A perfect analysis

Vehicle Operators are settling for second-rate analysis services and are not making the most of their tachograph data according to Road Tech Computer Systems’ Managing Director Derek Beevor.

Beevor says, “If you use online banking you’re able to access your account, make payments and view your statement immediately. Quite rightly you don’t expect to sign in, ask for a statement and then have to wait – sometimes days or weeks – for it to arrive. Yet many people accept this kind of service when it comes to their tachograph analysis”

Beevor believes that many people are simply used to how things ‘used to be’ and aren’t aware of what’s possible now. “When there were just analogue tachographs, everyone either sent their charts away for analysis or employed someone to do it for them”, he says, “Either way, the result wasn’t instant. With digital tachographs you can have the driver’s card and VU analysed in seconds, with the results straight in front of you without having to wait.

“Any decent digital analysis solution will also allow you to scan your analogue charts (again in seconds) for that information to be instantly amalgamated with your digital data.”

Naturally Road Tech’s Tachomaster Analysis System does provide this level of instant analysis and is being used by most of the United Kingdom’s major logistics and distribution companies including NYK Logistics, CEVA, Fowler Welch, UPS and Geopost. In addition to its own customers, a large majority of vehicle manufacturers such as DAF, Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu Truck, MAN and Renault Trucks have branded version of Tachomaster that they offer to their customers.

But the advantages of Tachomaster are far greater than just instant and truly online analysis. The analysed tachograph data provides almost all of the information required to check compliance with the Working Time Directive and, of course, Tachomaster checks the data to ensure that drivers are complying with these regulations too.

Beevor, however, isn’t satisfied with merely providing a compliance service, “Your tachograph data contains a wealth of information about your drivers and fleet that is vital to your business and Tachomaster lets you effortlessly harness it”, he says.

“Using Tachomaster you can, for example, immediately see how efficiently your vehicles are being used, how much driving time each of your drivers has left and much, much more.

“Furthermore, Tachomaster lets you ‘drill down’ through your information from a general overview, down to a range such as one of your depots, to a particular driver or vehicle and even to a specific minute, incident or infringement.”

Anyone still using old fashioned, non-instant analysis services can download Tachomaster for free from tachomaster.co.uk and have a 28-day free trial. Road Tech will also be exhibiting on Stand 312 at Multimodal 2009 which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham 28 – 30 April, so there really is no reason not to try instant, online tachograph analysis with full management reporting for yourself.