Meeting The Challenge of Electronic Logging With Mobility

New transportation regulations will soon have an impact across multiple business sectors, not just the transportation industry. Moving assets and equipment across the supply chain extends to a number of diverse industries, including oil and gas, heavy construction, mining, and utilities. Recent federal mandates for Electronic Logging Devices (ELD), set to go into effect by December 2017, will require a combination of software and electronic devices to monitor vehicle operation along with driver performance, and compiling that data for compliance reporting, in an effort to further increase the level of safety on the nation’s highways.

Overall, ELD solutions can provide a range of functions and important information. This includes:

  • monitoring vehicle operation and engine performance
  • tracking drivers hours on the road and breaks
  • keeping dispatch up to date on worker status
  • accessing real-time vehicle data
  • eliminating paperwork with direct eform data entry
  • reporting and verification for hours of service compliance

Traditionally, the standard fleet management service (FMS) solution is fixed and mounted as a stationary device inside the vehicle. An FMS on-board computer, connected to the engine, monitors the time driven, the on-duty hours of the driver, and the remaining available drive hours. Data can be transmitted wirelessly to the back office to enable near real-time monitoring.

By contrast, advanced rugged mobile tablets and handhelds can perform the same functions and more while mounted on the dashboard for easy access. Drivers can easily remove their device, such as the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 or Toughpad FZ-B2 tablet, for increased flexibility to perform walk-around vehicle inspections, complete Proof of Delivery forms, interact with clients, or stay in contact with the back office and with dispatch while away from the vehicle.

For our customers across diverse sectors, software consolidation has helped simplify the adoption process so that multiple solutions, such as electronic proof of delivery (ePoD), GPS, and ELD, are combined onto one software application platform. Beyond providing the hardware to run this critical software, our mobile devices are mobile, portable and durable designed to absorb vibrations, withstand accidental drops, and endure extreme high and low temperatures.

In addition to generating an electronic report quickly for display or print-out, drivers can provide verifications against the telematics to create a secure and trustworthy record. Drivers can rely on these electronic logs during weigh station stops and at regulatory spot checks. With a reliable mobile device, companies have the assurance drivers will be able to produce the necessary information when it’s required. Finally, our customers have found that a mobile device equipped with cloud-based ELD apps offer a level of accuracy and versatility unmatched by traditional fixed box solutions.

For more information about our mobile solutions for transportation and logistics, head here