201010 roadmap newsletter - october 2010
DESCRIPTION
Monthly newsletter addressing issues related to Frotcom products and services, customer case studies and success stories of Frotcom, among other interesting issues about our business activityTRANSCRIPT
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…
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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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.
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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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!
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
4
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.