Not just for navigation

GPS systems can be incredibly useful in allowing companies to ensure their fleets are working to maximum efficiency. In the professional sense, they are more than just navigation equipment.

However, implementing and maintaining such a system can be complex. These real-life applications show how efficiency gains can be achieved using GPS both on and off the road.

Southern Tyre Services

Southern Tyre Service (STS) is a mobile tyre fitting and repairs provider operating across Sydney. The company wanted to maximise productivity and efficiency of its vehicles on and off the road and was searching for a solution to facilitate this. STS was looking to increase the number of jobs its mobile tyre fitter vehicles could attend per day and to improve customer service by providing accurate ETAs for clients. Other priorities were to improve driver safety and mechanical wear on vehicles by reducing fuel and mileage, as well as minimising the number of accidents and infringement notices.

To meet these objectives, Forum Group’s fleet division, Forum Fleet, installed the TomTom Telematics LINK 530 Track and Trace systems as well as the PRO 7150 Navigation system with traffic updates. The LINK 530 and PRO 7150 devices provide a range of options that help improve overall vehicle management by providing driver IDs and detailed tracking. TomTom Telematics also provides drivers with an accurate GPS system that helps them to navigate and reduce their time spent in traffic delays.

Southern Tyre Service now has 15 of its vehicles installed with Forum Fleet’s telematics solution. Since April 2013, the implementation has seen an increase of two additional jobs per vehicle per day, or 30 jobs per day in total. The fleet management solution enables the company to accurately record fuel and maintenance costs as well as keep a close eye on its vehicle and driver health and safety requirements.

Increase the number of jobs taken on each day.

By overseeing areas like fuel use and vehicle maintenance, Southern Tyre Service has reduced its overall fuel consumption by 10%. The on-road benefits extend to the backend operations with a 7% reduction in communication costs through minimised phone bills as well as providing more time for employees to focus on other jobs, in turn, improving staff productivity.

The office team now has full visibility of the drivers and their pending workloads, which has improved the management of staff and reduced employee overtime by 5%.

Sheen Towing Service

Sheen Towing Service is a vehicle towing and salvage company based in Bayswater, Victoria. In expanding the business’s presence across Melbourne, Sheen realised it needed to address several areas among its fleet to successfully grow operations. It was critical to have maximum visibility of driver location when responding to job call-outs. By implementing a system that could help track its drivers’ whereabouts, Sheen could examine how to improve its overall productivity and increase the number of jobs that it could to take on. As the company was looking to expand its operations, it required a system that could provide greater control to simultaneously manage multiple jobs in different locations.

Monitor vehicle location at all times.

Forum Fleet determined the ideal solution should comprise the TomTom LINK 530 and TomTom PRO 7100 systems to provide greater visibility and ease of dispatching Sheen vehicles to job sites. The LINK 530 and PRO 7100 devices are systems to help improve overall vehicle management by providing driver IDs and detailed tracking. This allows account managers to see where their vehicles are at all times. TomTom Telematics also provides drivers with an accurate GPS system that helps them to navigate and reduce time spent in traffic delays.

Since June 2013, when Forum Fleet installed the TomTom Telematics system in 12 of its vehicles, Sheen has seen a 30% increase in the number of jobs it is able to undertake and a substantial decrease in vehicle downtime. The fleet management solution enables the company to accurately record fuel and maintenance costs as well as keep a close eye on its vehicle and driver health and safety requirements. By overseeing areas like fuel use and vehicle maintenance, it has been able to significantly reduce the associated costs across its vehicle fleet.

Increased visibility improves backend operations.

As the TomTom Telematics solution is cloud based, Sheen Towing Service can fully customise its fleet reports from anywhere in the world while allocating and monitoring its drivers on the job. This visibility has also seen the company achieve 100% accuracy in reconciling invoices and employee timesheets, further improving backend operations