We are a geo-technical engineering firm that has specialized in sinkhole investigations for the last ten years. We have 5 trailer mounted drill rigs that we take to our client’s homes to test for sinkhole conditions. We have been using the Advanced Tracking Technologies GPS units on our drill trucks and found them helpful in some surprising ways. Without making phone calls to our drillers, who normally cannot answer phone calls due to noise and adverse conditions, we can tell where they are, when they got there and let our customers or their legal representatives know they are on site drilling or on the way to the next job.

A couple unexpected circumstances have happened that helped us make decisions on several phone calls involving aggressive driving. We are aware sometimes the public does not like trucks with trailers in front of them and several times we have had phone calls telling us our drivers were driving in a very fast and aggressive manner. We feel these units have helped us get to the truth in these cases and not only has it showed us when they were speeding, it also proved to us several times they were NOT speeding and in one case of an accident we could prove we were under the speed limit, thus protecting our driver and our company driving record.

Also when our project managers take vehicles home overnight, as we sometimes allow, we can see if they are running errands with our company vehicles, which is not permitted. It just helps keep good people honest!

ASE has found the use of our 27 GPS tracking units a valuable resource in scheduling and tracking our fleet. We have 14 Base (P-series) units and 13 Real-time (H-series) units. The historical data reports generated are often combined with other time fixed data for backup to billings to our clients. In addition, the Real-time units provide ready access to a vehicle’s location and have been used to validate positions and guide them to specific locations on the fly since survey control points may not be known until after the crew departs for the day. This live directional use minimizes confusion and enhances our communications and efficiency.

Shadow Tracker data also eliminates uncertainties previously encountered when our crews visited multiple sites with different clients the same day. The administrative time saved, in concert with accurate data supporting billings, have provided the ROI expected from the use of ATTI’s GPS tracking system. Use of this system has created real and dramatic savings as a result of the monitoring capabilities. Prior to Shadow Tracker, we had to manually review gas receipts, toll and mileage reports, employee time sheets and daily reports to match actual behavior. The system is more automated in tracking these activities for accurate time reporting to the client and all but eliminated usage outside of approved working conditions or hours.

I purchased the GPS tracking system to stop the unauthorized use of my vehicles after hours. I have a 24 hour service company so my techs take their vehicles home at night. We also use the system to match time sheets with the Travel Detail Report. The reduction in payroll expenses has more than paid for the system.