Oct/Nov 2006

BOC Gases has rolled out a major telematics, fleet management and route compliance system across its 400-strong UK transport fleet, and is already trialling the system in fleets based in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia.

The company is using the VSc Transport Management system, which is hosted by managed services specialist 7global. Scalability, interoperability and flexibility are mentioned as features that confirmed its choice.

Trials of the system began in autumn last year, when the VSc system was fitted on 60 vehicles operating from BOC Gases' Wolverhampton and Bristol depots. The pilot exercise was judged a success, and the full roll-out then followed.

The system is being used to monitor the activity of its drivers and assess driving standards and vehicle usage. This in turn delivers qualitative statistics on speed, braking, acceleration habits and driver performance that can be used to improve overall efficiency.

 

VSc and its Super Group parent company have developed interface between BOC's corporate ERP system, SAP and the CAB computer system to enable them to run "planned versus actual" comparisons on daily schedules. This information is mapped in real time by the 7global hosted system to improve BOC's ability to see how well it is meeting customer expectations.

Transport manager Andrew Smith explains that a solution from VSc and 7global was already in use at BOC's South African business, Afrox, which had developed a close working relationship with VSc's parent company, Super Group. This had delivered significant benefit in route efficiency and compliance to schedule.