201010 roadmap newsletter - october 2010

Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | [email protected] | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | Fax +351 214 135 678 Frotcom vehicle tracking system | www.frotcom.com Algeria | Angola |Belgium | Brazil | Bulgaria | Cameroon | Cyprus | D. R. Congo | Greece | Kenya | Luxemburg | Macedonia | Madagascar | Mauritius | Morocco | Portugal | Reunion Islands | Romania | Rwanda | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Slovenia | Spain | Tanzania | Uganda

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Roadmap monthly newsletter

Editorial

re vehicle tracking requirements for fleet

management the same everywhere?

In other words, is a Slovenian fleet manager

worried about the same things as his Tanzanian

counterpart? Is it the same problem both managers are trying

to address when they use Frotcom?

At a fundamental level, the answer is yes. Fleet management is all about optimizing

the resources associated to a fleet: vehicles, drivers, time, mileage and consumption.

And this is common to all the countries where Frotcom is sold. Clearly, the factors

which lead to those resources not being optimized in a fleet may vary. However,

according to our experience, those factors seem to be more related to each

company’s activity and culture than to the country’s culture.

For instance, door-to-door distribution companies are usually more concerned

about route optimization than long haulage companies, for the simple reason that to

optimize the path between Paris and Milan, for instance, is much simpler than to

daily optimize distribution routes with 30 delivery points spread out through a city.

So, the company’s activity determines a lot which factors need to be optimized

in a fleet.

Also, company culture can strongly impact the concerns of fleet managers when it

comes to the optimization of the available resources. For instance, the more drivers

are aligned with the management, the less driving behavior is a concern. Inversely, if

there is not a good alignment between one and the other, then distrust sets in and

driving behavior control becomes a priority.

Hence, the answer to whether or not the Slovenian and the Tanzanian fleet

managers share the exact same problem is fundamentally yes, but the company’s

activity and culture will determine the priority of each optimization factor to

which Frotcom is to be applied.

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 [email protected].

A

October 2010

In this issue

Frotcom Sierra Leone

Building up momentum

in West Africa.

Case study

Controlling cement mixer

trucks

News and events

Frotcom Greece

has new office

…and

Frotcom Bulgaria

exhibits

This and much more…

mailto:[email protected]


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New Frotcom Certified Partner

Frotcom Sierra Leone Building up momentum in West Africa

Frotcom International and One Sierra Leone Ltd signed an agreement for the

creation of Frotcom Sierra Leone.

One Sierra Leone was formed in 2009. The company’s goal is to be established as

Sierra Leone’s premiere transportation company within five years.

Initially, One Sierra Leone was looking for a

simple tracking solution that would work in the

country. According to Jason Hancock,

Managing Director of Frotcom Sierra Leone

Ltd, “I travel extensively and the fact that

Frotcom is web based and gives me remote

access from anywhere in the world really was a

big plus. Once we had tested the system in Sierra

Leone and seen the user friendly interface we

realised that there must be many more

companies, just like us, who would benefit from having access to a professional well

developed system like Frotcom. The state of the art devices, well designed software and

excellent support we receive from Lisbon will give us a distinct advantage over our

competitors.”

About Frotcom Sierra Leone’s perspectives, Penny Doyle, Marketing Director of

Frotcom Sierra Leone adds: “We expect and believe that Sierra Leone will develop

rapidly over the coming years mainly due to the emerging mining projects and foreign

investment. Along with foreign investment comes accountability and it will become

essential for all investors to locate their assets for optimum control and efficiency.

There will also be opportunity to establish within the local business community as they

try to improve their service levels and try to curb the current rampant vehicle misuse

that currently haunts the country.“

ROADMAP welcomes Jason Hancocks and the Frotcom Sierra Leone team and

wishes them great success.

A few words about Sierra Leone

The Republic of Sierra Leone is located in West Africa. It is very

rich in mineral resources, possessing most of the known mineral

types of the world, many of which in significant quantities. The

country is among the top 10 diamond producing nations in the

world, and mineral exports remain the main foreign currency

earner.

> Capital: Freetown > Language: English, Bangla, Krio > Territory: 71,740 sq km

> Population: 6.5 million > Currency: Leone (SLL) > GDP: 1.7 billion USD (2009)

Did you know

Where does the name

Frotcom come from?

We have heard this question many

times: what does Frotcom stand for?

Does it have any meaning?

In fact, it does.

Frotcom is a composition of two

Portuguese words: frota (fleet) and

comunicações (communications).

When Frotcom was born,

communication between the office

and the vehicles of a fleet was still in

its early days. In fact, the first version

of Frotcom used satellite

communications (Standard-C,

implemented by Inmarsat’s

geostationary satellites.)

