1. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |
South Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
1
Roadmapmonthly newsletter
Editorial
ne of Frotcom’s characteristics is its extensive market footprint.
You will find vehicles carrying Frotcom technology in the most
metropolitan cities and in the wildest plains; you can find it in 18 wheel
trucks and in motorbikes; you can find it in jeeps moving along the slopes of the
Kilimanjaro and in boats navigating their way through the delta of the Danube; you
can find it in long haulage trucks and semitrailers, or on vans involved in local
distribution.
Naturally, there are many issues faced by fleet managers in all these cases. Some
of the issues are common to most of them. Some are quite different.
Although it can be said without a shadow of a doubt that most fleet managers are
concerned with productivity, cost control, quality of service and security, the
importance of each of these factors and – most of all – the way to achieve their
optimization will often differ.
In some cases, fuel management, involving the control of refuelling operations and
the detection of fuel theft, is paramount. Due to their bigger tanks, trucks are a
typical target for fuel theft.
In the case of lighter vehicles, productivity tends to be one of the most important
issues to control.
Some requirements tend to be more influenced by the territory, due to either local
trends or applicable laws. For instance, protection against vehicle theft is a
common requirement in some regions, whereas maximum driving time law
enforcement is a concern in other regions of the world.
Some other requirements, however, seem to be
very universal, even if the reason may be
somewhat different. Take Eco-driving, for
instance. In some countries, a better driving
behaviour is looked after by companies, in order
to have lower fuel consumption and the
associated costs. In other countries where the
cost of fuel is not as high, the main factor to be
achieved with an improvement in driving
behaviour is the reduction in downtimes, since
the inexistence and price of spare parts can hold
vehicles off the road for months.
Giving an adequate response to these various requirements is Frotcom’s mission.
Valério Marques, CEO - Frotcom International
A note from the editor – If you would like to have your own say in the next edition of this newsletter please do
not hesitate to get in touch at roadmap@frotcom.com.
O
August
2013
In this issue
New Certified Partner
Frotcom has a new
Certified Partner
Frotcom Cape Verde
New Features
Driving teams
Maximum speed used
in the calculation of
best paths (directions)
New and Events
Frotcom East Africa at the
Hino Trucks launch
Frotcom South Africa
launches the “Big 5”!
This and much more…
2. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |
South Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
2
New Certified Partner
Frotcom has a new Certified Partner
Frotcom International is very proud to announce the arrival of its newest
Frotcom Certified Partner: Frotcom Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese, the
Cape Verdean official language).
EASA, Ltd. has obtained the Frotcom Certification for Cape Verde. This company
has been active in the area of automation and supervision systems for industrial
equipment and plants.
The recognition of Cape Verde’s companies needs in the area of vehicle tracking
and fleet management was the reason why EASA started looking for a Partner in
this field.
“I am sure that joining the wide network of Frotcom´s
Certified Partners was the best choice for us. Companies in
Cape Verde are looking for a reliable vehicle tracking / fleet
management solution at a competitive price. With Frotcom
International’s knowledge and support we will be able to
play an active role in the Cape Verdean market. I am
confident that pretty soon Frotcom Cape Verde will gain a
respectable position in the market.” said Jorge Fortes, CEO
at Frotcom Cabo Verde.
ROADMAP welcomes Jorge Fortes and the Frotcom Cape
Verde team on board and wishes them successful operations.
About Cape Verde
Cape Verde officially the Republic of Cape Verde, is an island country, spanning
an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean. The economy
of Cape Verde is service-oriented, with commerce, transport, and public services
accounting for more than 70% of Gross Domestic Product.
Since 1991, the government has pursued market-oriented economic policies,
including an open welcome to foreign investors and a far-reaching
privatization program. It established as top development priorities the
promotion of a market economy and of the private sector; the development of
tourism, light manufacturing industries, and fisheries; and the development of
transport, communications and energy facilities.
> Capital Praia
> Currency Cape Verdean escudo (CVE)
> Language Portuguese
> Population 523,568
> Territory 4,033 km2
> GDP $2.305 billion
Source: Wikipedia
Did you know?
Proposals to boost use of
alternative fuels would ensure
drivers can fill up or plug in at
more stations across EU
If more drivers switched to cars
powered by electricity, hydrogen and
natural gas – rather than petrol and
diesel – it would help make the EU less
dependent on oil imports, as well as
curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the widespread use of
alternative fuels is being held back by
the high cost of vehicles, low
consumer acceptance, and a lack of
recharging and refuelling stations.
To remove these barriers, the
Commission plans to set binding
targets and common standards. The
main proposals cover:
Electricity – a minimum number of
recharging stations per country and a
standard plug so drivers can recharge
anywhere in the EU;
Hydrogen – common standards for
fuel hoses and other components at
filling stations in 14 EU countries;
Liquefied natural gas – filling stations
for trucks every 400 km along the
proposed unified European transport
network; filling stations for ships
would also be required at all 139
maritime and inland ports along the
network;
Compressed natural gas – accessible
refuelling stations, with common
standards, available to ordinary cars
Europe-wide at least every 150 km by
2020.
