Saturday, November 27, 2004

Just Trucking Around: WIFI on the Road Update

Great article comparing WiFI at the various truck stops. Clear winner: Flying J.

This is more important for drivers today because if you outfit your drivers with inexpensive Wi-Fi handhelds or notebooks, they can communicate with the head office on a regular basis, even without the more expensive mobile communication devices.

My Wi-Fi PDA cost less than $400. I can get a GPS add-on for about $100. And as the link notes: you can also send and receive emails and faxes. Check it out.


Just Trucking Around: WIFI on the Road Update

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Managing Warranty in Horizon Maintenance

A prospect came to us recently and asked about how warranty information could be tracked in Horizon Vehicle Maintenance. An off-shoot of that was also managing Recovery Fees. Let's talk about how you can do it with some existing tools.
 
How Does It Work?
 
Inventory items are updated with a warranty period and warranty type. Warranty Type allows you to identify if the warranty period is based on days, miles or another criteria. Whenever an item is added to a work order, Horizon checks to see if that unit (tractor, trailer, etc) has recently received that same part within the warranty period. If there has been such activity, a warning appears on the screen letting them know that there may be a case of warranty work for some of the items on the new work order. When the user double-clicks on the warning, a list appears to the user showing all of the items and when they were previously updated.
 
Now the big question is what happens now? What you might decide to do is continue with the new part but highlight it in a particular way for reporting purposes. I recommend using special system and assembly codes to identify items that are being fixed "under warranty" - this way, you can run reports showing which parts seem to be constantly being "repaired under warranty".
 
Want to learn more? Check out the self running tour on http://www.mtihorizon.com/show/warrantyvme or sign-up for our upcoming seminar to discuss it further. Visit  https://mtihorizon1.webex.com/mtihorizon1/onstage/g.php?d=924096625&t=a  to sign up today!