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Moody Haulage, a Northumberland-based logistics, storage and warehouse business, has improved productivity across its fleet, after deploying a telematics solution from Masternaut.

Fleet managers at Moody Haulage are using Masternaut’s telematics system for vehicle tracking, and monitoring idling and fuel usage. Operating across its fleet of vehicles, ranging in capacity  from 3.5T, 7.5T 18T rigids to 44T artic curtain siders, Moody Haulage has reported a huge uplift in productivity since Masternaut’s telematics solution was installed.

Masternaut provides Moody Haulage with reports on idling and fuel usage to illustrate how fuel is being used, and wasted, across the fleet. This provides Moody Haulage with the tools to educate drivers on how to save fuel and be more efficient in future. Since implementation the firm has achieved double-digit fuel savings, as well as better vehicle utilisation.

 

The technology provides a real-time view of Moody Haulage’s fleet at any time, giving fleet managers full visibility of all vehicles. Fleet managers and customer service advisors are able to provide clients with precise updates on time of arrival, advise on delays, and find the closest driver to a job. The system is also used to prove a driver did attend a job should there be a dispute.

 

Providing powerful routing capabilities, the system is also helping drivers and fleet managers to find the fastest route to customer locations across the UK.

“In the logistics industry, it’s vitally important to ensure we are on time and give our customers the most accurate information possible, and Masternaut has provided a system that does all of the above and more. It’s been totally accepted and embraced by the drivers and is well used throughout the business,” commented Caroline Moody, Business Development Director, Moody Haulage.

“We’ve saved money by reducing the amount of fuel used and improving our scheduling and journey routing capabilities, a return which means the system pays for itself. The accuracy Masternaut provides is unparalleled and as a result, we’ve seen a huge uplift in productivity and efficiency among our fleet drivers.”

Steve Towe, Chief Operating Officer and UK Managing Director, added, “Offering products configured for HGV and Vans from the same platform and shared service has allowed Moody Haulage to make huge gains in productivity and efficiency. We are delighted to support them deliver significant service improvements to their customers.”

 

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Smith Construction Group, a civil engineering and groundwork provider, has cut its yearly fuel bill by 15% after implementing a telematics system from Masternaut, one of Europe’s leading telematics provider.

The Group, which includes the skip hire arm Smith Recycling, has implemented telematics into its 60 strong fleet of heavy duty commercial vehicles, including tippers and skip lorries.

Masternaut’s technology has provided Smith Construction Group with detailed reports on every job done by a vehicle, detailing MPG readings, carbon emissions and idling.

This information has helped to reduce vehicle idling by 87%, whilst overall the technology has saved Smith Construction Group an estimated 15% off of its yearly fuel bill. Reducing carbon emissions and fuel is helping Smith Construction Group reduce its impact on the environment, in line with its sustainability ethos.

 

The technology has been used on a number of occasions in insurance claims from third parties, to prove that the vehicle in question was nowhere near the area for the alleged incidents.

The tracking technology has been beneficial in keeping customers up to date about when a vehicle will arrive, as well as providing Smith Construction Group with proof if a customer claims a driver hasn’t arrived. The technology has helped to improve vehicle utilisation by cutting down on wasted journeys (e.g. customers not on site to take delivery), through introducing a wasted journey charge backed up by telematics data.

At Smith Recycling, the recycling arm within Smith Construction Group, the system is used for communicating with customer’s to provide information on when a job can be done, using Masternaut data to see which driver can get to a job first. This has allowed Smith Recycling to ensure it meets customer timescales and helps guarantee fast delivery and pick up.

Smith Construction Group’s commented,"It’s important for us to have complete control over project schedules, so having the Masternaut system available has enabled us to give customer accurate details on arrival times for skip jobs, which has made a real difference. Not only can we give customers much more information on when a job can be done, but we’ve got the added security if there’s ever a dispute.”

 

He continued, “The system has helped us to make a saving on our annual fuel costs, which means that the system pays for itself through the savings we’re making. We’re working with Masternaut to see what else we can do with the technology and hope to implement the data into HR systems in the future."

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director added: “In the construction industry, it’s especially important to keep tight control over project schedules, so being able to accurately predict arrival times for skip and tipper hire can make a real difference to operational efficiencies. Masternaut’s telematics system provides 100% accurate readings via patented CAN Bus technology rather than GPS-based readings, which gives Smith Construction Group access to reliable and accurate figures on mileage, fuel consumption and vitally gives them complete control over their fleet and project schedules.”

