Real time management… staff in Cranleigh Freight Services’ traffic office rely on Daimler FleetBoard to track vehicle locations and monitor drivers’ hours
One of Britain’s leading airfreight road-feeder specialists is benefiting from fuel cost savings and greatly improved management controls after stepping up its use of Daimler FleetBoard telematics systems.
Significantly, most of the Cranleigh Freight Services (CFS) vehicles equipped with this state-of-the-art technology are DAFs – as a sister company of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler FleetBoard is more commonly associated with the three-pointed star but its systems also deliver impressive results when retrofitted to other makes of truck.
CFS gained its first experience of FleetBoard’s capabilities three years ago, when it took delivery of five Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units with factory-fitted telematics systems.
“Our main interest initially was in vehicle tracking,” recalls Tim Munro, Transport Manager, CFS. “But we were ecstatic when we realised how much more Daimler FleetBoard offered in terms of valuable extra functionality, and quickly set about fitting its systems to more of our trucks.”
Today, all but four of family-owned CFS’s 52 tractor units are equipped with Daimler FleetBoard telematics and the number continues to grow.
Key to the success of this technology has been its ability to measure driver performance against a range of criteria such as over revving, harsh braking, idling, speeding and ‘green band’ driving, highlighting areas in which improvements can be made.
“It’s difficult to make precise comparisons because loads and routes are changing all the time,” says Mr Munro. “But we have drivers who were previously averaging 7mpg and are now consistently returning 8-10mpg.
“FleetBoard has played a crucial part in helping us to achieve these improvements. It revealed, for example, that some ‘old school’ drivers were not turning on their cruise controls, or using their engine brakes properly – we’ve now been able to address these shortcomings in style and attitudes, and our fuel efficiency has increased as a result.”
To read the press release in full visit www.fleetboard.com or request a copy by emailing nicola.dainter@fleetboard.co.uk
