Back in the day, when things like boilers and cars were much less efficient, leaving them running was preferable to turning them off and on again frequently, as the start up process itself was often the most wasteful. Today however, things are very different. Vehicles, boilers and all sorts of man-made technology are much more efficient, meaning turning them off when they’re not in use is the best way to go. Still, unless your car or truck does it automatically, you can easily forget to switch it off at the lights or when you’re waiting for something to be loaded on or off of it. That’s where telematics can come in handy.
And that’s exactly what the team over at Elevator Engineering Services has been using to try and cut back on its fuel usage. The biggest statistic to come out of the company’s telematics usage however, has been its reduction in idle time by a whopping 90 per cent.
The telematics system it employed to reach this goal was Masternaut’s new-generation platform, Masternaut Connect, giving it a complete online fleet management system, as well as real time and collated information on drivers and vehicles. Using this, fleet managers at the firm have been able to have drivers switch off their engines whenever the vehicles aren’t in use, helping to cut back on fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions immensely.
Other driver behaviour such as speeding and harsh acceleration has also been fixed through meetings with drivers and through increased training, making them safer on the roadways too.
Ray Brown, UK commercial director at Elevator Engineering Services said: “Our industry is all about precision and safety – there can be no failures when it comes to elevators. We take the same approach to our mobile workforce. The date Masternaut has been vital in maintaining a safe, productive workforce on the move.”
He continued: “In addition, Masternaut has helped us to extend the life of our vehicles, by helping us to educate our drivers on how to drive more effectively. We don’t know what we’d do without Masternaut anymore; the service has helped us to create efficiency savings that have made the investment well worthwhile.”
Other improvements to the business thanks to telematics include increased security, offering peace of mind that should a vehicle be stolen, the company can track it right to where it is. In some instances, stolen tracker fitted vehicles have been recovered within fifteen minutes.
On top of that aspect though, there’s also improvements to the management side. Fleet managers now have a much easier time of things being able to see where vehicles are at all times, making it a much simpler task of sending the right man to the right job. Also, payroll, mileage reports and timekeeping are vastly improved, since all of the data is logged automatically. Nobody is filling out reams of paperwork at the end of the day and there’s no need to account for dishonesty or private use of vehicles since it’s all logged in the Masternaut system.
