A new name and a free starter edition for small fleets are helping BorgSolutions market its Borg Fleet web-based software solution, which includes “artificial intelligence” to help with maintenance, the company said.
Astral, which has been around for about six years, has been renamed Borg Fleet to more closely associate it with the BorgSolutions, COO Michelle Borg told Fleet Owner. Borg Fleet combines predictive maintenance, streamlined work orders, fuel and inventory management, resource allocation, repair scenarios and scheduling through real-time data collection and analytics into what it calls an artificial intelligence” approach to fleet maintenance.
“If I can get more information from the GPS devices,” Borg said, “we can turn the GPS from a cost-only device to a cost-saving device.” Borg Fleet, according to Borg, integrates multiple programs into one, creating a smooth, efficient solution. “It’s wonderful to have all this data, it’s wonderful to get all this data, but if I still have to work with the data, how much help is it?” Borg asked.
Detailing what the company calls, “action items,” the software monitors the vehicle’s telematics and, unlike other programs, Borg said, will adjust scheduled maintenance according to the actual data obtained from the vehicle. Originally designed for the construction trade, the device now monitors any asset with telematics installed. Plus, Chris Borg, CEO, who is Michelle’s husband, said it integrates with nearly any program.
Where the program really becomes intuitive, the Borgs said, is once maintenance is deemed necessary. “It will tell you what parts you need, whether you have them or don’t have them in stock, and pre-populate the inventory screens [accordingly],” Michelle Borg said. In addition, if the parts are not in stock, the system will automatically create a purchase order based on past purchasing decisions. It also can assign a technician, again based on past history, and reports on how long a task takes to accomplish, identifying possibly poor performing technicians.
“A lot of the systems out there will tell you to do an oil change in ‘X’ number of hours … but those hours could happen in a few days or two weeks,” Michelle Borg said. “[The system] knows when that happens based on usage” and the program will make the adjustments.
According to the Borgs, fleets using their software save an average of $1,200 per asset per year. “The return on investment is quite fast,” Michelle Borg said. According to Chris Borg, the program has been designed with users in mind, not engineers who tend to prefer more complex screens and functions.
One fleet, Michelle Borg said, found it had $35,000 in unneeded inventory for equipment it no longer owned. Another customer, she said, saw a 15% decline in maintenance costs and a 30% decline in inventory costs once the solution was implemented.
When the product was first launched, it was a “one-size fits all” approach, Chris Borg said. But, as their customer base became more diverse, so did the solution. Now, the company is offering a free “starter” edition to small fleets of 20 vehicles or less. “We are such firm believers that anyone can benefit from it,” Michelle Borg said. “We wanted to eliminate that border.”
The free version is a basic, no-frills product, but the company said smaller fleets are probably not interested in the items left out anyway, many of which are more complex reporting functions designed for larger fleets. The hope, they said, is that as the smaller fleets grow, so will their needs. And Borg Fleet will be able to grow with them.