Being able to communicate with

vehicles was a great breakthrough

for fleet management, and so it was

only natural to think of the name

Frotcom for a vehicle tracking

system.

It is fair to say that back in 1996,

Frotcom’s target were the Portuguese

transportation companies, So, the

association of those two Portuguese

words was all that was needed.

Little did we know that 10 years later

Frotcom would start expanding to so

many other countries.


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Case Study

Controlling cement mixer

trucks

Pampoukkas Brothers Cement Ltd belongs to “Pampoukka Group of Companies””

which includes three main sections: Cement, Prefabricated Materials and

Construction Projects & Separations plots. The company, founded in 1985 and

based in Nicosia, Cyprus, successfully addresses the

Cypriot market of ready-mixed cement offering high

quality ready-mixed concrete to meet all kinds of projects.

Pampoukkas Brothers Cement Ltd produces and supplies

ready mixed concrete all over Cyprus, with a modern fleet

of mixer trucks with pump.

In order to constantly provide the best quality of service offered to their customers,

the management of the company has decided to use Frotcom. According to Michalis

Christodoulides , CEO of Frotcom Cyprus, “The main reason why Frotcom was

chosen was because it’s an all-inclusive solution, so there is no hidden or extra

cost, for its simplicity, friendly user interface, easiness in operating application

and last, but not the least, the competitive price.”

ROADMAP congratulates Michalis and the Frotcom Cyprus team for this first

case study. Many others will follow, for sure.

Joining us

Gonçalo Gomes joins Technical

Support

Gonçalo is the latest member of Frotcom International’s

Technical Support team.

Throughout his career, Gonçalo managed several Technical Support teams in

multinational companies and projects. His professional career brought him

experience in a wide area of operations and vast knowledge of helpdesk support

environments.

By the way, for those of you not familiar with Portuguese accented letters, letter “Ç”

has basically the same sound of “S” in the english word “Set”.

ROADMAP welcomes Gonçalo on board.

Tip of the month

Note: this tip is only valid for vehicles

equipped with a CANBus device.

Frotcom’s CANBus module can read

data such as fuel level in the tank,

engine speed, engine temperature and

tachograph information.

In the specific case of fuel, two graphs

are available: Fuel level (%) and Fuel

level variation (%).

The fuel level (%) graph shows the

level of fuel as a percentage of the total

capacity of the tank. The fuel level

variation (%) shows very clearly when

there are sharp fuel level variations,

either positive (refueling operation) or

negative (sudden fuel level drop in the

tank).

If you take the next graph, for instance,

you will see that a refueling operation

took place (positive peak). By right

clicking on the peak, you can now

choose the Show this moment on map

operation.

Once you choose that option, you will

be able to see the exact place in the

map where that operation occurred:

With this option, you can easily check

whether or not this is a valid place for

loading/unloading fuel.

Mapping sudden

fuel variations

Tip of the month

Frotcom on the iPAD

Have you thought of using the iPAD

to control your fleet? You can, with

Frotcom.

As you know, Frotcom’s Smartphone

interface is quite convenient when you

need to control your fleet from a place

where a computer is not at hand.

The iPAD is yet another alternative. Not

as small as a Smartphone, it has,

however, a larger screen and a great

user-friendly interface.

Frotcom’s web interface is fully

compatible with the iPAD and its Safari

web browser.

If you have a 3G-enabled iPAD, you can

easily control your fleet from any place:

home, the local pub or the hotel pool.

Your choice!


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News and events

Frotcom Hellas opens

new office in Artemis Attiki, Athens

Frotcom Hellas (Greece) is growing. In September, it had to move to a bigger office.

The new office, conveniently located in the city

of Artemis Attiki, is 10 mns from Athens

international airport and 30 mns from central

Athens.

The new office has perfect conditions to

receive customers, make demos and host

meetings.

ROADMAP congratulates Nasos Sideris and Frotcom Hellas for this important

step.

Frotcom Bulgaria exhibits in Plovdiv’s

International Technical Fair

Every autumn the International Technical Fair

of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, exhibits the latest

developments of the world's leading companies

in machine building, automobiles, transport,

information technologies, software, electronics

and other technical fields.

This year, from September 27 to October 2, Frotcom Bulgaria is exhibiting in this

event.

Dragan Kostovski, CEO of Frotcom Macedonia,

visited the exhibition and had the chance to talk to

Frotcom Bulgaria’s CEO, Delyan Kostov.

ROADMAP congratulates Delyan and the

Frotcom Bulgaria team for this initiative.

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.

201010 roadmap newsletter - october 2010

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