 

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Crystal Collections, the UK’s premier responsible debt servicing company to the motor and asset finance industry, has improved driver safety with in-depth feedback provided by Masternaut’s intelligent telematics system. By improving the understanding of its fleet of recovery vehicles and trucks, Crystal Collections has made a 20% saving on fuel expenditure.

Masternaut’s telematics solution has enabled Crystal Collections’ drivers to use the software’s powerful routing capabilities to find the quickest way to a job. Likewise, fleet managers have a real-time view of the fleet at any time and can dispatch the closest driver to a job, whilst managing client expectations by giving them up to date information on when drivers will arrive.

In understanding how its fleet is driving on an ongoing basis, Crystal Collections has managed to reduce instances of idling, speeding and aggressive handling.

These aspects contributed to Crystal Collection being recognised for its social impact, with the company winning the Wales Responsible Small Business of the Year Award in 2013.

Business Development Director at Crystal Collections, Rhys Hellen, said Masternaut has helped fleet managers achieve their goal of ensuring drivers’ hours and conditions are monitored accurately in accordance with health and safety legislation, and to better understand and improve driver behaviour to create a safer working environment for staff and other road users.

[quote]“With excellent customer service and social responsibility at the heart of our offering, it was vital for us to have a solution that can help us provide better feedback to customers and improve driver safety,”

“With excellent customer service and social responsibility at the heart of our offering, it was vital for us to have a solution that can help us provide better feedback to customers and improve driver safety,” said Mr Hellen.

 

“The reports and data provided by Masternaut has provided us with the means to monitor and improve driver behaviour, whilst simultaneously reducing the amount spent on fuel. The solution has helped us to go the extra mile for our clients, with our customer service team able to give detailed feedback to our clients. Having this level of detail to provide our clients has really helped us to improve satisfaction.”

Martin Hiscox, CEO of Masternaut, added “Crystal Collections’ is a great example of how telematics can be used for much more than vehicle tracking. The company has used telematics to create a safer experience for drivers and other road users, with the end result being a drop in fuel use. We’re delighted to have been able to help them achieve this and to have contributed in helping Crystal Collections to win a prestigious award in the process for its social impact.”

 

One of the worlds leading companies in specialised fleet management payment cards FleetCor have significantly increased their role in the European fleet management sector by acquiring one of Europe’s leading telematics providers Masternaut.

The acquisition, which was made in partnership with growth equity firm Summit Partners, will open up huge cross sales opportunities across both customer bases with Masternaut rapidly becoming an acknowledged leader in the telematics industry across the whole of the Europe, whilst FleetCor themselves already have an enviable footprint amongst European companies who operate a fleet via the proliferation of their fuel cards.

Masternaut’s rise to prominence has been both swift (the company is less than 20 years old) and impressive with the organisation now boasting over 300,000 vehicles and people connected to the their SaaS based solution. More than 15,000 users interact every hour with the systems, and over 50 million data transactions are processed into 20,000 reports on a daily basis.

One such customer, Irish gourmet sandwich provider Deli-Lites Ireland, recently announced that they have been able to increase delivery performance by 14% after bringing on board the telematics provider. Fleet managers for the Irish firm are now able to gain a far more accurate picture of the performance of their vehicles including the amount of fuel used, MPG, and run times.

The impact has been impressive, with co-ordination challenges minimised and impressive fuel savings of 10% already being witnessed alongside Deli- Lites Ireland now having the ability to accurately measure the temperature of vehicles remotely, something, which is of course a huge factor for any food delivery company.

A further benefit to Deli-Lites Ireland is being felt in their HR division where they have implemented a driver-training plan to further improve driver performance.

This is a route that many other companies need to follow according to research from Masternaut themselves. 70% of companies surveyed admitted that their employers do not offer any such training. This is despite the fact that in the UK legislation is now in place to ensure that driver standards are being constantly monitored and improved.

In fact the same survey revealed 40% of British drivers were unaware of the legislation and remain in the dark on how their employers intend to monitor and improve their standards.

When we consider that a fifth of respondents also stated that they have had an accident whilst driving for work and that when asked who would be liable for such an accident, 80% said it would be their responsibility, while 20% thought an accident would be their employer’s, the need to build better understanding of such driver improvement programs and increase participation becomes even greater.

Martin Hiscox, CEO and chairman of Masternaut, commented,

“Driving for work is recognised as one of the most dangerous occupations and these findings clearly demonstrate a vital need for employers to educate staff on safe driving practices. There is a clear need for this to happen and the technology, the tool-kits for training, monitoring and improving driver behaviour all exist. The insurance industry is spending £2.2bn in claims annually, processing over 792,000 claims for commercial fleet insurance. This is the tip of the iceberg when you consider on-costs, downtime and the cost to businesses that self-insure.”

