Wolseley UK has a fleet of more than 900 vehicles across its branch network, which includes Plumb and Parts Centre, Pipe Centre, Climate Centre, Burdens, Drain Centre, Integrated Services and William Wilson.
Following a three-month trial with the new Masternaut Connect system at a Drain Centre branch in Tonbridge last year, the company has now rolled it out across light commercial and licensed goods vehicles nationwide – 104 belonging to Pipe Center, 21 to Climate Centre and 68 to Drain Center.
The company is continuing a trial on five more vehicles at a Plumb Centre branch in Wolverhampton.
Feedback from the Tonbridge pilot demonstrated fuel savings of 8—10%, according to Mike Crowley, transport development manager at Wolseley UK.
"Masternaut has developed the next generation of telematics compared to what we previously had and was the obvious next stage for our branch transport," states Crowley.
"Over time, people may develop poor driving habits. This system is not intended as a tool to tell our employees that they are bad drivers, but simply to point out where they can make small changes to become even more efficient," he adds.
With the Masternaut system, driver behaviour is monitored through an in-cab light bar, which alerts them when harsh driving events are detected – including rapid acceleration, braking and cornering, idling of the engine and speeding.
The light bar then notifies the driver to the degree of which they have exceeded a driving event in real-time, allowing for an instant rectification.