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Demolition contractor and asbestos removal expert Maylarch have opted to use Masternaut’s full telematics solution across the entirety of their fleet in a move to reduce costs, lower fuel emissions and improve driver safety.

The decision to work with a telematics provider was made by the company in a bid to optimize their transport management system and having installed the Masternaut system they have seen benefits impact not only on its fleet division but also in a number of other business areas as well.

Nick Williamson, Managing Director of Maylarch commented:

“We chose Masternaut above other telematics providers because the solution was more user-friendly for our staff and offered far clearer, more detailed reporting – particularly from a driver behaviour point of view”

“Since implementing the solution we have seen a wide range of benefits across many areas of our business.” He continued

“Fuel costs have been reduced by 7% in addition to lowered vehicle wear-and-tear thanks to improved driver behaviour, which in turn has led to a reduction in emissions. When it comes to compliance and insurance, we are now able to identify both the location and driver of any vehicle at any given time, enabling us to prove or disprove a driver’s involvement in an incident. Finally, driver behaviour monitoring with a focus on speeding has helped improve driver safety and awareness of best driving practice amongst our employees – which truly is invaluable.”

The system Masternaut have implemented by Maylarch not only allows for the them to report on drivers whereabouts but also includes the ability to score drivers based on vehicle economy and driving behaviour.

With built-in, localised speed limits for every road network, this offering includes tailored real-time speeding alerts, as well as comprehensive reporting.

A direct result of this is that Maylarch have launched their Safer Driving Scheme, which aims to improve driving standards across the organisation by monitoring drivers and incentivising good driver practise. Based on the reports generated by Masternaut’s data, the scheme has already seen a reduction in speeding by 9%.

Martin Hiscox, CEO and chairman of Masternaut, commented:

“Nowadays, the benefits of using telematics are no longer restricted solely to the fleet department – and Maylarch is the perfect example of how businesses can be using our solutions to achieve results across all areas of the organisation.

“We’re delighted that Masternaut’s technology has formed the backbone of the Maylarch Safer Driving Scheme, and look forward to working very closely with Maylarch in the future to support similar initiatives.”

Trimble has recently announced that they will be providing both their GeoManager Fleet Management and their Driver Safety Solutions to one of the UK’s food industry’s leading service, maintenance and supply company Millers Vanguard. The technology has been implemented in order to help the business stream line its field service operations and improve customer service.

The GeoManager Fleet Management solution boasts real-time visibility into day-to-day fleet operations, which can potentially help Millers Vanguard see major improvements in their service performance and productivity, with faster and more accurate response times a major benefit. In addition, with the availability of real-time status information, communication with customers and drivers about service call timing can also be improved.

"We pride ourselves on offering the best support to our customers, delivered to the highest standard and Trimble's technology is integral in helping us to achieve this," said Mo Williams, operations manager at Millers Vanguard.

"The real-time location intelligence and trip management tools provided by Trimble Fleet Management will allow us to optimise route planning, reduce unscheduled stops and allocate tasks to a technician closest to a call out. This can help us to respond to customer requests as quickly and as efficiently as possible and will help us to improve productivity, with technicians being able to complete more jobs per day."

As well as implementing the Trimble Fleet Management solution, Millers Vanguard will also be using Trimble Driver Safety to monitor and review driving behavior across its fleet.

"We are delighted to be working with Millers Vanguard to help improve the safety of their employees," said Mark Forrest, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division.

"Trimble Driver Safety allows aggressive maneuvers, such as hard acceleration, braking, turns and speed to be recorded, offering real-time feedback to the driver as well as a complete analysis for the back office. "This insight means that training can then be provided to individuals to improve their driving style which will not only help reduce accidents and vehicle downtime, but will also help reduce the fleet's fuel consumption and carbon footprint."

Finally Trimble vehicle diagnostics will be implemented across the fleet to assist with vehicle management.

