FMM130 trackers ready to work from the factory

What the preparation covers is agreed for each order. It can include firmware and configuration agreed with the customer in advance; SIM cards; connected batteries; a choice of cables and connectors; branding on the device and the box; the number of trackers in one pack.

With SIM cards there are three options. The customer sends in their own cards and they are put into the devices in production. Trackers can be ordered with prepaid Teltonika SIM cards. For some models a soldered-in eSIM is available — in which case no tray is needed at all.

Connecting the battery to the circuit board is another operation that can be handed to the factory. On large batches that saves the customer thousands of hours of work. There is a caveat here: deliveries with the battery connected are restricted by the rules of carriers and logistics companies, so this option is not available on every route or in every quantity.

Branding is offered in several forms: a label with the customer's logo on the tracker and/or on the box, a label with a logo and a QR code, laser engraving of the logo on the housing. A completely neutral device can also be ordered, with no branding on the housing or the packaging. For integrators selling a solution under their own name that is an important point. A QR code on the housing can be useful to the fitter too: if the device's details are encoded in it, they can be scanned into the installation record instead of copying figures out by hand.

The ordering procedure runs like this. The customer contacts their Teltonika manager and discusses the project. The manager suggests the options available for the particular model and quantity. Once all the details are agreed, an individual order code is created and goes to production.

Every device goes through a quality check before it leaves, so a finished tracker matches the agreed configuration. What arrives on site is a box out of which you take the device, mount it and connect the power — and provided the parameters were agreed correctly and the SIM is active, it reaches the server with the right settings.

For factory preparation to work, several questions have to be answered before the order. Which server and port the tracker sends data to. What the operator's APN is and whether a username and password are needed. How often to write points while moving and while parked. Which inputs are in use — ignition, panic button, door sensor. What to do if external power is lost. If those parameters change halfway through the project, the benefit of ready-made devices is lost: the batch will have to be reconfigured anyway, even if remotely by SMS or through FOTA.

A hypothetical example. Suppose an integrator has to equip 800 delivery service vehicles in three weeks. With manual preparation two technicians spend the first week doing nothing but opening boxes, inserting SIMs, flashing firmware and applying labels, and fitting begins only in the second. With ready-made trackers the crews go out to fit from day one, and the engineer gets on with checking that the vehicles come online rather than running a production line at a bench.

The effect is most noticeable on long projects with tight deadlines and penalties for delay: when hundreds of vehicles have to be equipped within a short window, every day saved on preparation goes into fitting.

What the pre-configuration covers is best set down in writing. The model and firmware version, the configuration file with its version number, the type of SIM and the operator, whether the battery is connected, the set of cables, the branding option, the number of devices in a box. That document then serves as the reference when the batch is accepted.

Accepting a batch. At the warehouse the serial numbers and IMEIs from the packing list are checked against the order register, a few trackers are switched on as samples and checked to see that they reach the right server with the right configuration version. The IMEIs are entered on the platform in advance, so that during fitting a vehicle appears in the system with no manual entry. Discrepancies in numbers or configuration are recorded in a report before fitting begins, not out on site.

Updating after delivery. The factory configuration is a starting point. If the recording interval, the server or the APN changes during the project, the changes are sent out remotely, by SMS or through FOTA WEB, in groups of devices. Every such change is worth recording with a new configuration version, so that a year later it is clear which trackers are running which version.