Acquisition Helps Spur New Business For I.D. Systems

In January, wireless asset management solutions provider I.D. Systems IDSY acquired out of bankruptcy the assets and customers of CarrierWeb, which offered real-time, in-cab mobile communications technology.

That acquisition has already been paying dividends for I.D. Systems, as evidenced by CarrierWeb customers renewing their contracts with the company. The latest is Samuel Coraluzzo & Torrissi Transport, an East Coast bulk petroleum hauler based in Vineland, New Jersey.

Samuel Coraluzzo has deployed I.D. Systems' PowerFleet LV9000 asset-tracking solution into its entire fleet of 400 power units. The deployment gives the fleet a full electronic logging device (ELD) system with a customized workflow that tracks jobs from dispatch to completion in real-time, according to Norm Thomas, general manager of PowerFleet for Logistics for I.D. Systems. The system will offer Samuel Coraluzzo the ability to interact with its drivers through the ELDs to ensure jobs are given to drivers with available hours and allows the fleet to monitor the location of vehicles, when vehicles are filling tanks, and rapid acceleration and deceleration events.

Thomas told FreightWaves that I.D. Systems is seeing great retention among CarrierWeb customers since the acquisition and that many are exploring additional functionality available through other I.D. Systems offerings such as trailer tracking, engine data analytics and Speed Gauge speed monitoring.

"Those fleets that were existing customers with CarrierWeb have all maintained their relationships with us… in many cases they are looking at us and saying that they are interested in trailers and asking what we can do for them," Thomas related. "We actually had some businesses that left CarrierWeb when it went into bankruptcy and have now re-engaged with us [looking to come back]."

Thomas said the full PowerFleet solution, which is available with versions for industrial and automotive applications, provides plenty of opportunity for scalability. In the case of Samuel Coraluzzo, the LV9000 can be a stand-alone product, or it can integrate with trailer devices and later this year a forward-looking camera system.

"That is a technology that we hope to roll out by the end of the year," Thomas said of the camera system, noting that many fleets are looking for that option for safety reasons.

I.D. Systems' trailer solution offers monitoring of temperature and humidity, an accelerometer and trailer and cargo tracking through a digital camera. The camera can be triggered by events, such as a door opening or closing, or any kind of hard impact event. Managers can also "wake up" the camera for a photograph if needed.

"We can use the camera to help with claims mitigation if a shipper refuses shipment due to cargo damage," Thomas noted, pointing out that photographs when the trailer is loaded and unloaded can be compared to show conditions of the shipment. "It's a better utilization for information that has not been available to our customers that they can now use."

Some customers are also using the camera system to monitor capacity inside trailers to get a better handle on asset underutilization.

Many of the additional functions for PowerFleet are added through over-the-air software updates, but Thomas stressed that this also offers individualization for fleets and their assets.

"We do customized workflows that are unique to each type of business," he said. "The customer has the flexibility to say, ‘we have 100 trucks and on 10 of them, we want all the bells and whistles,' and we turn that on for those 10 trucks [only]."

In some cases, the PowerFleet solution is able to be integrated with existing systems, lowering installation costs.

"We were excited that we didn't need to upgrade our entire operating system in order to uncover an unprecedented level of ‘always-on' transparency," Robert Penza, Samuel Coraluzzo & Torrissi Transport president, said. "I.D. Systems worked with us to integrate their top-of-the-line PowerFleet LV9000 into our existing platform in a way that expedites the mandated reporting we share with our customers."

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