The vehicle diagnostic solutions provide real-time data so information can be drawn directly from the vehicle. The information delivered includes alerts about engine problems before they become a major problem, fault codes and real-time insight into fuel consumption, including miles per gallon (mpg) and emissions per vehicle. All of these factors help the fleet management team identify where fuel is being wasted on poorly performing vehicles.

By efficiently managing its vehicles through vehicle diagnostics, Millers Vanguard are able to preserve their assets, extend vehicle life and increase productivity through lowering the risk of mechanical failure.

Find out more about Trimble, including, videos cases studies and news and features in our online directory here. 

Telogis have introduced their newest upgrade to their cloud-based fleet management and field service platform "Telogis Fleet 11"

Described by the software company as a major upgrade that will ‘effectively transform the way business is done outside the four walls’. Telogis Fleet 11 will allow companies to move toward achieving significant gains in operational efficiency by offering easier access for its users to both analysing and then utilising data gathered from workers, vehicles and assets in the field.

Included within the Telogis Fleet 11 platform are dynamic routing, commercial-grade navigation, advanced telematics, real-time work order management and mobile applications for companies with significant numbers of mobile workers.

Connected location intelligence drives significant gains in productivity

Whether companies require actionable information from their vehicles, assets, customers, workers, partners or all of the above, Telogis Fleet 11 enables connectivity between what is happening in the field and the back office. Telogis Fleet 11 features mobile application enhancements and new maps that are optimised for mobile devices, allowing supervisors and operations leads to easily visualise vehicles, assets and workers. Fleet 11 also supports Telogis Live 2.0, the industry’s first location and data sharing tool that connects partners’ and contractors’ workers and assets on one screen so that project information can be shared among multiple users to maximize productivity and operational efficiencies.

Telogis Fleet 11 also delivers support for richer engine data and services derived from existing relationships with the top vehicle manufacturers such as Ford, Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks and others, enabling more advanced levels of alerting and reporting.

“The trifecta of connected location intelligence, understanding what’s happening with drivers behind the wheel and the ability to derive actionable analytics from that data is really what drives business transformation for our customers,” said Mark Wallin, vice president, product management at Telogis. “Telogis Fleet 11 raises the bar by turning data into true business intelligence, helping companies make more informed decisions that make their businesses run smarter.”

Connecting with the driver: the key to safety, fuel and compliance improvements

Telogis Fleet 11 also closes the loop with drivers through the integration of Telogis Coach, the industry’s first mobile application to give both drivers and back offices the same view of a driver behavior scorecard. Using Telogis Coach drivers review their own behaviors and understand their successes and opportunities for improvement. They also receive peer leaderboards, a snapshot of the day’s driving behaviors and tips for driving more responsibly and safely.

Fleet 11 also helps drivers meet the latest compliance mandates for Hours of Service (HOS) and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) by providing simple, seamless integration between Telogis mobile compliance applications and the back office.

Actionable analytics that drive mission-critical business changes

The actionable analytics that are derived from connecting to and understanding how teams and vehicles are performing in the field is facilitated by Fleet 11’s enhanced alerts, dashboards and reports that include visual analytic tools and dashboards, scripted alerts for even more flexibility, the Enterprise key performance indicator (KPI) Scorecard and reports in hundreds of configurable formats to fit any business or fleet size.

Find out more about Telogis including video, and more news and features in our Field Service News directory here. 

When Juniper first rolled out their latest rugged handheld computer the Archer 2 it has gathered some sizeable attention and traction within the market place. One facet, which makes the device particularly stand out, is the exceptionally bright and clear illumiView display.

According to research undertaken by Juniper Systems themselves one of the most requested customer needs was a high quality display that was easily readable in direct sunlight.

To meet this need Juniper made some significant changes to their previous products starting with a global search to find the best display unit and manufacturer to meet their needs. However, a great display unit is only half of the battle, implementation is also paramount. A poor implementation of a fantastic display will still result in a poor final product, with a dim screen.

So in order to maximize the display’s potential Juniper actually made the other following changes to their previous display units in the Archer and other models,  in order to deliver a best-in-class product.

