august 2010 - frotcom roadmap newsletter

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 | D. R. Congo | Greece | Kenya | Luxemburg | Macedonia | Madagascar | Mauritius | Morocco | Portugal | Reunion Islands | Romania | Rwanda | Senegal | Seychelles | Slovenia | Spain | Tanzania | Uganda

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Roadmap monthly newsletter

Editorial

rotcom is known for its capacity to lower fuel costs, improve the fleet’s

productivity, increase customer service and enhance safety for drivers,

vehicles and cargo.

Yet, another important contribution of Frotcom

should deserve the same degree of attention: the

reduction on the carbon footprint.

Frotcom currently tracks thousands of vehicles:

trucks, vans, cars, motorcycles and – believe it or not

– boats. Its adoption usually leads to a reduction in

the total mileage, not only because driver behavior

tends to improve, but also because it is possible to

choose the most adequate vehicles for each job,

according to their positions.

Fewer kilometers travelled, means less pollution. We all know that. But can

this be quantified? Let’s try.

The added trips registered in Frotcom currently total around 580 million kilometers.

We cannot know, of course, how many kilometers would have been travelled by

these same vehicles, without the improved fleet control that results from the use of

Frotcom. Certainly more. Let’s assume, for the sake of this argument, a low estimate:

only 1%. So, the total mileage saved by Frotcom, so far, was 5.8 million km.

Ok, but, what does that mean in terms of CO2 emissions, a.k.a. carbon footprint?

The emission of CO2 to the atmosphere (not the only greenhouse gas, unfortunately,

to be produced by vehicles), varies with the type of vehicle. Since there are many

different types of vehicles tracked by Frotcom, we need to simplify. Lets us consider

that, on average, the CO2 emission per vehicle is 200 g/km. It is probably a lot more,

due to the large number of trucks controlled by Frotcom.

So, by saving 5.8 million km, Frotcom also saved 1160 tons of CO2 from being

dispersed in the atmosphere. To absorb this amount of CO2 in one year, we would

need to have planted 170 thousand pine trees!

The message is clear. Go green. Use Frotcom.

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].

F

August 2010

In this issue

Frotcom Macedonia

From technology adopter

to Certified Partner

Case study

Frotcom induces

responsible vehicle usage

New features in Frotcom

CRM and Company logo

This and much more…

mailto:[email protected]


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Flag of Macedonia

New Frotcom Certified Partner

Frotcom Macedonia From technology adopter to Certified Partner

One can say that Macedonian Yogi Shped, a transport

and forwarding agency, fell in love with Frotcom. The

company was founded a few years ago. The business

prospered and soon there came the need to resource

to the use of technology, like GPS and navigation

systems, to better control and manage the fleet. That’s

when Yogy started to think about getting involved,

step by step, with the technology, creating a new

company LKW Kostovski for the business area of

vehicle tracking and fleet management.

According to Dragan Kostovski and Aleksandra

Getov, respectively CEO and Director of LKW

Kostovski, “As our fleet got bigger and bigger, we

started to think about joining a world leading company,

having as main business vehicle tracking and fleet

management. That’s why we decided to join Frotcom’s

network of Certified Partners. We always choose the

best!” LKW Kostovski and Frotcom International have

now created Frotcom Macedonia. Dragan’s

commitment is clear: “We are new in this business, but

our team consists of young, ambitious and diligent

people who are willing to step forward to success. We

have high expectations for Frotcom in the Macedonian

market and even hope to overcome them.”

ROADMAP congratulates Dragan Kostovski, Alexandra Getov and the Frotcom

Macedonia team and wishes them great success.

Some words about Macedonia

The Republic of Macedonia is one of the successor states

of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared

independence in 1991. It has more than fifty lakes and

sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 m. Since December

2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the

European Union and has applied for NATO membership.

> Capital: Skopje > Language: Macedonian > Currency: Macedonian Denar (MKD)

> Territory: 25,713 sq km > Population: 2.1 mln > GDP: 9.5 billion (2008)

Did you know

Frotcom’s GPS receiver more

immune to jamming than

conventional GPS devices

GPS satellites transmit with a power

output of roughly 30 W, similar to the

power generated in a weak light bulb,

and are 20,000 km above us. Just

imagine: how much strength would

the signal with the strength of a weak

light bulb have after traveling that

distance?

