Global positioning systems are, frankly, pretty amazing. And now they’re widely available and user-friendly.
Since the U.S. Department of Defense deregulated use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the 1980s, consumers and independent organizations are able to use the technology for everything from finding their way back to camp on a hunting trip, to locating tagged animals for wildlife research. Additionally, many owners and operators of service companies like those in the green industry are taking advantage of GPS tools to track and monitor their service vehicles, resulting in increased efficiency and higher profits.
A few thousand dollars worth of equipment mounted inside landscape and lawn care trucks can help companies do everything from tracking the locations of certain vehicles to determining whether the driver buckled his or her seatbelt. For the most part, green industry company owners use GPS to monitor the speed and location of their trucks and use that data to increase efficiency and cut costs. But Mark Campagna, director of communications, FleetBoss, Orlando, Fla., gave some examples of the more intriguing tricks GPS technology can perform.
“There are lots of reasons to use [GPS], not the least of which is customer service,” Campagna noted. “When a customer claims that a service did not take place, with GPS tracking you can identify if, in fact, your vehicle was even there. Or, in the incidence of a person saying, “I saw your truck in a parking lot bump into another car and leave,” you can look at the data and say, ‘My truck was never there – I track them by satellite.’”
Campagna also explained that GPS equipment can be rigged to “monitor events that have an electrical consequence.” For instance, pressure switches on vehicle doors or tailgates can be wired into the system, which will record when those switches went on and off. “A lot of service vehicles can be equipped with switches that you can keep tool boxes on top of, for instance,” Campagna described. “You can also rig into the dome light so the system can tell when the door opens or closes. With those two elements you have a story that says the truck was in the driveway, but the dome light never went on and the tool box never left. Presumably a service did not take place.”
Of course, Campagna and other manufacturers don’t suggest installing GPS equipment as a way to spy on crews or catch them not doing their jobs. On the contrary, they encourage use of GPS as a way to keep track of work that is performed and instances that benefit the company. “If a customer calls up and says ‘I don’t think your crew was here,’ you can look at the data and say, ‘Actually, the crew was in your driveway for 58 minutes and they lowered the tailgate on the trailer,’ which presumably means that a lawn mower was removed and used.”
Though some crewmembers remain skeptical of GPS’s “Big Brother” qualities, Campagna mentioned some instances where individuals – not just the company – can benefit from its uses. Safe driving programs are a great example. Because most GPS systems can generate “exception reports” that will highlight all the instances where a vehicle went over a certain speed, managers can keep track of how well their drivers stay within the speed limit. Campagna suggested using this type of information to periodically reward drivers with the safest records.
Additionally, safe driving programs like this can help companies reach their goals of lowering expenses. “There are a lot of times when customers say to their insurance companies, ‘I’ve implemented a save-driving program,’ but they have no way to prove it so their insurance doesn’t change,” Campagna observed. “With GPS you can tell the insurance company, ‘My safe-driving program is enforceable because I track my trucks by satellite.’ Quite often, companies can receive a nice discount on their insurance premiums because of that.”
Campagna assured that GPS technology can benefit companies of almost any size. Whether you have four trucks or 40, these versatile techno toys can really increase a company’s efficiency and boost its bottom line.
The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspiers@lawnandlandscape.com.