Firstly they made the switch from resistive to capacitive touchscreens. Now whilst they aren’t the first rugged manufacturer to make this change it is an important one as capacitive screens have fewer layers between them which results in less light refraction. Of course less light refraction means better luminosity and clarity, in fact capacitive screens are generally 20% brighter than resistive screens.

Secondly they introduced something called optical bonding to the manufacturing process of the unit. This is a special means of fusing the display with the touchscreen itself. So unlike most other rugged devices where there is a layer of air between the touchscreen and the display, in the Archer 2 this gap, which allows for light refraction (thedreby also reducing brightness and clarity) is removed.

“We are extremely pleased with how the new Archer 2’s IllumiView display has turned out; competitor products don’t even come close,” said Josh Egan, Product Manager at Juniper Systems. “We have put in a lot of extra effort and used additional resources to design the best display possible, and we feel that it has all paid off. Knowing that our customers will greatly benefit from this new display makes it all worth it.”

The Archer 2 is the lastest rugged handheld in Juniper Systems’ line-up. It can be used for a wide variety of data collection purposes including geomatics, natural resources, public works, agriculture, industrial, and military markets.

Looking for a hardware solution for your field service teams? Find videos, case studies and more in our Field Service Directory. Click here to go straight to the Hardware section. 

There is nothing quite like a good nights sleep. So it is especially good news to find out that one purveyor of such wonders (i.e. a bed and mattress retail company) has been able to step up their deliveries by using dedicated fleet management technology.

Bed experts, Dreams has been able to increase it’s efficiency of its home deliveries by turning to Paragon’s Home delivery system (HDS) as part of their fleet management technology solution.  This means that all 6,000 weekly nationwide weekly deliveries will be planned and scheduled for the Dreams head office. The system will allow for the customer to be provided with a selection of optimised dates so they can choose one which suits them for their delivery. This is available to them  either at the point of sale in store or when they make a purchase online.

“When a Dreams customer buys a bed our Microsoft Dynamics NAV system will calculate the earliest availability for the product. This information feeds through to Paragon HDS, which then works out the available delivery dates to offer the customer. The information is presented graphically to our sales staff in red, amber and green, with green being the most efficient delivery,” says Ian Clarke, Change Controller, Dreams.

“We offer customers the ability to book a delivery up to 90 days in advance if they require it; typically most choose between 10 and 15 days after making a purchase. We also have much more flexibility to move deliveries around if we need to and we can close off routes earlier. In fact, with the latest version of the software we can also shut off a depot early and we can pause specific routes, if necessary to maximise efficiency.”

Dreams currently operates eight home delivery depots, which aided by a fleet management technology suite from Paragon, enables them to cover the entire of the UK and they plan to open a ninth depot soon which will be based in Scotland and will add further efficiency to their routes with its ninth depot opening soon. The deliveries are made using the company’s fleet of 100 x 3.5 tonne Mercedes Sprinter vans.

“Paragon HDS completely eliminates all manual elements from our delivery planning. It gives us much tighter control of how many vans we need and the number of driver shifts required to achieve the plan. Together with our stock availability system, we have a much clearer view of our supply chain as we can plan when goods need to be in the depots and we’re now running some as stockless, having just the items they need to deliver within the next 48 hours,” says Ian Clarke.

Perhaps the key benefit of HDS is the automatic integration with the other elements of the fleet management technology that Paragon are already delivering to Dreams including GPS vehicle tracking units in the vans using Paragon Fleet Controller. Giving Dreams the ability to monitor delivery progress in real-time and providing them with a live report feed. This feed is then published on the Dreams intranet to show how deliveries are progressing and allows customer services to keep customers updated with ETAs.

This visibility includes being able to see the exact current status of each delivery and report whether the van is at the customer’s home or has completed the delivery and is on its way to the next drop.

This of course means that the field service management team can sleep well at night knowing they are running as efficiently as possible!

Looking to find out more about fleet management technology or looking for a fleet management technology provider? Visit our directory which includes videos, case studies and other resources on a number of fleet management technology companies by clicking this link. 

