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Posts Tagged ‘Systems’

Anyone who has tried to locate a part for a low voltage life safety knows it’s true: It’s nearly impossible to try to find parts to repair life safety systems that are no longer being manufactured. (Life safety systems include fire alarm, nurse call, patient tracking and infant security systems.) The essence of the problem is a combination of the facts that: 1) such systems typically last for 10 – 15 years and 2) the manufacturers of such systems tend to change product lines and/or configurations every 3 – 5 years. As such, for example, a fire alarm system installed in a building in 2006 will function properly until at least 2016, but the company that manufactured the system may stop producing parts for it in 2010. (As an aside, even the 10 year old systems would likely function longer, but improvements in technology may mean that the existing system no longer operates efficiently, or may not have certain features or functionality that have become commonplace in the interim and, therefore, its owners may deem replacement a necessity.)

Companies that have these life safety systems installed and find themselves with a system that has a faulty part for which replacement parts are no longer manufactured are faced with a troubling and potentially costly dilemma: they either have to find an alternate source for the parts OR they have to find a way to make the system function in an acceptable manner without the faulty part in place OR they have to purchase and install an entirely new system. Depending on the size and complexity of the system, such companies can find themselves in a situation in which they need to find a $100 part or be faced with a system replacement with costs upwards of $200,000. Further exacerbating the problem is the fact that the very nature of these systems require a quick resolution or else, literally, lives could be at stake.

A temporary solution that some companies employ is to purchase a stockpile of spare parts when they initially install the system. The problems with this strategy are: 1) it is only a temporary fix, because the company will eventually run through its stock of spares, 2) due to the relatively high cost of the initial system and due to the fact that these systems do not provide any income to their owners, the cost justification of spare parts purchases at the time of installation is often not there, 3) the manufacturer’s warranty will expire while the spare parts are in stock and 4) the company would be guessing at which parts may fail at some point in the future, so it would not be guaranteed that its spares on hand would be the correct ones in the event of a parts failure down the road. Due to these problems, this strategy is generally ineffective.

Some of the companies that install life safety systems have recognized that this problem exists and have attempted to fill the void by maintaining a pool of spare parts. This solution works well for customers who are fortunate enough to be acquainted with these installation companies. For the vast majority of the companies who have life safety systems installed, but do not know these installers with the spare parts pools, this solution might as well be nonexistent.

Fortunately, the growing acceptance of business-to-business ecommerce has created a mechanism to address this problem. This mechanism would enable a company to become a clearinghouse for hard to find parts for low voltage systems. It facilitates both an efficient supply chain workflow and an effective product delivery system. PrimaryParts.com has taken the steps necessary to cultivate relationships with suppliers and end users to create a network of companies that maintain these hard to find parts and are willing to supply them to those who need them. PrimaryParts.com has also created a website that enables companies who are seeking such parts to easily search for the parts by a wide variety of features and to verify that they have found their part by viewing a photo of the part.

The Internet to the rescue! Fortunately the growing acceptance of business-to-business ecommerce has created an excellent mechanism to address the original problem and the shortcomings of the other solutions. Companies have risen to become clearinghouses to both buy and sell hard to find parts. These companies have cultivated relationships with both the end users and the suppliers to facilitate the exchange.

So search out websites such as primaryparts.com, to fill your legacy parts needs. You needn’t scrap an otherwise effective system for lack of a part!

If you need help with a hard to find part, email me at mwong@primaryparts.com or visit us at PrimaryParts.com and I’ll put our team to work on it. We handle new and legacy parts for fire alarm, nurse call, access control, and CCTV systems.

Over the past five years GPS vehicle tracking systems prices have dropped considerably and business owners are reaping the benefits of low priced vehicle tracking devices with an ROI of only a few months.

Fleet vehicle tracking can bring numerous benefits to a business from increasing productivity to reduced costs but before engaging on a long term contract with any vehicle tracking company, there are some vital facts you should know. This article will help you make a wise decision.

What is Vehicle Tracking and how does it works?

Vehicle Tracking systems use a combination of GPS technology, mobile phone network, internet, digital mapping and vehicle tracking devices with software to enable business owners to monitor their vehicles exact locations, as well as a complete set of information that tells what route was used, when the vehicle was turned ON/OFF, speed and even fuel consumption.

The principles of Vehicle Tracking Systems are quite simple. Using information sent by GPS satellites orbiting the Earth, a GPS receiver calculates the vehicles exact location on the Earth’s surface and sends the information via the mobile phone network to a remote server which can then be accessed by a computer via the internet, all the information is overlaid on a digital map area allowing you to see the location of each and every one of your vehicles with street level accuracy.

The Benefits of Vehicle Tracking Systems

Dispatch and allocate new jobs to the nearest vehicles
Provide transparency to your team’s whereabouts
Improved health and safety
Control and reduce your overtime costs
Confirm ETA’s and offer enhanced customer service
Control personal vehicle usage and eliminate moonlighting
Improve your route planning
Reducing the average speed of your vehicles
Lower insurance premiums
Let employees take vehicles home at night
Tax reductions
Proof of parking ticket validity

Choosing the best Vehicle Tracking Supplier

With so many vehicle tracking suppliers claiming to be the best, it is easy make a mistake and choose one that won’t fulfil your fleet needs. Bare in mind that there is no such thing as the best vehicle tracking supplier. The best supplier is the one that meet your fleet requirements, offers good customer support at low costs, are reliable and well established. Watch out for hidden costs!

Hidden Costs – There are a number of potential hidden costs with a tracking system, such as:

* Installation fees

* Monthly subscription fees

* Annual software licence fees

* Separate mobile carrier fees for GPRS data transfer

* Polling Fees (when you want to discover where a vehicle is right now)

* Callout fees for repairs even if under warranty

* Uninstall/Reinstall fees when you want to move the hardware from one vehicle to another

* Software update fees

* Additional software user fees

Ask your sales rep for all of the potential costs of their vehicle tracking systems – in writing! That way if you suddenly start receiving surprise invoices you are on solid ground to contest them.

By following the instructions on this vehicle tracking guide I’m certain you will choose the right fleet vehicle tracking system to keep track of all your vehicles.