International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper presents the design and implementation of a large fleet management system, which is a true convergence solution of GPS, web-based GIS, GSM, GPRS and Internet technologies. The Short Message Service of the GSM is used to substitute the GPRS where GPRS is not available. A protocol stack including TCP/IP and PPP is implemented in vehicle unit to transmit data via Internet. A communication gateway is designed to distribute the location and control messages. The system tests confirm that the proposed scheme can perform a reliable management service for large fleets at low operating and maintaining costs.

La gestion de flottes est un défi important pour ces organisations pour deux raisons principales (1) dans les opérationshumanitaires les coûts liés au transport sont très élevés (les plus importants après les frais du personnel) et, (2) le rôlecentral joué par le transport pour répondre à la demande et réduire les délais de livraison. Les organisations humanitairesfont face à des conditions très particulières, par exemple ils opèrent dans des zones avec des infrastructures insuffisantesavec des conditions environnementales extrêmes et ont des contraintes budgétaires très strictes. Dans un pareil contexte, les modèles d’optimisation développés pour des supply chains de type commercial ne sont pas toujours applicables. Par conséquent, une nouvelle série d'outils et des nouvelles théories sont envisageables et même nécessaires. Cette thèse contribue au développement de ces outils. Elle est composée de deux parties qui abordent deux questions clés pour la gestion d’une flotte humanitaire: (1) quelle est la taille optimale de la flotte au fil du temps et quelle est la meilleure stratégie d’achat, (2) quelle sont les meilleures politiques de gestion une fois la flotte sur le terrain. Le manque de données est un vrai souci pour les organisations humanitaires et il empêche l’utilisation de modèles développés pour le secteur commercial qui requièrent un volume de données très important. Par conséquent, la première partie de cette thèse de l’étude propose une méthode pour déterminer la capacité optimale d’une flotte, de manière à réduire les coûts d'approvisionnement tout en répondant aux besoins de la demande, sans faire recours à des données détaillées. Contrairement aux idées reçues dans les organisations humanitaires, les résultats suggèrent qu'un mix de stratégies d'approvisionnement qui suivent la demande et de stratégies qui gardent un niveau de stock constant minimise les coûts. Le modèle suggère aussi que la stratégie d'approvisionnement qui suit la demande est optimale dans la plupart de missions humanitaires. La deuxième partie de l’étude analyse les politiques de gestion de flotte sur le terrain. Pour optimiser les performances de leurs flottes et satisfaire au mieux la demande, les organisations humanitaires mettent en oeuvre des politiques visant à accroître l'utilisation des véhicules tout en préservant leur valeur résiduelle. L’étude analyse la flotte d’une importante organisation humanitaire dans quatre pays (Soudan, Ethiopie, Afghanistan et Géorgie). Les résultats de l’étude montrent que (1) une allocation de véhicules par type de mission n’est pas nécessaire, (2) tous les véhicules doivent être utilisés conformément à la même politique d'utilisation quelle que soit leur mission et, (3) la politique de remplacement des véhicules mise en oeuvre par la plupart des organisations humanitaires n'est pas efficace et doit être revue. L’étude démontre aussi que la maximisation du taux d'utilisation et la maximisation de la valeur résiduelle ne sont pas forcément des objectifs opposés : une politique bien conçue permet de les atteindre simultanément. / Fleet management is a major concern for international humanitarian organizations because of (1) the magnitude of transportation related costs in humanitarian operations, second only to personnel cost and, (2) the pivotal role that transportation plays in the order fulfillment process. Humanitarian organizations face unusual operating constraints, which include working in areas with poor infrastructure, extreme environmental conditions as well as budget limitations. Most of the existing models derived from commercial supply chains are inapplicable in such a context. Therefore, a new set of tools and theories is required. This dissertation contributes to the development of such a new set of tools. It is composed of two parts that address two related questions in humanitarian fleet management: (1) how to determine the optimal fleet size and the optimal procurement strategy at an aggregate level and, (2) how to optimally manage an existing fleet the field level. Lack of data is the main challenge that prevents humanitarian organizations from adopting data-intensive models developed for commercial supply chains. Accordingly, the first part of this thesis studies how to determine optimal fleet capacity over time and how to minimize procurement costs for different demand profiles in the absence of detailed data. Contrary to conventional wisdom in humanitarian organizations, its findings show that a mixed policy of level and chase procurement strategies minimizes procurement costs and that a level strategy is the optimal approach to procurement in most humanitarian missions. The second part of the dissertation concentrates on fleet management policies at the field level. To optimize fleet performance and maximize demand coverage, humanitarian organizations implement policies to enhance the utilization of vehicles and minimize their physical depreciation. Through the analysis of a large humanitarian organization’s fleet in four representative countries (Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Georgia) the results of this dissertation suggest that: (1) it is not necessary to assign different vehicles to specific mission types (2) all vehicles should be used following the same usage policy regardless of their mission type and, (3) the vehicle replacement policy implemented by most humanitarian organizations is not effective and needs to be reconsidered. Results also demonstrate that, on average, a utilization-depreciation trade-off does not exist and that a wellconceived fleet management policy can allow for both higher vehicle utilization and lower depreciation.

