Friday July 30th, 2004

Netistix checks fleet's pulse

Driving Section July 30, 2004

Publication: Ottawa Citizen

Deep in the office complexes of Ottawa’s tech sector, a marketing and sales vice-president smiles as gasoline and diesel prices rise and the cost of keeping a vehicle on the road gets higher. Is he an oil executive? An executive of a firm working on a new hybrid micro-car? No, John Woronczuk works for Netistix Technologies Corp. and the product that has him and his staff laughing at the gas pumps is their FleetPulse Vehicle Relationship Management System.

Basically, FleetPulse allows any late-model vehicle to communicate with a land-based computer system by wirelessly transmitting selected engine and transmission data monitored by the vehicle’s onboard computers. The receiving computer system then translates the raw data into a vehicle activity report to be forwarded to the fleet manager for review.

Why bother? Let’s say you’re the president of a major courier firm and own and operate a few thousand vehicles in Canadian cities at any point in time. Wouldn’t it be great to find out about an upcoming engine fault in one of your units and have it corrected before it costs you a 20-per-cent increase in fuel consumption, or how about avoiding a breakdown that may lose a customer?

Cost savings are just the beginning of the advantage of the FleetPulse, according to Mr. Woronczuk. The heart of his company’s system is a vehicle interface unit, a small electronic box mounted under the dash and plugged in to the vehicle’s data-link connector.

The interface unit is programmed with a vehicle identifier code so that the land-based receiver can separate it from the myriad other cars in the fleet. Then, every time the vehicle passes by the receiver’s antenna, (located, say, in the client’s fleet parking lot), the interface instantly downloads all the data in its memory. The type of data extracted and transmitted by the interface is specifically chosen by the client in conjunction with Netistix staff.

One might wonder why this technology is needed in light of the fact that all these vehicles have “check engine” lights and other warning systems. Well, the problem with warning systems is that they rely on a human to transmit the data to a service provider, or in other words, they’re easy to ignore.

The other downside with check engine lights is they only come on for a minority of fault codes they monitor. A critical engine or transmission sensor usually has to completely fail before the dash light comes on. A minor fault with one of these sensors can still play havoc with operating costs and the driver will never be the wiser.

The other major benefits of FleetPulse, according to Mr. Woronczuk, are the utilization and productivity information it can provide. This Big Brother type of monitoring can ensure employees are complying with company policies such as engine idle time and speed limit compliance.

Comparing vehicles and their drivers against each other can also bring to light ideas for improving productivity. Privacy protection issues shouldn’t arise here. After all, an employee who is driving an employer-owned vehicle would provide permission for such monitoring under an employment agreement.

From their start in November 2002, this privately held firm has progressed to trial runs in five different fleets as of last March. The 70 vehicles now on the road with the FleetPulse system represent law enforcement services, courier firms, a federal government fleet, and a major fleet management provider. The trials are set to conclude this fall. John and his team are projecting a seven- to 12-month payback period in reduced operating costs.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2004