most important components is the alarm. An alarm makes sure that every threat or warning is effectively communicated, through various communication channels such as email, SMS, and fleet platforms.
Your temperature monitoring system’s alarm settings must be customised for your company.
6. Software
After the monitoring has done its part and gathered information, the software is needed to decide what you do with the data, whether you choose to chart it, archive it or simply categorise it. Software is needed to run and control the operations of the entire system.
Software is needed for:
- Configuration
- Charting
- Alarm management
- Data retrieval
- Reporting
What is a continuous temperature monitoring system?
This is a powerful system that can weather any storm, from power outages to internet outages. It will continue to have 24/7 monitoring of products.
For a South African business that suffers through load-shedding almost daily, using technology to monitor the temperature of your products might not always work out when the power goes off.
To combat this, many businesses have had to find alternative means to maintain a constant temperature, continuous temperature monitoring is one of those options.
How does this monitoring system work?
Continuous temperature monitoring equipment has internal batteries that provide just enough power to keep the system running regardless of weather conditions.
While the power is out, the system can:
- Record temperature readings without interruption
- Capture necessary data that is critical to the operation
Having a generator might help in these situations, but even when the generator turns on, it sometimes doesn’t bring back the internet or phone network, which can hinder temperature readings by not transmitting the data.
Without an internet connection, a cloud-based platform such as Cartrack will recognise the break in communication from the temperature sensor and see that transmissions are not being received, which will notify personnel of the disconnect.
This system is often used in labs, museums or construction sites.
Benefits of fuel management
A great fleet manager can split their focus between all the factors that affect their fleet. If you manage a fleet efficiently, you’ll notice that fuel economy is just one of the many obstacles you have to tackle.
There’s also:
- Fuel consumption management
- Internal and external fuel fraud
- Unnoticed fuel leakages
- Complex and time-consuming fuel reporting
How do fuel management tools help tackle these issues?
- Improve accuracy – Get the data that is travelled by your fleet and calculate the amount of fuel consumed with fuel monitoring systems. You can also save the data for later analysis with the help of an automated fuel control system.
- Improve fuel efficiency – With this, you can track your vehicle maintenance and driver routes. Implementing efficient driving routes is necessary to make cost-effective decisions so that misuse of excessive fuel consumption can be eliminated.
- Reduce fuel theft – Fuel theft is considered a big issue in the fleet industry. Using a fuel monitoring system can reduce fuel theft attempts by recording fuel consumption, fuel-related expenses and identifying security issues within your fleet to implement solutions.
- Automated reports – Reports can be received on events in real-time, like fuel levels, unauthorised vehicle usage and frequent engine idling so that you are able to investigate what your mileage is, as well as any irregular fuel economy.
- Maintain compliance – Fuel consumption software will make sure that your fleet adheres to emission standards. There are many places where CO2 emissions are heavily regulated.
Managers can access information from their laptops or phones since the software allows for remote usage. With this and an internet connection, you don’t have to deal with outdated stocktaking or tank management from the office. You can do it all from virtually anywhere.
Reduce fleet costs with a trusted fleet management company
Cartrack’s smart dashboard provides swift fleet monitoring for your whole fleet and many more benefits for fellow managers.
Learn more about fuel consumption, and use Cartrack fleet management solutions to fix it.