Para uma empresa de navegação, manter uma frota grande de contêineres próprios poderia gerar custos desnecessários para manutenção dos estoques destes contêineres; contudo, se a frota de contêineres próprios for pequena, poderia resultar em um número grande de contêineres arrendados a curto prazo. Assim, nesta dissertação desenvolve-se um modelo de programação linear capaz de estimar a frota ótima de contêineres próprios e alugados, que envolve a dificuldade da tomada de decisão em um comércio extremamente desequilibrado. A revisão bibliográfica apresenta poucas publicações que tratam do tema proposto. O trabalho desenvolvido por Imai e Rivera (2001) é examinado por ser mais semelhante ao tema proposto para esta dissertação. Por tratarem do dimensionamento de frota de contêineres para dois portos e não admitirem aleatoriedades nos tempos de movimentação terrestre de contêineres outros procedimentos foram examinados. Para tentar solucionar o problema de dimensionamento de frota de contêineres próprios para a empresa de navegação dois métodos são analisados: modelo de simulação probabilística e modelo de programação linear. O modelo de simulação é desenvolvido para um problema pequeno. Conforme a ampliação deste modelo e o aumento do número de variáveis, o modelo de simulação passou a ser difícil de ser controlado, pois a mudança dos valores destas variáveis se tornaria muito difícil. O modelo de programação linear é desenvolvido com base nas características e definições adotadas para o modelo de simulação. Este modelo matemático incorpora as aleatoriedades existentes nos processos terrestres, de acordo com as hipóteses adotadas. Este modelo permite auxiliar o planejador a tomar decisões estratégicas, com relação ao tamanho da frota de contêineres necessários para atender a demanda de transporte ao longo do horizonte de planejamento, e operacionais, por apresentar o fluxo de transporte de contêineres vazios entre portos, bem como a quantidade de contêineres alugados, se necessários, para realizar as operações emergenciais associadas a picos de demanda ao longo do período de planejamento. Para testar a consistência do modelo, cenários hipotéticos foram gerados. Por meio dos resultados obtidos para estes cenários, mostra-se a relação do custo dos contêineres alugados e do custo do transporte de contêineres próprios vazios sobre o tamanho da frota de contêineres próprios. / For a carrier, provide a large fleet of owned containers could generate unnecessary costs for maintenance of their inventories; however, if the fleet of owned containers is small, it might result in a large number of short-term leased containers. Thus, it is developed a linear programming model capable to determine the optimal fleet size of owned and leased containers that involves the difficulty of decision-making in an extremely unbalanced trade. The literature survey presents few publications that deal with the considered subject. The work developed for Imai and Rivera (2001) is examined by being more similar to the subject considered in this project. For dealing with the container fleet sizing for two ports and not admitting stochastic travel times inland of containers other procedures are examined. To solve the problem of own container fleet sizing for the carriers two methods are analyzed: probabilistic simulation model and linear programming model. The simulation model is developed for a small problem. As the growing of this model and the increase of the number of variables, the simulation model becomes difficult to control, because the change of the values of these variables would become very hard. The linear programming model is developed on the basis of the characteristics and definitions adopted for the simulation model. This mathematical model incorporates the existing stochastic inland times, in accordance with the adopted hypotheses. This model allows to assist the planner to make strategical decisions, with regard to the size of the fleet of containers necessary to attempt the demand of transport throughout the planning horizon, and operational, for presenting the flow of empty cont ainers between ports, as well as the amount of leased containers, if necessary, to carry through the special operations associated the peaks of demand throughout the period of planning. To test the consistency of the model, hypothetical scenes had been generated. By the results gotten for these scenes, it is showed the relation of the cost of leases containers and the cost of the transport of empty owned containers above the owned container fleet size.

