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www.truckandtrack.com
Spring 2019
Truck and Track
41
BATTERY MANAGEMENT
ROBIS pays for itself within six months
Rotronics has been working with the Gloucestershire Fire and
Rescue Services since December 2017. The workshopmanagement
team had, for some time, been looking for better ways to manage
battery maintenance within a workshop programme at their
Gloucester workshop. The group previously did not have any form
of effective battery management programme in place, apart from
a simple battery tester.
They were aware that the Police workshop had been using a
Midtronics battery tester as part of their workshop maintenance to
identify faulty batteries and wanted to explore how this may help
them better diagnose battery defects.
Whilst the workshop had traditional 24V battery chargers in
use, they did not form any part of a routine maintenance process
or procedure and, as a result, balanced
charging was not a consideration within
their maintenance procedures.
Batterywarranty claims were not effective,
with most claims not being accepted by
their battery supplier.
In December 2017, the Rotronics team
visited the Gloucester site, to demonstrate
and provide an overview of the Rotronics
Battery
Management
programme,
equipment was left on trial to enable
workshop staff to evaluate it and offer
feedback as to how it was used.
A follow-up visit wasmade in January 2018
and further training was given to the team.
With extremely positive feedback, the trial
continued, to enable extended usage of the
equipment.
In March 2018, the Rotronics team
received the order to supply a full workshop
programme supporting the team, including
ROBIS, and they have been using the
equipment as part of their everyday routine
maintenance and feel they are getting real
benefit from its use.
■■
Battery sets are receiving a regular “balanced charge”.
■■
Defective batteries, that would have previously gone unnoticed,
are being identified and replaced before a vehicle defect occurs.
■■
The warranty claims process is much more effective, with faulty
batteries covered under warranty now being accepted and
credited by their battery provider, through providing a printout
of the faulty battery to support the claims process.
■■
A total of 11batteries (at a cost of £1,760) have been successfully
claimed to date, without the use of the Rotronics EXP1000 FHD,
these claims would have been lost.
■■
Thereturnoninvestmentcalculationwillresultintheequipment
paying for itself, within the first six months of use
Workshop Supervisor Adam Fowles says “Our technicians think the
battery performance. However, the benefits can only be achieved
if the equipment is used as part of a pro-active and regular
maintenance service maintenance process.
Benefits to your business with ROBIS.
A significant benefit
of using ROBIS is that non-starts will reduce, which in turn saves
workshops money by bringing down their battery budgets due to
decreasing roadside defects. The battery performance across a fleet
will be improved and warranty processes can easily be streamlined
as ROBIS provides under-the-microscope data regarding battery
performance. ROBIS will deliver proven ROI, supporting any
workshop battery management programme and will provide
uniform testing practices across your business. ROBIS
will reap
benefits for your customers when lost miles are reduced and you
will not incur delivery penalties.
Key features of ROBIS
■■
Centralised dashboard showing regional and national KPI
output of workshop battery test performance.
■■
Early
detection of vehicle and battery related performance
issues.
■■
Instant
online access to current and historical workshop battery
test results.
■■
User uploadable
fleet
information list
to enable vehicle
performance and trend analysis.
■■
Tracking of equipment
usage
across multiple locations.
■■
Benchmarking
of regional and national tests result comparison
and league tables.
■■
Auditing
of technician input, to measure and identify any
training needs required.
■■
Delivery of
continuity
across business, with KPI dashboard
measuring key deliverables.
■■
Centralised
database enabling visibility of all data, without risk
of data loss.
■■
Active vehicle database
exception
reporting of vehicles not
being maintained.
■■
Highlightbattery
performance
issuesandtrends,tounderstand
the quality of the batteries you fit to your vehicles.
■■
Active
Warranty
management reporting processes, enabling
semi-automated warranty process.
■■
Multiple
reporting software, enables numerous bespoke
reports to be produced.
■■
Proven ROI
capability, enablingmeasurement of success versus
impact of non-compliance.
■■
Personalised database with company
logo
.
Gloucester Fire & Rescue Services case study