“It raises a bigger issue for employers about not having visibility of their mobile workforce, so they can ensure they are safe and can put steps in place to spot problems and deal with them. The Telematics industry is making huge steps to help the commercial fleet but even now we are surprised that so few employers are offering their staff the chance to take driver training, to ensure they’re kept safe whilst on the road and helping them be safer and more efficient.”

With such savings at stake and governments across Europe clamping down on poor driver behaviour, FleetCor’s move to firmly become an active part of the telematics industry through their acquisition of Masternaut couldn’t be better timed.

This was certainly echoed in FleetCor Chairman and CEO Ron Clarke’s comments at the time the merger was announced.

“We are delighted to team up with Summit Partners in acquiring Masternaut. In a short period of time, Masternaut has developed the best-in-class telematics product and a pan-European footprint. We at FleetCor have valuable fleet customer and partner relationships in Europe. Combination of the two would allow us to deliver more value to our clients, differentiate our product offerings, and ultimately grow our businesses.”

 

City West Works was established as a subsidiary of City West Housing Trust in April 2013 and carries out maintenance works on the housing association’s 14,600 homes across West Salford.

In its first year, the City West Works carried out almost 50,000 repairs jobs and answered more than 150,000 calls in its service centre.

The challenge

City West Works has a range of tradesman from roofers to electricians working in their team, all playing key roles in maintaining strong customer relations and working to improve customer homes. With many tradesmen on the road daily, City West Works needed a solution that could not only track their location but help reduce CO2 emissions and rising fuel costs.

The solution

Masternaut offered City West Works a solution that could provide benefits above and beyond simple vehicle tracking. Masternaut’s solution can monitor for poor driving habits through a points system where drivers are scored against vehicle economy and driving behaviour, alerting them to any bad manoeuvres they make.

Co-ordination challenges were also minimised with at-a-glance visibility of vehicle whereabouts at any given time.

The outcome

Since implementing Masternaut’s solution, City West Works has seen economical improvements in employee driving habits.  The solution has been installed across 105 of City West Works’ vehicles, with a plan to extend the contract for another two years.

Managers receive weekly email reports that accurately monitor and record the behaviour of their drivers and determine those who are exhibiting the best driving performance. Poor driving habits such as harsh; cornering, breaking, acceleration and speeding are all measured and put forward in these reports. Managers can then approach drivers performing poorly and discuss ways of improving their driving with guidance from Masternaut. These reports not only helped the managers gain a good overview of their team’s driver behaviour but also aided with their KPIs.

The Masternaut solution also provides an additional HR benefit with managers being able to remotely monitor their employees’ location in real time therefore providing added security. The solution can also help provide evidence against claims where customers state a tradesman has not turned up to a job.

Commenting on the results John Ashworth, Facilities Officer at City West Works said:

“Cutting down CO2 emissions and reducing fuel costs have been high priorities for us. We’ve saved just short of £17,000 in fuel alone and reduced CO2 emissions by 40.6 tonnes thanks to Masternaut’s solution. The reports Masternaut provide us with allows managers to see how drivers are wasting fuel and put a stop to this. Since April last year we have also started receiving a second report from Masternaut on a month to month basis showing how much fuel and Co2 savings we have made.

We chose Masternaut following a full process and when compared against competitors, Masternaut was the overall better choice against other tenders.” 

 

Masternaut, one of the largest European providers of telematics solutions, has announced the MT400 telematics hub which has been designed exclusively by Masternaut’s dedicated R&D team for Masternaut’s Connect platform.

The MT400 delivers unprecedented levels of connectivity, modular applications, and over-the-air device & application management. Masternaut’s patented technology for Vehicle CANbus data acquisition is fully integrated so that real time, accurate odometer, fuel, diagnostics and other floating car data can be extracted for reporting and telemetry applications such as driver behaviour, risk profiling, crash detection, and remote diagnostics.

The MT400 can integrate directly with tachographs, temperature control units, salt dispenser units, weighing sensors and other on-board vehicle equipment. All of this data & control is seamlessly integrated with Connect to provide accurate and flexible reporting, alerting, visualisation and control. MT400 can connect to smartphones, tablets, and other screen devices for rich driver integration features including navigation, messaging, workflow, etc.

MT400 is designed using latest automotive grade electronics and mechanics to provide best-in-class performance and reliability, with a streamlined installation and in-field support process, minimising vehicle installation times, and ensuring devices can be fully managed remotely.

Alex Rothwell, Masternaut’s CTO comments “The MT400 transforms in-vehicle solutions and is a step-change from current “black-box” technology. It is the culmination of substantial R&D investment, building on Masternaut’s patents and know-how from 10 years designing market leading telematics devices.