<p>Detta examensarbete har genomförts vid Host Mobility AB i Göteborg. Host Mobility AB är ett ungt företag som utvecklar avancerade telematikdatorer och utvecklingsmiljöer för mobila applikationer. I dag erbjuder de flera olika telematikdatorer för olika tillämpningsområden och syften. </p><p>Då Host Mobility endast har existerat i två år har de inte hunnit med att skapa en bred kundbas för sina telematikdatorer. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utreda och ta fram en systemlösning för ett mindre Fleet Management system vilket sedan skulle implementeras med Host Mobility AB:s telematikdatorer. </p><p>Arbetet inleddes med en förstudie för att skapa en bild av vad ett Fleet Management system kan innebära. Efter genomförd förstudie utformades en systemdesign som sedan skulle utvecklas och implementeras i skarp miljö. Detta för att ha möjligheten att utvärdera systemet efter rätta förutsättningar. </p><p>Under förstudien skapades ett förhållande till Betongindustri AB som ställde sig positiv till att pröva nya tekniker. De ställde sig till förfogande inför en testimplementering. Tillsammans med Betongindustri och Host Mobility utvecklades sedan ett webbaserat Fleet Management-system, där fordonens positioner och status valdes att prioriteras baserat på resultat från förstudien. </p><p>Systemutvecklingen kan delas upp i två olika områden - hårdvara och mjukvara. Positioneringen skedde med hjälp av GPS och statusen reglerades via ett interface som placerades i förarhytten. Position och status förmedlades vidare till webbsystemet via GPRS och webbsystemet postade sedan informationen till en databas där den fanns åtkomlig för presentation i ett webbaserat kartverktyg. </p><p>Testimplementeringen genomfördes under en tvåveckorsperiod där hårdvaran installerades i fyra betonglastbilar. Transportplanerarna kunde under projektets gång följa fordonens rörelser och status via webbsystemet. </p><p>Förhoppningarna var att Betongindustri AB med hjälp av denna information skulle kunna planera körningarna bättre, detta skulle leda till kortare ledtider, förbättrad internkommunikation och högre servicegrad gentemot kund. För att få dessa antaganden bekräftade borde testimplementeringen ha genomförts i större omfattning och under en längre tidsperiod. Dock har förhöjd servicegrad gentemot kund kunnat bekräftas.</p>

<p>This report studies a low cost hardware platform for Fleet Management Services, FMS. The platform manages vehicle data, positioning and wireless communication. The core of the platform is a new kind of ‘intelligent’ GSM modem, called a GSM module. A GSM module is basically a stripped down mobile phone that allows embedded third party application code and has an IP-stack. The report reviews the modules available on the market today and presents experiences from the implementation of a prototype based on the Aplicom A12 module. The main conclusion is that the concept is feasible though the modules' limited performance must be considered in the design.</p>

<p>Lieutenant James Cook claimed New South Wales for Great Britain in 1770. However, it was not until 1786 that a settlement was authorised there. The settlement was not for free men, but the for the unwanted convicts, their masters and protectors; the First Fleet convicts landed at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788 and Governor Phillip lay claim officially to the country. </p><p>The decision to establish a settlement in New South Wales took sixteen years. It was not the clear-cut and positive beginning to a country that it could have been. </p><p>The emphasis of this report is to look at the factors that contributed to the decision and the line that the decision makers took. This has involved investigation of parliamentary debates, ministers’ letters and other sources relevant to the decision. The factors most pressing at the time for the government were the over abundance of criminals and the budget deficit. With a relatively simple move, Lord Sydney was able to relieve the first problem at the same time as his Prime Minister, William Pitt, took on the budget. It is clear that the settlement was established for the dubious benefit of relieving England of the convicts.</p>

Lieutenant James Cook claimed New South Wales for Great Britain in 1770. However, it was not until 1786 that a settlement was authorised there. The settlement was not for free men, but the for the unwanted convicts, their masters and protectors; the First Fleet convicts landed at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788 and Governor Phillip lay claim officially to the country. The decision to establish a settlement in New South Wales took sixteen years. It was not the clear-cut and positive beginning to a country that it could have been. The emphasis of this report is to look at the factors that contributed to the decision and the line that the decision makers took. This has involved investigation of parliamentary debates, ministers’ letters and other sources relevant to the decision. The factors most pressing at the time for the government were the over abundance of criminals and the budget deficit. With a relatively simple move, Lord Sydney was able to relieve the first problem at the same time as his Prime Minister, William Pitt, took on the budget. It is clear that the settlement was established for the dubious benefit of relieving England of the convicts.

