July/Aug 2005

West One Express, a haulage company based in South Wales, says it has improved customer service, won new contracts and saved over £45,000 per year on wasted fuel and over-claimed working hours since installing a satellite tracking and fleet management system from Minorplanet Systems.

According to general manager Neil Horgan, the company puts great emphasis on customer service, 'but we couldn't say exactly where our vehicles were without calling a driver and asking. This meant the driver would have to pull over, take the call then continue the journey.

'This is costly and causes delay - something that can't be acceptable in our business.'

He adds that there have been other benefits. 'We have been able to secure new contracts, thanks to the ability to pinpoint a vehicle right down to street level at any time.'

 

The fuel saving has resulted from the fact that the company can now detect unplanned mileage. 'We noticed that some drivers would stop off at various locations along the route, or even go a few extra miles to get somewhere. We were able deter drivers from visiting a barred location, and as a result we have saved over £15,000 per year in fuel.' And this comes on top of a £30,000 saving in unplanned overtime payments.

The VMI system uses GPRS technology to report a vehicle's movements. The information is then displayed in a variety of reports or graphs to show the effectiveness of a vehicle, driver or fleet.