“To ensure our customers get the most out of Connect, they need flexible in-vehicle solutions which provide the telemetry, vehicle system integration, and driver interaction demanded by advanced telematics applications. MT400 addresses this need, and with a new automotive grade design also provides superior performance and reliability.”

Martin Hiscox, Masternaut’s chairman and CEO, added  “Masternaut is unique within in the industry in that we design and develop all components of our core service ourselves, from hardware right through to SaaS-based end-user applications. Our vision is clear, and by structuring the development process in this manner – and supporting it with the largest telematics R&D team in Europe – it is our responsibility to execute it.

“To ensure our customers get the most out of Connect, they need leading hardware which is not only versatile enough to support our full suite of modular applications, but which delivers business intelligence based solely on absolute vehicle data. The introduction of the MT-400 technology as standard provides even greater accuracy for our customers, enabling them to get even more return on their telematics investment.”  

 

Masternaut, one Europe’s largest provider of telematics solutions, has been working with logistics firm Currie European since October 2008, delivering both vehicle tracking and driver behaviour monitoring functionality to the business.

The deployment has generated a marked uplift in the productivity of Currie European’s fleet, which operates across the whole of Europe and was awarded the Transport News Scottish European Haulier of the Year award for 2014.

Masternaut’s system has facilitated improved fleet planning, with at-a-glance visibility of every vehicle enabling the organisation to cut down on wasted journey time while sharing exact whereabouts of vehicles and expected arrival times with customers. The driver behaviour module has also allowed Currie European to monitor the safety of its drivers, highlighting habits such as speeding or vehicle idling in order to deliver preventative measures and issue training where necessary. As a result, Currie European has recently renewed its contract with Masternaut for a further five years.

Steve Walls, Business Systems Director at Currie European, comments: “Masternaut’s system has had a huge impact on our business. Since bringing on the solution in 2008, we’ve been able to significantly improve the operational efficiency of our fleet.”

“Improving our productivity has had a knock-on effect on customer service; we can ensure we always reach our customers in time, while keeping them better-informed en-route. What’s more, we share this fleet intelligence directly with customers, allowing them to view exactly where our vehicles are on a map-based interface generated in real time by Masternaut’s data, via our customer portal.”

Martin Hiscox, chairman and CEO of Masternaut, adds: “Managing the efficient coordination of a fleet the size of Currie European is no easy task.  By using our solution, Steve and his team are exemplifying how telematics can be used to not only drive tangible business benefits back to the organisation, but also to deliver significant service improvements to its own customers.

As Currie European goes from to strength to strength, we look forward to a continued successful partnership as we enable the business to keep tabs on its ever-expanding fleet.”

Background

Travis Perkins plc is the UK’s largest supplier to the building and construction market, with a national network of more than 1,900 branches and annual turnover of £5 billion. The organisation is home to businesses including Travis Perkins, Wickes, BSS Industrual, Toolstation and Tile Giant, and has supplied building materials to the trade and home improvers for over 200 years.

The Travis Perkins Group uses Masternaut’s technology across its 3,000-strong commercial fleet.

Masternaut has been an integral part of the Group’s day-to-day fleet operations for some time. The telematics system is used across the fleet to improve fleet efficiency and customer service, cut costs and reduce emissions. Since using the technology, Travis Perkins has seen a reduction in fuel costs of over £1.4million to-date, a 70% daily reduction in vehicle idling, as well as reduced depot turnaround times from 45 minutes to an average 25 minutes.

The organisation is constantly looking for new ways to improve its performance across all divisions of the business.

The Group’s Transport department has implemented a number of initiatives to improve the safety of its drivers. One of these initiatives is the Driver of the Year award, an annual nationwide competition open to all drivers in all businesses across the Travis Perkins Group. The competition aims to identify and acknowledge the organisation’s safest driver. More recently, the company has introduced a Group-wide ‘Safer Roads’ policy to further improve driver safety awareness and identify drivers who require additional coaching.

Challenge

In order to introduce these initiatives, Travis Perkins needed a way to accurately monitor and record the behaviour of its drivers and determine those who are exhibiting the best driving performance across the group.

This information needed to be available in real-time, to promote and enable improved safety and driver awareness ‘on-the-job’, as well as being recorded in highly detailed retrospective reports. With thousands of drivers across the organisation involved in both initiatives, these reports needed to offer the functionality to drill down into individual driver performance, as well as providing top-level visibility into overall trends in order to develop ranked league tables.

