Previously, Mulholland had no fleet management system in place for its fleet of Peugeot vans: “As our fleet grew, we were increasingly challenged without this supportive layer of IT,” recalls Kevin Breen, finance director.
After evaluating several solutions at the Commercial Vehicle Show, Mulholland decided that the best on offer was the Telogis system, available under the Ford Telematics brand.
Mulholland deployed 100 Ford Transit Crew vans to transport teams of engineers and field workers to over 50 sites across central Scotland – and the quality of information available immediately enabled the fleet to work more efficiently and flexibly.
For maintenance scheduling, for example, the system delivers automatic reminders based on the vehicle’s real-time condition.
Reports can be generated on any specified KPI, such as fuel consumption, miles travelled or idling. The reporting function is easy to navigate and operate, says Breen, and the bespoke reports have become “a staple” of board-level meetings.
The system is also helping to reduce insurance premiums and mitigate theft, as proved by an incident recently when a van was stolen from site. “Before, this would have meant reporting the loss to the police and waiting by the phone,” says Breen. “Now, we were able to contact the police and search for it ourselves using the highly intuitive location software. This led to us quickly locating the vehicle, undamaged, preventing unnecessary loss for the company which was a great result – unachievable without the technology in place.”
Mulholland uses the system to verify business and private vehicle use to HMRC, and vehicle visibility is also improving productivity and costs, as Breen explains: “We have already seen major opportunity to drive ROI. For instance, by knowing exactly where our drivers are during the working day, we’ve saved an average of one hour per week which across our workforce equals a 2.5% efficiency gain – a major labour boost in the context of a year.
“We have also forecasted a saving of 5% on fuel each year, equating to in excess of £50,000.”
Next up is a driver incentive programme, to reward fuel-efficient driving, with the figures delivered through the Telogis platform. And Mulholland is also about to deploy eight HGVs, also equipped with the telematics system.