Vehicle tracking and beyond

Tomazos Transport is an Australian-owned and -operated transport company, initially established to provide vehicles and building material transport capabilities to parent company Tomazos Group, a construction company operating since the 1970s.

The company installed a Navman Wireless in-vehicle monitoring system in order to keep in touch with drivers in remote areas and to more effectively manage its growing fleet. The system enables vehicle tracking as well as two-way communication between drivers and the company’s home base. 

Transport & Logistics Operations Manager Keith Joy, who coordinated the deployment of the Navman Wireless system, said the installation had immediate benefits beyond simple vehicle tracking.

“We were able to not only track speeds, routes and positioning of all vehicles in the fleet, but keep in constant communication with our drivers. A lot of the sites to which our vehicles travel are remote, so the Navman Wireless satellite system allowed us to keep in touch without having to rely on limited mobile phone coverage or two-way radio systems.

“Since the installation of the GPS tracking system, we have utilised its programs to cut costs, increase fleet efficiency, prolong the life of vehicle parts, promote good driver behaviour, and track WH&S and fatigue management.”

The system offers insights informing decisions that have improved the day-to-day running of the business, often putting the company in front of the competitors, in the areas of health and safety, event and fatigue management, maintenance monitoring, fuel and tyre efficiency, driver management and communication, and government fuel rebates.

In addition to its original use of vehicle tracking, Tomazos Transport has been able to track the diagnostic and behavioural patterns of drivers through the use of reports, logs, alerts and maps. Using the Navman Wireless system, Joy was able to conduct a time and motion study looking at the speed and fuel usage of each vehicle. Results showed running vehicles at 90 km/h, rather than at the speed limit of 100 km/h, would save the company an average of 10% of fuel costs — an annual saving of close to 150,000 L of fuel per financial year.

As well as saving money on fuel costs through the reduced speed of fleet vehicles, Tomazos Transport was also able to prolong the life of the fleet’s brakes and tyres. Previously, brakes and wheel bearings were changed every 12 months, but subsequently they only needed to be changed every 18 months.

But the cost savings did not stop there. Tomazos informed the company’s insurance provider, who was able to view the driver management records as well as monitor the vehicles’ servicing and maintenance records. After a thorough audit process, the insurance provider re-evaluated the standard coverage and reduced insurance premiums by 52%.

“The insurance company was impressed that we had all the integrated monitoring in one package — everything from when the tyres were changed, acceleration levels, how hard the brakes are used, regular servicing records, vehicle speeds and the shift times drivers are working. Once they had ascertained that our drivers and our vehicles were one of the safest fleets on the road, they happily gave us a credit and reduced our annual insurance premiums,” Joy said.

Tomazos Transport is looking to install additional Navman Wireless solutions into its fleet of 18 quarry vehicles, including dozers, excavators and dump trucks. It also plans to roll out electronic prestart using the GPS interface, eliminating manual checks and paper trails while covering off all aspects of pre- and post-inspections. Future plans also include the installation of integrated event-triggered dash cams and driver alert functionality which recognises when a driver leaves the vehicle while it is running, further ensuring the ongoing safety of the mobile team.