November 2002

Cardiff-based haulier Rhys Davies has fitted the Orchid vehicle tracking and location system from Thales Telematics in more than half of its trucks. Managing director Geoff Brogan considers it will provide "a highly cost-effective and user-friendly means" of determining the location of vehicles at any time, and should bring benefits both internally and to the company's customers.

Initially Rhys Davies has fitted the system in 80 rigid trucks working on next-day delivery operations. It is integrating the system with its existing intranet-based information system, allowing it to make use of real-time data on its vehicles' activities throughout the company. The data will be derived from Orchid's SMSD, an in-cab information tool.