The 2010 “Mixtelematics Africa Fleet Management/Tracking Dealers Training Conference” opened last Monday with participants getting a first-hand opportunity to be trained to fully understand the features and functions FM product ranges.

The products, most of which are Web-based, are expected to help personnel to notice important trends at a glance as soon as they log in to FM-Web, designed by Mix Telematics.

According to Adhemar Kambale, Business Development Manager of Mix Telematics, the products do not only provide tracking to mobile assets but help in managing them better.

He said improved methods in Fleet Management have been devised to lessen the difficulties corporate organizations have to go through in running their mobile assets, particularly vehicles.

Delivering the opening lecture at the workshop, Mr. Kambale said Fleet Manager Professional, one of the products, is an enterprise solution, designed to leverage and power and flexibility of the full range of Fleet Manager on-board computers, accessories and peripherals.

“It includes functionality for monitoring and managing driver and vehicle performance, controlling communication costs, reporting on fleet operating costs, active (real time) and passive (after the fact) tracking of vehicles drivers, location management, among others”, he said.

Outlining the benefits of the product, he said the system allowed comparing driving time with distance travelled to ensure that vehicles and drivers are making the best use of their time while also checking which vehicles are currently being used and which are standing idle.

“The system also helps in determining when your vehicles are most active, whether they are used after hours as well as viewing all vehicle and driver information in one place for quick reference”, he said, adding that it also helped in observing which driver spends the most time at certain locations in order to determine cost per visit.

With this reports, he said, the manager can then determine how to optimize workloads and distribute new jobs fairly.

Mr. Kambale said the product was flexible enough to cater for the many demands of both local and international customers and is build according to the highest international quality standards, adding that it was tried and tested in over 40 countries worldwide, with over 150,000 Fleet Manager Units in use.

The General Manager of RSL, Mr. Michael K. Dedey, earlier in a welcome address said the company was among the first to have ventured into the provision of state-of-the-art fleet management equipment (hardware and software) in Ghana and has installed over 1000 such units in Ghana alone since the year 2000.

He said the company has also been involved in training and assisting sister companies of the shareholders in setting up and installing fleet management tools in Guinea, Senegal and Liberia.

He urged corporate organizations to take advantage of the situation and train their drivers and fleet managers to meet the exigencies of the season.

Participants at the workshop were drawn from various countries in Africa, including Kenya, Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Angola and Ghana. The