TIMELY VEHICLE MAINTENANCE WITH FMS TELL TALE STATUS

INTRO

Fleet managers face many challenges in their day-to-day operations, and one of the most important is tracking and measuring budgets. As fuel, repair and other costs rise, logistics companies need to optimise spending wherever possible. One of the biggest expenses can be vehicle maintenance. Fortunately, resolving potential problems promptly can go a long way to saving resources.

CHALLENGE

As the average cost of vehicle maintenance parts and labour increases, it is important to address any concerns immediately. Drivers might put off vehicle issues and focus only on fast cargo delivery, resulting in small mechanical issues growing into major issues that can halt a vehicle for a considerable amount of time.

For example, putting off oil changes might cause the engine to overheat and wear out its parts, which means expensive repairs. People responsible for the expenses are more likely to focus on long-term solutions and maintain fleets in the best condition, thus saving money in the future. With remote access to information displayed on the driver's dashboard, fleet managers will be able to monitor and organise repairs as quickly as possible.

Secondly, analysing driver behaviour can significantly increase safety and reduce costs because of reckless conduct and poor practices. For instance, it is important for fleet management companies to know if their drivers are being responsible and report breakdowns or engine checks. This might allow drawing objective conclusions where certain company policies might need improvement. 

Even more, fleet management needs to consider the safety of their drivers. Monitoring vital safety measures such as seat belt status, light status or others can save lives and maintain a good company reputation. 

SOLUTION

To address these challenges, we choose the brand-new PROFESSIONAL category vehicle GPS tracker Teltonika FMC650. This GPS device is designed to meet the highest standards in vehicle telematics. The tracker stands out with its separate module to gather GNSS data and best-in-class positioning precision. This is possible with L1 and L5 band support. On its own L1 signal can provide accurate location data, however, in combination with L5 it gives you even better accuracy, as the L5 signal can pass better through buildings. It is important to note that FMC650 is the first mass-market tracker with dual-band support!

Furthermore, this exceptionally accurate tracker has a new 4G LTE Cat 1 connectivity modem with a fallback to 2G, supporting more LTE frequency bands and, thus, providing even better connectivity in the EMEA, APAC, and LATAM regions. As the device has upgraded hardware, the resources load better. Moreover, the new model has 16 MB of internal Flash memory, allowing it to store up to 8 times more data records than the current PROFESSIONAL category line without using a MicroSD card.

FMC650 has 2 CAN lines dedicated to heavy vehicle support – one line for connecting to the tachograph and another for connecting to the FMS interface of the truck. When paired to the FMS interface, the device can retrieve all vital truck data, such as fuel consumption, engine work hours, and other information from the truck dashboard via the Teltonika FMS Tell Tale feature. Therefore, all the dashboard events shown to the driver are also transferred to the server and visible to fleet managers.

Teltonika FMS Tell Tale feature consists of 4 Tell Tale ID blocks that show the information of the indications, statuses, or vehicle information from the dashboard. Such parameters as high/low beam information, light indication, turn signals, break lights, seat belts, engine oil information, steering fluid level, retarder, transmission fluid information, brake failure, system malfunction and many others as described in standardised FMS protocol. 

By receiving this important information from the dashboard, fleet managers can avoid unnecessary costs, manage the budget more efficiently, monitor driver behaviour, and improve drivers’ safety were necessary. Finally, it is important to note that firmware updates and configuration changes can be made remotely using the FOTA WEB tool - an easy-to-use software solution that helps to manage Teltonika vehicle GPS trackers with the highest efficiency. 

TOPOLOGY

BENEFITS

• Improved company profitability – by receiving data from the dashboard, fleet managers will be aware of any vehicle issues and plan the maintenance promptly, thus, saving company costs in the future.
• Boost workforce discipline and driver accountability – fleet managers can improve the company's overall work ethic by tracking and monitoring whether drivers report vehicle issues and obey traffic regulations.
• Improved driver safety and company reputation – with the monitoring of vital safety measures such as seat belt status, the driver's safety can be improved and fatal accidents can be avoided or minimised.
• Global connectivity support – the innovative FMC650 tracker 4G Cat 1 modem with fallback to 2G supports more LTE frequency bands for even better connectivity. 

WHY TELTONIKA?

With the newly launched Teltonika FMC650, we offer solutions to the use cases with the highest requirements in the fleet management market. This highly sophisticated vehicle tracker allows retrieving dashboard data via FMS Tell Tale to avoid unwanted maintenance costs that can accumulate if drivers delay reporting issues.

Teltonika Telematics is a business partner that is trusted for almost 25 years by customers and business partners all over the world. Our innovative approach to vehicle telematics challenges and years of know-how allows our clients to implement cost-efficient and comprehensive solutions in their businesses.