FleetMatics GPS cuts firm’s mileage
FleetMatics GPS has illustrated how its systems have been used to improve the cost efficiency of businesses’ fleets. Growing customer demand led Surrey boiler services company, B&K Boilers Services to employ FleetMatics’ fleet management solutions for commercial fleet vehicles. The company employs 10 registered ‘Gas Safe’ fitters and their management depended on phone calls and check-ins at the office: “As each fitter can complete up to 10 jobs every day, that’s a lot of calls to answer in a week,” said Mr Worthington, B&K Boiler Services Owner. Since fitting the FleetMatics GPS fleet tracking system, Worthington has made scheduling of jobs more efficient, and he can better manage his fitters.
“Previously, the average number of jobs completed by a fitter was between six to nine jobs a day, it’s now nine-ten – the FleetMatics GPS system has paid for itself 10 times over,” says Mr Worthington. “Also, if we get an emergency job in, we can locate the nearest fitter and assign the job accordingly and the beauty is we can tell the customer precisely when we will be there.” The ‘Live Fleet’ tool monitors where all the vehicles are in real-time, indicating whether a fitter is en route to the next job or, if they are still on a job, the office staff can work out how long it will take to complete before moving onto the next one.
A further benefit to the company is the reduction in fuel bills, even though the cost of fuel is continuously on the rise, achieved through a tighter restriction on using company vehicles for personal use. With the FleetMatics ‘Daily Report’ function, B&K is able to see whether a van has been used out of hours or varied from its normal route. “our van mileage has almost halved – dropping down from 84,000 to 45,000 miles – that’s a huge reduction in fuel costs to my company,” says Worthington.
In addition, Worthington says the system has helped change staff members’ interpersonal attitudes: “We don’t have to keep phoning up and disturbing our fitters during a job to find out where they are and, by using the Live Traffic alerts, we can advise them when to use an alternative route to avoid traffic jams. Furthermore, we have set up service alerts for each vehicle – by performing regular maintenance on the fleet each van is more reliable and more fuel efficient.”
B&K can also cross-check time sheets using the system: “One of my fitters was at a customer for two hours the other day but only wrote down one hour. Conversely, we can also back our fitters if a customer disputes a bill.”
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