Hone fleet efficiency
December 1st 2006 At a time when fleet costs are increasing, maximum efficiency is paramount.Cannon Hygiene is using Quartix's vehicle tracking system on over half of its van fleet.The company is so impressed it's coming back for more Cannon Hygiene is a national company providing essential services to businesses ranging from single locations to multi-site, national corporations. With its Head Office in Morecambe, Lancashire, the company takes pride in service innovation and has invested heavily in the latest fleet management tools.
Nearly three thousand staff members facilitate the provision of a diverse portfolio of services encompassing pest control, horticulture, secure data destruction and textile care, in addition to the widelyknown hygiene and related consumables service. Holders of the Royal Warrant, Cannon lists household names such as Boots,Woolworths, Shell, Lloyds TSB and GlaxoSmithKline among an extensive clientele.
''Fifty years' experience of service delivery, together with our 'customer first' ethos has undoubtedly contributed to growth over the past five years – in which turnover has risen from £35 - £110 million,'' says Oliver Weisflog,managing director.
Fleet manager, Steve Somers, is responsible for the optimal running of the Cannon fleet, comprising more than 900 vans,HGVs and items of heavy plant machinery. He recently took over the Quartix vehicle tracking account, through which advanced tracking technology has been installed in over half of the company's 3.5t – 7.5t, commercial vehicles. Somers details the ways in which the state-of-the-art tracking system is utilised to hone fleet efficiency: ''For me, the principal benefit of the Quartix system is that it helps us to justify our claim to having the highest service levels in this sector, while simultaneously facilitating a leaner fleet,'' he says.''It enables provision of a competitive service at a time when fleet costs are increasing.'' Somers, with considerable experience of fleet management and operations,makes full use of the system's administrative provision; regularly interrogating the daily tracking logs for clarification of manhours worked and to check vehicle audit trails for mileage details and analysis of utilisation versus idling time.
''The tracking service allows thorough evaluation of fleet performance at each service depot,'' Somers explains.''The online GPRS facility enables optimum route planning so that levels of operation can be raised to an extent that allows paring down of vehicle numbers in particular areas – with no loss of customer service. Likewise, no new vehicles are purchased until it has been established that the existing fleet is being used to maximum efficiency.'' He reports that this enhanced level of planning has the added benefit of keeping service calls within working time as far as possible, thus reducing overtime claims.There has been no adverse driverreaction to the tracking technology and Somers adds that the daily logs assist with health and safety issues.''We can easily check that each driver is keeping within the limits of safe working time,'' he explains, ''which helps with Duty of Care obligations.'' With further reference to customer service, he says each van has details of Cannon's client-base programmed into the software:"Our 'Help Desk'personnel can see, from glancing at the web-page, where the vans have been and visits still to be reached when customers phone for progress updates.
''The system is extremely straightforward to use and provides valuable insights,'' Somers continues.''For instance, if a vehicle is off the road for maintenance or repair,we can monitor the downtime and gauge, for future reference, those garages which operate most efficiently.'' When asked about the level of support offered by the system supplier, Somers replies:''I've consistently found the Quartix team approachable, supportive and very quick to react to queries that I've raised. In fact, the tracking solution has led to such positive repercussions that Cannon has firm plans to install further units at a later date.'' For further information, call the number below or use the free reader enquiry service at: www.cleaning-matters.co.uk More articles from O. C. S. Group Marketing: | 