The focus on safety awareness associated with the Safer Roads initiative meant that fleet and HR managers also required a system that could highlight individual driver habits, such as harsh braking, speeding or idling.

Solution

Working very closely with a Masternaut consultant, the Travis Perkins Group has developed both initiatives with the help of intelligence generated by Masternaut technology.

For the Driver of the Year award, a shortlist of suitable drivers is drawn from each Group business before benchmarking these drivers against each other during an intensive two-month monitoring period. This period relies heavily on Masternaut’s telematics systems to monitor each driver against set criteria in order to compare driver performance. Each criterion carries a certain weight, and Fleet and HR managers can modify the emphasis placed on a driver ‘event’, tailored to the particular business requirements of that business or Division.

Similarly, the Safer Roads initiative also uses data provided by Masternaut technology to identify drivers that show signs of requiring one-to-one coaching.

All information generated by Masternaut is transmitted from the vehicle in real-time, as well as being compiled into reports which are delivered back to the Group’s Head Office for full retrospective analysis.

Results

Together, the two initiatives have led to a significant increase in health and safety awareness and driving best practice across the Travis Perkins Group, and helping to improve the safety of the organisation’s drivers and other road users. Those exhibiting habits such as speeding, idling, harsh braking and accelerating are quickly identified so that the appropriate ‘on the road’ coaching sessions can be arranged with one of the Group’s 16 dedicated risk assessors.

As well as receiving formal coaching, drivers also receive real-time training via Masternaut’s in-cab light bar, which instantly alerts the driver when they need to alter what they are doing – whether they need to slow down or brake less harshly.

As a result, accident figures over the last 5 years have reduced.

Using Masternaut’s technology as the backbone for these initiatives also means that, where previously HR policies around driver safety monitoring and training were very siloed to particular divisions or areas of the business, the whole organisation now has one consistent, consolidated approach.

Commenting on the success of the partnership Richard Horton, Head of Transport Development, Travis Perkins said: 

“We have worked closely with Masternaut for a number of years, and the organisation has become an integral part of our business. And it’s not just our transport department that sees the benefits. We have seen tangible benefits across the whole of the organisation and direct impact on our bottom line, with significant cost savings year-on-year.

The ‘Driver of the Year’ and ‘Safer Roads’ are two examples of initiatives based on Masternaut’s technology which go way beyond straight forward vehicle tracking. The two initiatives are allowing us to raise awareness of driver safety, and the importance of responsible driving across the business – from HGVs through to light commercial vehicles.

Our drivers are not only more conscious of how they are performing behind the wheel, they’re motivated and incentivised. When the Driver of the Year award comes around each year there’s a great sense of healthy competition among the whole team – and that’s fantastic to see!”

Masternaut, one of the largest European providers of telematics solutions, has launched Masternaut Tax & Expense, offering customers automated and completely accurate mileage logging to support expense claims and compliance regulations.  

The module is the latest in a series of new applications announced by the telematics provider, following the launch of Masternaut Connect last year. Masternaut Tax & Expense is specifically designed to benefit the whole business from the finance department to individual drivers, enabling driver authentication of business and private mileage, while storing data for regulatory compliance. Benefits include quicker and more efficient processes due to automated mileage logging. Masternaut’s patented technology reports exact vehicle odometer which revolutionary compared to GPS-based calculations.

Tax & Expense can be used as a wholly independent module or as a component part of Masternaut’s Connect platform which includes ecoDrive, Live tracking and Business Intelligence as companion modules.

Delivered via the new platform’s core, integrated web interface, the application is available to all customers using Masternaut Connect, removing the need for lengthy bespoke deployments, and enabling rapid take-up.

The new Masternaut Connect functionality also offers improved privacy options, enabling customers to select map-based routes or data-only services, in order to protect employee privacy outside of working hours.

Martin Hiscox, Chairman and CEO of Masternaut, says: “Telematics has gone way beyond simply tracking vehicle whereabouts. The benefits span a wide range of business departments, and finance is no exception.

“For many of our customers, handling tax and expense claims – often for thousands of drivers, and across multiple regions – can be a complex and time-consuming task. Masternaut Tax & Expense automates the processes involved, delivering intuitive reports quickly and easily. Above all, these reports can be modified to support customer priorities and local requirements – and in the minefield of local compliance and regulation, for many of our customers this will be where the true benefit lies. ”

Masternaut’s CTO, Alex Rothwell, adds: “It’s been an extremely busy year of innovation and development for Masternaut. We invested millions of euros and the largest telematics R&D workforce in Europe into bringing Masternaut Connect to market; it’s very exciting to be at a stage when we can begin introducing the various applications of the platform – and Tax & Expense is just one of these applications.”