EU countries would be able to
implement these changes by adapting
local laws and taxes to encourage
private sector investment. EU funding
is already available to support such
changes.
The proposals do not address other
alternative fuels that either use
existing infrastructure (biofuels and
synthetic fuels) or already have core
infrastructure in place (liquefied
petroleum gas). (…)
Source: European Commission
Jorge Fortes, CEO
Frotcom Cape Verde
3. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |
South Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
3
New Features
Driving teams
The simultaneous association of two drivers – driving team – to a vehicle is now
available in Frotcom. This means that companies will be able to associate two
drivers to a vehicle, which will be reflected in several functionalities in Frotcom,
including the activity reports.
A driving team is sometimes used in long haulage. Team drivers will take the wheel
in turns, in order to keep a truck rolling with as few interruptions as possible and
without forcing drivers to work beyond the maximum recommendable periods
and/or allowed by law.
Maximum speeds used in the
calculation of best paths (directions)
Companies with heavy vehicles can now specify
maximum speeds for their vehicles, providing Frotcom
with information to generate more accurate estimated
trip times when the Directions operation is used.
When generating directions (best path between two
points and corresponding itinerary), map providers used
by Frotcom – Bing Maps and Google Maps – will use, by
default, the maximum allowable speed for light or heavy
vehicles, for each route section.
News and Events
Frotcom East Africa at the Hino Trucks launch
On the 18th
of July, 2013, Frotcom East Africa was honoured to be a participant in a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ceremony at the Nairobi Railway Club.
Bringing together partners recognized for their leadership in their industries, the
ceremony, held by Hino, Toyota Kenya truck and bus division, unveiled the
integrated fleet management system targeted at the truck and bus market place.
Frotcom comes on board to offer speed control in trucks and buses, as a function to
encourage road safety, among other monitoring functionalities.
According to Jackson Karisa Fagio, Commercial Director at Frotcom East Africa, “this
partnership will help to quickly bridge the gap for those many investors who have
been looking for a reliable Fleet Management Solution and at the same time have
little time to sample the many operators in the market. With Frotcom, they will get
their choice right from the start”.
ROADMAP congratulates the Frotcom East Africa team for this successful project!
Tip of the month
Workforce management
Form templates
This feature allows you to use a more
customized output for the forms
received from the mobile devices. This
can be extremely useful when you
want the information coming in forms
to be printed “inside” an official or
company document, for instance.
Basically you must create the document
you need to print as a Word file. Inside
that file, some tags or placeholders will
be associated to form fields: text,
numbers, images or signatures, for
instance.
The fields are referenced in the
template file by using the @@
characters followed by an identifier and
finished with ‘;’.
Your Frotcom Certified Partner will help
you prepare a form template and also
configure Frotcom to use your form
template.
4. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |
South Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
4
News and Events
Frotcom South Africa launches the “Big 5”!
During July 2013, Frotcom South Africa arranged two regional conferences, one in
the “mother city” of Cape Town, in the shadow of the iconic Table Mountain and
one in “Egoli” – Johannesburg, the economic national “power-house”, 1,600 km
from Cape Town. The conference theme was “Unzip Hidden Profit – Potential from
your Mobile Fleet Assets” and the guest speaker and presenter was Nuno Liñan,
CMO at Frotcom International.
Frotcom conferences had some 20 industry representatives from several vertical
markets such as the Petro-Chemical, Mining (Yellow Metal), Pharmaceuticals,
Fishing, Major Chain Groups and other Distribution & Logistics companies.
South Africa is a mature market vehicle tracking market. Frotcom South Africa has
consequently developed an effective strategy of effectively focussing on the
following “Big 5” differentiators:
1. Cost Reduction management tool;
2. In-cab workforce performance optimization;
3. Integrated Wireless Sensors;
4. Back-Office System Integration;
5. Geo-fencing matrix and eco-driving.
Nuno Liñan introduced the Frotcom Fleet Intelligence system, described the benefits
and did a live demonstration of the product. The audience was astounded at the
superior performance of Frotcom as opposed to the competitors’ products. Almost
without exception, Frotcom scored tops in the fields of Cost management and
Workforce modules and how the system can interface with the various
corporations’ ERP systems.
“We have a winner!”, said Colin Doyle, CEO at Frotcom South Africa. This has been
proved by the fact that Frotcom South Africa has within the space of 10 days moved
onto “Project specification” level with four major clients. “It is the intentions of
Frotcom South Africa to make significant inroads into the Fleet Intelligence
environment by its unique focus of the “Big-5”, this time not the Lion, Cheetah,
Elephant, Buffalo or Rhino”, reiterates Colin Doyle, “and we look forward to a long
and profitable partnership with Frotcom International”.
ROADMAP congratulates the Frotcom South Africa team for these successful events!
Next, on Roadmap
News and events,
more new Frotcom features
and tips will be presented.
This and more, so don’t miss
the next issue of Roadmap.