The diagnosis system of a Scania vehicle is an indispensable tool for workshop personnel and engineers in their work. Today Scania has a system for fetching diagnostic information from field test vehicles remotely and store them in a database, so called remote diagnosis. This saves the engineers much time by not having to visit every vehicle. The system uses a Windows based on-board PC in the vehicle called an Interactor. The Interactor has a telematic unit for communication with Scanias Fleet Management System and the CAN-bus in the vehicle. In the next generation of the Interactor, its telematic unit is to be replaced by a Linux based telematic unit called the Communicator 200 (C200). The purpose of this master project is to create a new architecture for a remote diagnosis system that uses the new telematic unit Communicator 200. <br />The thesis gives an analysis of the current remote diagnosis system used at Scania and proposes an architecture for a new generation remote diagnosis system using the C200. Also a system for demonstrating how to perform remote diagnosis over the C200 has been built. The thesis describes the operation and how the demonstration system was implemented.

In the haulage business customers are constantly requesting new features. Hence thedevelopment department must constantly update their system which ultimatelyresults in a variety of versions of the system. The large number of versions creates acomplexity which often reduces product quality and extends the developmentlifecycle time. The work on the following thesis has taken place at Scania’s Fleet Managementdepartment, which develops tools for hauliers to track their vehicle fleet in real time. The purpose of this thesis was to examine how Scania can handle an increasedamount of versions of the Fleet Management System which Scania expect will be seenin the future. The investigation was conducted by preparing a number of differentscenarios that formed the basis for a discussion of what these different scenarioswould mean for different parts of Scania’s business. A benchmarking was made with anumber of different companies with similar problems in order to find suggestions tohandle the complexity of many versions. This investigation together with ourtheoretical studies was then used to provide suggestions for how the future can bemanaged.The study shows that replacing hardware quickly becomes an expensive process withmany trucks on the market. It would be more profitable for Scania to keep thenumber of versions low by using wireless updates in the future. By an earlierinvolvement of end customers and with more frequent customer visits, the number ofiterations in the development process can be reduced, thereby decreasingdevelopment time. The introduction of a maintenance organization would alsosignificantly reduce the time it takes to solve lower priority issues.

Detta examensarbete har genomförts vid Host Mobility AB i Göteborg. Host Mobility AB är ett ungt företag som utvecklar avancerade telematikdatorer och utvecklingsmiljöer för mobila applikationer. I dag erbjuder de flera olika telematikdatorer för olika tillämpningsområden och syften. Då Host Mobility endast har existerat i två år har de inte hunnit med att skapa en bred kundbas för sina telematikdatorer. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utreda och ta fram en systemlösning för ett mindre Fleet Management system vilket sedan skulle implementeras med Host Mobility AB:s telematikdatorer. Arbetet inleddes med en förstudie för att skapa en bild av vad ett Fleet Management system kan innebära. Efter genomförd förstudie utformades en systemdesign som sedan skulle utvecklas och implementeras i skarp miljö. Detta för att ha möjligheten att utvärdera systemet efter rätta förutsättningar. Under förstudien skapades ett förhållande till Betongindustri AB som ställde sig positiv till att pröva nya tekniker. De ställde sig till förfogande inför en testimplementering. Tillsammans med Betongindustri och Host Mobility utvecklades sedan ett webbaserat Fleet Management-system, där fordonens positioner och status valdes att prioriteras baserat på resultat från förstudien. Systemutvecklingen kan delas upp i två olika områden - hårdvara och mjukvara. Positioneringen skedde med hjälp av GPS och statusen reglerades via ett interface som placerades i förarhytten. Position och status förmedlades vidare till webbsystemet via GPRS och webbsystemet postade sedan informationen till en databas där den fanns åtkomlig för presentation i ett webbaserat kartverktyg. Testimplementeringen genomfördes under en tvåveckorsperiod där hårdvaran installerades i fyra betonglastbilar. Transportplanerarna kunde under projektets gång följa fordonens rörelser och status via webbsystemet. Förhoppningarna var att Betongindustri AB med hjälp av denna information skulle kunna planera körningarna bättre, detta skulle leda till kortare ledtider, förbättrad internkommunikation och högre servicegrad gentemot kund. För att få dessa antaganden bekräftade borde testimplementeringen ha genomförts i större omfattning och under en längre tidsperiod. Dock har förhöjd servicegrad gentemot kund kunnat bekräftas.