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June/July 2017 Truck and Track 41
TELEMATICS
The St Albans based Giffen Group is a major UK railway
infrastructure contractor specialising in electrical engineering,
signallingandpower supplies andwithkey customers including
London Underground and Network Rail.
With its current IT limited in its ability to provide the business
critical intelligence and data-led insights required to operate its
vehicle fleet more efficiently, Giffen Group has invested in a range
of Ford commercial vehicles running Ford Telematics powered
by Telogis. This has given the company increased visibility on all
aspects of vehicle operations, and on the driving behaviour of field
workers.
Giffen Group’s existing IT system required enhancement to support
management in awareness and resultant decision-making around
driver behaviour and operating costs. MartinWinham, Commercial
Director of the Giffen Group, comments: “Our existing IT and
vehicle infrastructure had limitations in its ability to meet business
objectives, set against both safety and cost parameters.
“To help cut and control vehicle fleet costs in addition to promoting
safer driving practices, we needed to be able to forensicallymonitor
driving behaviour, mileage and vehicle health. Working with Ford
Telematics powered by Telogis has allowed us to do this and more,
helping us promote a safety-first culture across the business and
generate long-term operational cost savings.”
Following an audit and trial of available solutions, GiffenGroupwas
satisfiedwiththeeaseofuse,speedanddepthofinformationoffered
from Ford Telematics powered by Telogis, and commissioned the
installation of this system to its fleet of 36 vans, primarily stationed
at its central depot in St Albans.
Among the benefits, Ford Telematics powered by Telogis allows
Giffen Group to monitor vehicle health. It streamlines the fleet’s
servicing requirements with automated reminders about
necessary maintenance, based on the condition of the vehicle. In
practice this should result in lower preventive maintenance costs,
less downtime owing to breakdowns and improved warranty and
insurance premiums.
Another business objective was to reduce fuel costs by minimising
idle time and total mileage, while increasing the productivity,
efficiency and safety of its drivers on the road.
Then the Giffen Group has standards to meet in order to retain its
Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) certification. Martin
Winhamdeclares: “Maintaining our FORS certification is important
to us and to our customers. So we wanted to ensure that we had
the right information at our disposal to meet these requirements,
and utilisation of the telematics system should prove most useful
in this regard.”
Ford Telematics powered by
Telogis chosen to enhance
safety & boost efficiencies
Continental Automotive presented their fleet management
solutions at Munich’s biennial Transport Logistic 2017
exhibition in May, having their own stand there for the first
time. They showcased VDO TIS-Web Motion, a simple and
inexpensive entry-level telematics solution for small and
medium-sized fleets. The new VDO TrailerLinc, a track-and-
trace solution, was also on show. TrailerLinc enables trucks and
trailers tobeclearly imagedonthesamesystem, incombination
with the premiumfleet management solution VDO FleetVisor.
Trucking companies can easily add the most important telematics
functions with the online data management system TIS-Web. It
not only handles the storage of vehicle and driver data, but also
boasts numerous other options in the field of track-and-trace,
including tyre pressure monitoring. VDO TIS-Web Motion also
transmits routes, positions and other vehicle data to the despatch
department.
VDO FleetVisor is Continental’s premium fleet management
tool, featuring route and driver planning, vehicle deployment,
remote download, truck navigation and an overview of upcoming
maintenance. Trucking companies can also assist their drivers
with a 7in tablet which automatically displays the best route and
enables direct communication between the driver and his despatch
department via text messages.
The display actually takes the role of a driving coach, because
it gives the driver constant feedback about his driving style and
current fuel consumption and enables fleet managers to view the
individual consumption and reduce it. Drivers can also show their
drive and rest times on the display.
With the VDO TrailerLinc trailer service – a component of VDO
FleetVisor – trucking companies and fleet operators can see at a
glance exactly where their trailers are. The TrailerLinc hardware is
easily installed on the trailer by qualified personnel, after which it
regularly transmits GPS data to the fleet management software,
so that fleet managers always know where a trailer or swap trailer
is and to which vehicle the trailer is attached. Truck and trailer are
conveniently viewable on the same system.
Tracking the benefits of fleet management at
Transport Logistic 2017