Wireless fleet management provides industry’s ‘eyes and ears’

Eagle Eye, the vehicle tracking, security and fleet communication company, reports two recent examples of wireless fleet management in the recycling and waste services sectors.

Published 22nd February 2005

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The Eagle Eye Fleetserver system has been installed by Ward Recycling Ltd which is a household and industrial waste management business with operations centred in Middlesbrough.

Last year, the company, which remains within private ownership and has enjoyed major organic growth installed a system comprising 32 GSM units across five operational sites from the north east to the midlands. Units report at one minute intervals into three separate Fleetsaver base stations in Congleton, Ilkeston and Stoke-on-Trent.

Reasons cited for the purchase of the system were the improvement in the visibility of the mobile workforce and the improvement in fleet and vehicle efficiencies.
Additional benefits stated to be delivered by the Eagle Eye System are:

  • instant vehicle location allows maximisation of productivity by allocating the nearest or next available waste collector to a job
  • visibility allows staff to confirm site visits and collection/dropping times
  • route deviation has been eliminated and “barred” Custom Points mean that vehicles are no longer taken to home locations, saving time and reducing complaints
  • audit trail enables complaints to be investigated quickly and simply and provide irrefutable evidence
  • exception reports have enabled Ward Recycling to significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary idling and make a valuable saving in fuel costs
  • drivers can be “talked down” to remote, hard to find destinations from the street level mapping on the control centre saving time and money.
    Operations Director Gareth Godwin, com-menting on the system, said: “It is my eyes and ears. The Eagle Eye system provides a level of control and information that allows me to really to run the business more efficiently and profitably.”

    • LA application

    The Eagle Eye Vista system was also installed early last year by the City of Bradford MDC which employed 96 GPRS units across two operational sites in Bradford and Keighley. Vehicles fitted include Vulture refuse wagons, Johnson street sweepers, HGV sweepers and LGV vans.

    Units report between 30 seconds and five minute intervals into Eagle Eye Vista on the web. Additional features include dash mounted panic buttons reporting to Group 4 Security in case of emergency.

    Potential future enhancements to the system are power-take-off devices fitted to monitor brush activities on sweepers, in-cab text message pads to enable cost efficient communication and in-cab PDA devices for route management.

    Reasons cited in this case study for the purchase of Eagle Eye system are:

  • approved after consultation between operational departments, the unions and the collective workforce
  • to deliver measurable operational process improvements
  • to provide additional health and safety benefits to employees
  • to increase overall management control and awareness

    • John Turner, Principal Waste and Cleansing Officer at Bradford, found the system was “an invaluable management tool”.

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