Fiat Chrysler creates asset tracking solution for industrial vehicles

Fiat Chrysler builds in-house IoT solution.

Fiat Chrysler needed to keep track of its powered industrial vehicles throughout the 560 acres of the Chrysler Technology Center and World Headquarters, according to a case study provided by Fiat. The Chrysler facilities team wanted a way to know where all of the PIVs were located at any given time. The team had issues with the PIVs rented to third-parties not being returned to the designated areas promptly, so they wanted an asset tracking system to help them find the missing PIVs.

An asset tracking solution

To keep costs down, the facilities team decided to develop its own asset tracking system using Synapse SNAP-based RF modules.

The team installed stationary reader nodes with SNAP-based RF modules throughout the campus. To track the PIVs movement, they installed RF modules into liquid-crystal display touch screens and mounted them on all the PIVs. The modules on the PIVs would “ping” stationary readers as they passed and the stationary nodes use radio signal strength to triangulate the PIV’s position.

All of the data collected by the reader nodes got passed to a PC-based network server. The data then got aggregated and processing in real time so the user can view the information from a web-based dashboard from any authorized Chrysler workstation or laptop.

Results

The Chrysler facilities team’s decision to build a solution using SNAP created a savings of nearly $300,000 annually over the other commercially available options, according to the case study. According to Chrysler, plant operational processes have improved and there is tight discipline over the assignment, use and return of tagged vehicles. Operator eligibility is verified automatically through badge readers on the vehicles. The operation of vehicles is controllable by time, shift or operator. Daily inspection checklists and repair notification reports are now provided via email to the vehicle operators and appropriate supervisors. Crash detection, daily inspection failures and unauthorized operation attempts are also logged, and routes are tracked for vehicle pick-up and delivery.