Hino launches fleet management system for its trucks

Hino-Connect, a full fleet management system, will be installed as standard fitment on the full range of trucks offered by Hino South Africa from April 2021. This includes the Dyna, 300, 500 and 700 models. The system is a joint venture with Cartrack.

“This comprehensive telematics solution includes a three-year subscription from the date of fitment and will be an important, additional tool to ensure we continue to provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction,” explains Ernie Trautmann, vice president of Hino South Africa.

“Hino’s Total Support strategy, which builds strong relationships and trust with all stakeholders, and has been the backbone of our success here in South Africa for many years, will benefit hugely from the data this system will now be able to provide to our customers, Hino South Africa and Hino Japan.”

Hino-Connect will provide three sets of data:

• Positional data for tracking and recovery as well as distances travelled
• Vehicle performance data including fuel consumption, oil and water temperatures and speed
• Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) fault reporting direct to Hino SA and the dealer concerned, who will know what is wrong before getting to the vehicle, thereby enabling quicker reaction time to get the vehicle back on the road

All data is stored for five years, with the last six months’ data available immediately.

“Over the years Hino has increased the number of value-added products offered to its customers, ranging from extended service intervals to competitive service and maintenance plans to warranties on replacement parts fitted by franchise dealers. Now Hino-Connect will open the way to us considering a buyback and preowned truck programme,” says Trautmann.

“Hino-Connect means we can monitor a truck’s operating life before preparing it for resale and, in view of the high resale value of a Hino truck, we will be able to offer favourable buyback rates.

“Hino’s ultimate objective is to offer a total logistics partnership to our customers, where the truck is the tool in an integrated solution to meet an operator’s specific requirements.”

Harry Louw, Cartrack’s CEO, says that his company is the only mobility solutions provider in South Africa that does everything in-house – from installation and after-sales service through over 600 mobile workshops, field training, specialist onboarding teams, its own exclusive stolen vehicle recovery infrastructure, and the engineering skills to access and deliver the data required by Hino.

“Our sophisticated in-vehicle technology has proven its robustness and reliability in over 1,3 million vehicles across 23 countries. Our Software-as-a-Service platform is developed in-house and meets the requirements of tens of thousands of commercial customers around the world. It is highly scalable, and we are able to respond to customer requirements for additional features quickly,” explains Louw.

“Software development is also ongoing as part of our continuous drive to deliver cutting-edge mobility solutions, which is now extending to the use of artificial intelligence to deliver richer information to our customers. Service delivery is a core value and customer service is a lifestyle for all the Cartrack team members.”

Hino South Africa continues to fare very well in the quarterly Competitive Customer Experience ratings, and Trautmann says Hino-Connect will be a further added-value offering that customers will appreciate. “We have taken our time to launch the Hino-Connect standard telematics system, as we wanted to ensure we would have the right product and the right partner when the system was implemented. That time is now.”