One of the biggest, most obvious selling points of telematics is that through addressing certain fuel wasting activities like vehicle idling, aggressive acceleration, sharp braking and speeding, telematics can help a company save a lot on its fuel bill, not to mention reducing vehicle wear as well. But even so, many companies are surprised by how much they can save. Take snack company Tayto Group, which recently announced that through adding telematics to its vehicles, it had managed to save £72,000.
Tayto picked up TomTom Telematics’ WEBFLEET platform earlier this year and has managed to save itself that much by cutting fuel usage by 15 per cent across the board. This has also helped make it a greener company, which in the climate of an ever warming… uh, climate, is never a bad thing.
Peter Rush, purchasing and fleet manager at Tayto Group, said: “By gaining unprecedented insight into the behaviour of our drivers, we have been able to address areas of poor performance and drastically reduce inefficiency in the operation of our vehicle fleet.
“The data delivered by Webfleet provided the perfect starting point for us to work with our staff in order to help them better understand where improvements could be made and, ultimately, become better, safer and more environmentally-aware drivers.”
Not every vehicle in Tayto’s employ is a lorry…
However as with many companies that take on telematics, Tayto wasn’t left to flounder with all the data the WEBFLEET platform threw at it. It teamed up with TomTom’s reseller partner, Fleet Simplicity, to make the data as actionable as possible. From there, it developed new systems of management and driver training, that helped Tayto achieve these savings.
In the end, drivers were given weekly updates on how their driving was or wasn’t improving and what they could do to make themselves safer and more economical. Reports covered speeding, idle times and driver behaviour, all of which can impact how much fuel a vehicle uses. Training was targeted to individuals that needed it most, while every driver was brought in for a group review at the end of each month, giving them a larger incentive to improve their habits when behind the wheel.
As with most of TomTom’s telematics packages, drivers were scored out of 10 for their driving behaviour, based on efficiency and safety. The idea is to give them more of a reason to improve their habits by linking it with an Optidrive score. Clearly it works.
The business has also been streamlined through automated reporting, reducing the need for paperwork or mileage sheets.
“Insightful data is crucial to business intelligence and Tayto has put itself in a great position to evolve and respond to any future challenges by tackling inefficient practice,” said Giles Margerison, director UK and Ireland at TomTom Telematics.
“By using the available information to identify where issues might exist and working with drivers to address them where necessary, it is possible to bring about positive change in the operation of a vehicle fleet.”
Image source: William Murphy