With such a weak signal, other signals

in the same GPS frequency band don’t

need to be very strong at all in order

to override the satellite signals. There

is potential for interference in a car –

not only from the electronic engine

controls but also from dashboard

electronics and entertainment

systems.

Frotcom devices currently use the 50

channels uBlox-5 GPS engine.

Through the use of an advanced,

proprietary adaptive digital filtering

technology, the uBlox-5 GPS engine

overcomes jamming signals up to 25

dB stronger than conventional GPS

receivers can withstand. The result is

the most sensitive and reliable GPS

receiver technology available.

Based on an article from uBlox


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Case Study Frotcom induces responsible

vehicle usage

CONEXPERT GROUP is a Romanian company founded in 2003. The company is

active in the sale and mounting of high quality windows and doors in PVC and

aluminum – ALUCOBOND, ETALBOND and VEKA, for which PVC profiles Conexpert

is an authorized partner in Romania.

According to Mr. Adrian Margarit, CEO of the Conexpert Group, “Our business has

been under continuous development and this requires a good balance between

expenses and the need for expansion. The growing fleet and an increasing number of

sales agents resulted in the need for vehicles monitoring. Searches on the internet

pages led us directly to Frotcom. The clear presentation and the offered services for the

requested price led us to choose Frotcom.”

We asked Mr. Margarit whether or not Frotcom filled his expectations: “Once our

drivers were informed about the existence of Frotcom system, we observed an increase

of responsibility in vehicle usage and fuel spending. In fact, the presence of this

tracking system maintains good and trustful relationships between our employees.

Technically, we are very happy with the detailed reports, fast exports and very good

coverage.”

ROADMAP congratulates Ciprian Ionescu and the Frotcom Romania team for

this successful project.

New features in Frotcom CRM – Clients and Tracking Tickets

CRM is Frotcom’s new module focused on

Customer Relationship Management. The first

two tabs available in this new module are

Clients and Tracking tickets, but other

features will be added later on.

The Clients tab allows users to enter

information about each Client, including name,

address, contacts and contact people,

association to places in Frotcom, etc.

Tracking tickets are a way of allowing external users – for instance customers of

the Frotcom user company – to follow up the whereabouts of their cargo. Just like

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

How to really improve

customer service

The new CRM module in Frotcom

includes Tracking Tickets, a way for

Frotcom users to prepare and send, by

email, an authorization (ticket) to a

customer.

This tracking ticket will allow the

customer, by simply clicking on a link

received by email, to automatically

enter Frotcom and see the exact

whereabouts of a vehicle transporting

its goods, in the case of road

transportation, transporting a parcel, in

case of courier services or distribution,

or even transporting a technician called

for some sort of maintenance or repair

service.

Until now, only big companies such as

DHL, Fedex or TNT could provide this

type of service to their customers.

With Frotcom, it is now possible for

Frotcom users to provide a similar

service to their customers.

In fact, Frotcom’s tracking ticket service

is a breakthrough in the sense that it

provides very accurate information

about the current location of vehicles.

For customers, this is a great benefit

and a clear increase in customer

service.

Tracking Tickets in Frotcom are part of

the basic solution. No additional fee is

required, so start exploring this new

feature right away!


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the big overnight courrier companies such as DHL, Fedex or UPS offer this parcel

tracking possibility, now every Frotcom user company can do the same. Actually,

better, because their customers can very easilly see on the map where the cargo is at

any given moment.

Once an addressee receives a tracking ticket by email, clicking on the embedded link

will immediately open a special Frotcom interface dedicated to tracking tickets:

The authorization to track a vehicle, as well as their expiration time, are fully

controlled by the Frotcom user who creates and sends the ticket.

Company logo

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your company’s logo on top of the Frotcom web

interface? Well, now you can. Just contact your Frotcom Certified Partner and ask for

your logo to be displayed on the top of the Frotcom interface and also on the header

of all reports.

In the next issue

News and events,

more new Frotcom features

and tips will be presented.

This and more, so don’t miss

the next issue of Roadmap.

august 2010 - frotcom roadmap newsletter

Documents

frotcom vehicle

use of frotcom

frotcom reduction

frotcom devices

frotcom macedonia team

certified partner frotcom

use of technology

gps satellites