Road Traffic Solutions, a traffic management organisation who supported the management of the roads throughout the London Olympics and the Royal Wedding have been able to save thousands of pounds in administration costs having switched to a new paperless means of working.

The company who moved onto the MyMobileWorkers‘ system in October have already seen significant savings not only by reducing the amount of time spent on administration but also by cutting out a whopping 1.2 tonnes of paper. To put that into context as well as being great for the environment it equates to a real world saving of almost £12,000 in the five months since they adopted the workforce management app.

RTS staff carry out around 18,000 jobs a year from minor street works in city centres to motorway closures and diversions. The 50 workers now complete job information on the go, which dramatically reduced the administrative burden that RTS had whilst previously logging this information on paper.

The field staff use the MyMobileWorkers app to record information such as proving which items are with which worker at a specific time, details of where the items are being delivered to, and specifically where on the road they are due to be placed,

This has given RTS instant visibility with photographic evidence, of their workflow as opposed to having to wait until the worker has returned to the office and the job being logged as completed which was the process previously.

As well as  delivering cost savings the switch has also provided RTS with improved location and management of their own hire equipment. The result of this is that staff can now search and view instantly which items are in use on which job, allowing them to see which items are missing and at what stage of the job.

Of course as with any field service technology RTS have been able to importantly translate the benefits to their customers also who now have instant access to job details and photographic proof of job completion.

Ben Dexter, Associate Director from RTS said: “Previously we were having a complete nightmare with masses of paperwork and as a company which is growing rapidly, we were looking for a new way of working to ensure our processes were as efficient and streamlined as they could be.

“With all new technology, there can be a degree of uncertainty amongst the workforce as to how it works but MyMobileWorkers was simple to use and within a month, all of our 50 workers were up and running, and using it on their Android devices.”

Graham Whistance, founder of MyMobileWorkers, said: “As Road Traffic Solutions is one of the fastest growing companies in the traffic management sector, they needed the technology alongside this to help them grow further.

“MyMobileWorkers works particularly well in the fast paced environment of the traffic management sector where managers rely on real time updates and the need for accurate job information to be recorded. With Road Traffic Solutions for example, they need to ensure that any of their equipment such as temporary traffic signals or cones, are accounted for when being picked up after a job is finished.”

New safety camera integration from Isotrak is assisting fleet operators improve safety by capturing video evidence of on-road incidents in real-time. This camera integration helps to reduce speeding by as much as 97 percent and cuts accident rates by almost 80 percent. In addition, the solution is proven to further improve fuel economy on top of the savings available from using vehicle tracking alone.

The vehicle tracking and driver safety monitoring enhancement provides transport managers with high resolution images that are date and time stamped for any point of the journey, and recording whether the vehicle is moving or stationary. The cameras integrate seamlessly with Isotrak’s vehicle tracking and telemetry solution, providing telemetry data and camera footage to backup any claims made by the driver or dispute any claims made by third party plaintiffs.

The detailed video images give a clear view of how a vehicle was being driven immediately prior to an incident, helping prove whether the driver was at fault or not. With the rising cost in insurance, the technology reduces accident costs by up to 70 percent and also helps with defending against fraudulent claims by providing better understanding of what actually happened. Fleet operators can also use the safety camera video to help them with driver training and to stop unsafe driving behaviour.

“We have partnered with market leading safety camera providers to provide a fully integrated solution that gives customers a real-time video view of how their fleet is performing right down to individual driver and vehicle level. This is an important enhancement to the live vehicle location and telemetry we already provide and we encourage fleet operators to consider how integrating safety cameras with their Isotrak system could help them drive further improvements through their operation. Video evidence is proving its importance in fighting claims, but even more importantly when coupled with Isotrak real-time vehicle tracking it can help fleet operators make significant improvements to operations and services,” says Megan Turner, Head of Marketing, Isotrak.

Bott Ltd, the British company who are world leaders when it comes to the manufacturing and supply of workshop equipment, in-vehicle equipment and workplace systems, has seen significant and widespread benefits to their business since deploying a telematics solution, which they is provided by Masternaut.

