PeopleNet Communications Corp., Chaska, Minn., made a number of announcements at the 2005 Annual Education Management & Exhibition of the National Private Fleet Council in Pittsburgh.

PeopleNet provides onboard computing, mobile communications and fleet management systems.
PeopleNet introduced three new customer fleets on Monday -- General Aluminum Corp., Trinity Industries and Ruan.
General Aluminum operates a fleet of 17 over-the-road trucks to transport windows from its manufacturing facility in Dallas to distribution centers and then on to construction sites. The units operate primarily within the southeastern United States, with product delivery for other portions of the country generally handled by for-hire carriers.
Trinity Industries is a diversified industrial company providing a variety of products for the transportation, industrial and construction sectors. Trinity produces rail freight cars and tank cars. Its barge group produces inland barges while the construction products group manufactures highway safety products, pipe fittings, concrete and aggregates.
Trinity operates 200 power units and 500 trailers, providing inbound raw materials to plants as well as some outbound movements, particularly residential and industrial-sized LPG tanks.
Ruan provides third-party logistics focused on supply chain solutions. The company builds unique distribution management solutions for more than 200 different customers. System-wide, the company operates 2,000 power units and 3,500 drivers.
At the same time, PeopleNet announced that an existing customer, the Interplant Division of Shaw Industries, has begun implementing PeopleNet’s Onboard Event Recording (OER), which gives fleets second-by-second recorded data to help reconstruct accidents and review driver performance. Several other large private fleets also have begun using OER, according to PeopleNet.
The Interplant Division of Shaw Industries operates trucks in continuous round-the-clock service and has been testing the feature for the past three months. "We had been asking PeopleNet for a system that would give us more control not just in the case of an accident, but to help provide information about driver behavior that we may be able to modify before it results in that accident," says Wes Moore, interplant operations manager. "PeopleNet listened to us and responded with Onboard Event Recording."
The challenge was capturing the right data by truck and driver. That's because the same unit is driven by three different drivers on each 24-hour shift. "In order to be effective, we needed feedback to be accurate and timely," Moore says. "We couldn't take the time to go back and check our records to see who was driving a particular unit on a particular shift. PeopleNet gives us that ability."
Available since the end of March, the new feature is being delivered to customers wirelessly through over-the-air programming and the company's web-based interface as part of the company's first quarter product update.
recorded data to help reconstruct accidents and review driver performance. Several other large private fleets also have begun using OER.
Several other large private fleets also have begun using OER, according to PeopleNet.
For more information, visit www.peoplenetonline.com.