M2M : Machine 2 Machine

M2M has enabled recycling and disposal company LondonWaste to kill several birds with one stone.

The firm, which provides services for the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), a consortium of seven London boroughs, is using Orange’s FleetLink system to track the positioning of its recently acquired fleet of 35 lorries.

The FleetLink device in each lorry is connected via GSM to a central location, which means that if a lorry is stolen it can be immobilised remotely.

Each device is also equipped with GPS to map the exact position of each vehicle, and this information enables the central tracking of each vehicle’s location.

‘You can get a list of all the points every time a lorry passes an Orange mast, and you can import that information into mapping software so that you can see where the driver has been in the course of the day,’ says Mark Beattie, head of IT at LondonWaste.

The mapping facility has provided several benefits for the company, in terms of both efficiency and compliance.

The same problem affects M2M applications. Legacy systems were nto designed to take advantage of the new data stream comming in from these M2M applications. To gain the most out of any M2M application you not only need to focus on technology but also on the business processes in your organization.

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Improving last mile delivery is not just about getting the latest technology on board. It’s about managing a business process. By combining the power of wireless technology with the flexibility and convenience of Web-based logistics applications, fleet operators can now make the last mile delivery as efficient as the rest of their supply chain operations.

Previously, fleet operators could only optimize their delivery operations and gain insight into activities on the road by purchasing proprietary technology, but even then, the processes were not ideal. Capturing information in the field may have entailed installing hardware Powerful Yet Simple: HP ProLiant ML110 G3. Just $688 with the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor. devices in vehicles and using antiquated batch process to upload data. Since routing and tracking applications were generally not designed to operate in real-time, delivery plans could be outdated as soon as there was a truck breakdown, delivery delay, or a new order or pickup inserted into the schedule.

Road sweepers in the UK could be missing out on cost savings and better customer service by not recognising the importance of effective fleet monitoring, according to leading ‘wire-free’ telematics and network airtime provider, BOX telematics.

“I’ve got more control! I have full real-time visibility of all my fleet and produce audit trials of customer sites that have been swept. MAP Plant incurred huge costs for low levels of tipping. Each load can now be recorded and maximised to full capacity. I am delighted that BOX telematics has the market expertise and knowledge to meet our specific needs. Our investment is already reaping the rewards.”

With the recent uproar on port security – It is worth looking into the options that are available to monitor and secure the ports and Hazmat materials going through them.

Hazardous materials can be volatile and because they are hazardous, they have restricted routes on highways. If so much time and concern is given to where these materials are allowed to be, it only makes sense to know where they are at a specific time. However, a recent survey shows fewer than 10% of hazardous materials transporters have access to realtime information.

Survey findings did show more than half of the companies polled rely on third-party services for asset tracking while the rest use internal tracking methods combining GPS-based (global positioning system) devices and fleet management software. While two-thirds of the respondents said access to realtime data was very or extremely important, less than 10% currently use such technology.

First introduced by GE in April 2003, VeriWise consists of a fully protected, trailer-mounted transceiver, a discreet antenna, and a patented power management system. The system uses the Orbcomm low earth orbit satellite network, and is supported by GE’s Asset Intelligence business in Barrington, Ill., with advanced research and engineering resources from GE’s four global research centers. Wal-Mart will also be using two recent enhancements to VeriWise capabilities, an interior-mounted cargo sensor and a solar trickle charging system to further extend battery life.

Tim Yatsko, Wal-Mart’s Senior Vice President for Transportation, noted that adding trailer tracking capability gives Wal-Mart greater supply chain visibility, and that GE’s technology platform appears flexible enough to support the company’s present and future plans for using telematics data.

“When our shipments are in transit, it’s important for us to know at all times their whereabouts and the interior condition of the trailer and its contents,” Yatsko continued. “GE gives us a technical solution that can be integrated across our supply chain and gives us the foundation of an information-based approach to managing it more efficiently. The solar-charging capability in VeriWise also supports our ten-year trailer maintenance requirement as well as our sustainability efforts.”