Having worked with Masternaut since October 2012 using telematics to monitor their fleet of commercial, HGV and service vehicles moving between their various manufacturing bases within the UK, Bott have recorded a 15% a month saving on their fuel consumption. The saving has been across their entire fleet including  company cars and vans, and has also brought an increase in fleet efficiency and driver safety throughout every arm of the business.

Bott deployed the telematics solution across its fleet of vehicles – including trucks and light commercial vehicles – in order to further reduce customer response times as part of a commitment to uphold  their already strong reputation for service excellent and rapid response. In addition to using the technology in its own fleet, Bott also now even resells the telematics systems to its customers, as parts of the van conversions arm of the business.

Via the at-a-glance view of every vehicle within Bott’s fleet, managers are now able to pin-point the exact location and speed of any of their drivers at any given time. The company has been able to reduce the unnecessary time its vehicles spend on the road, while better managing customer expectations around delivery times by sharing this insight.

With Bott’s articulated lorries making multiple deliveries across the UK every day, fleet managers at company headquarters are able to act instantly in the event of road delays or incoming customer requests.

“Given the range of locations we cover across the UK – and beyond – our drivers spend considerable amounts of time on the roads,” said Bott Ltd’s Logistics Manager, Chris Sweeney. “Anything which reduces this is hugely beneficial not only to our own business but, more importantly, to our customers too.”

“Having installed Masternaut’s technology across our fleet, we’ve been able to significantly cut down on the amount of time spent in transit, meaning our response times are quicker than ever. And through delivering the technology into our customers’ own vehicles, they’re experiencing the benefits first-hand too – it is a win-win!”

CEO and chairman of Masternaut, Martin Hiscox, added: “For businesses looking to achieve that vital competitive edge, every minute – and indeed every penny – counts. Bott, which coordinates fleets from one end of the UK to the other, is a fantastic example of how companies can be using telematics to save both time and money.”

TerraXML, an enterprise software and services provider, have announced the 2014 release of the TerraView, a collaborative content delivery platform which could be of great interest to those operating in the field service arena.

The new release promises a wide range of freshly incorporated features that are designed to both improve remote access to information as well as simplifying the administration process. TerraXML claim that not only will TerraView 2014 offer considerable additional benefits for customers already using the TerraView platform – but also widen the platforms usability to industries that operate outside of networked environments

Bob Aidun, TerraXML CEO states that “TerraView 2014 represents a significant advancement in digital content delivery,”

Aidun further added "While there is already considerable alignment with cloud and mobile technology in the industries we serve, the adoption of these solutions is inherently tied to online connectivity. However, the need to be continuously connected prohibits the use of digital content in operating environments where internet service is unavailable or inconsistent. With this release, TerraView users are now able to freely access mission-critical information both online and offline. This brings considerable value to our customers who have historically struggled with providing disconnected field teams with up-to-date information.”

It is the ability to continue to access vital information in an offline environment that could potentially makes this release of interest to companies with a remote or mobile workforce. Whilst the move to digital, cloud based mobile solutions have in no doubt revolutionised the way field service organisations operate, the one consistent issue remains - what if there is no internet signal to connect to?

Whilst a number of solutions provide the ability to access information online, connectivity issues still remain for a large number of mobile solutions. Therefore the ability for field service engineers to access essential information onsite is an important element in improving first time fix rates and overall efficiency. A consistent aim for most field service companies.

Another neat benefit in addition to boasting strong support of offline data access, is that TerraView 2014 can manage data across multiple distributed servers to ensure updates to end user devices are performed using the absolute most current information - regardless of geographical location. Again a major advantage for mobile teams based in various locations such as aviation field service engineers for example, where a team may be tracking a specific flight internationally.

If TerraView 2014 is able to further improve upon the ability for field service engineers to access this key information whenever and wherever it is needed  as it claims then it is certainly a worthy release worth further inspection. Particularly for those industries that have widespread teams due to the nature of their industries such as aviation and many other field service industries.