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“We are making savings of $520 everyday across the fleet due to less idling, more efficient routing and timelier vehicle maintenance."

Benefits of Navman Wireless

• Savings of $124,000 per year across the fleet
• Increased driver safety
• Improved customer service and satisfaction
• More efficient scheduling and delivery  

 

Coopers is the last remaining family-owned brewery of stature in Australia and applies family values to everything they do - beer production, their employees and their consumers. Therefore,the safety of their truck drivers is paramount when delivering product to customers. To ensure that the quality ale and stout deliveries reach their destinations safely and effïciently, Coopers installed Navman Wireless Tracking, Messaging and Panic Buttons in 13 vehicles.

Ralph Ruggiero, Coopers' Distribution/Warehousing & Site Service Manager, has been with the company for 36 years. For 20 of those years he was a truck driver so he knew what he needed a tracking and messaging system to do. He says, "We chose Navman Wireless over any other system because Navman Wireless has more features and reports and ït meets our needs better. Plus, the Dealer offered good suggestions and was more constructive than others we spoke to."

Saving of $520 per day/$124,000 per year

Before installing Navman Wireless, Mr Ruggiero says that they had a meeting with staff and explained why they were putting in the system - to increase the drivers' safety and to improve customer service. The drivers understood and accepted the system - there was no backlash because they realised it was for the good of everyone.

Mr Ruggiero, an assistant manager and a team leader use Navman Wireless to dispatch jobs, track trucks and run reports. They began using the speed and idle reports right away and they use customer sites for all the sites they deliver to.

"We started seeing savings from the system within a month, once drivers changed their driving behaviour. For example, before we had the idling report, we had no idea that many drivers weren't turning the ignition off when they stopped. Now we see it immediately and can remind them to turn their trucks off. This has been big for our fuel and vehicle maintenance savings," states Mr Ruggiero.

He continues, "By creating more effïcient routes, each driver is on the road for around one less hour a day. That saving in driver wages, added to fuel savings, equates to overall savings of about $40 per truck, per day, that's about $124,000 per year across a 20 working day month."

Increased Driver Safety

As safety is so important and the trucks are carrying valuable goods, each Coopers driver has a panic button that when pressed, sends an alert to the OnlineAVL2. These buttons have only been used twice - first when a driver felt unsafe with a member of the public and another time when a driver was at a customer's site. In this second case, Mr Ruggiero was able to call the customer, discuss the matter and resolve the situation.

Another feature of Navman Wireless is driver ID. Mr Ruggiero says, "We use the driver ID functionality since more than one driver will drive a truck. Driver ID lets us run reports so we know exactly who was driving which truck at which time - even if it was six months ago."

Improved Customer Service

Because the Navman Wireless OnlineAVL2 gives Coopers a view of their entire delivery area and each truck, they've been able to streamline routes and improve delivery time. If a customer calls, someone just has to look at the screen to tell the customer where their delivery is. "We do get calls, especially if a customer runs out of beer. We can let them know if the driver is two blocks away or a half hour away," says Mr Ruggiero.

"We also specify each delivery location using the customer sites feature. When a truck enters a customer site, the visit is noted in the system so we have proof of delivery."

Smarter Vehicle Maintenance Scheduling

The Coopers team uses the Navman Wireless Vehicle Maintenance feature for smarter maintenance scheduling. Mr Ruggiero explains, "The vehicle maintenance feature counts down the date to service and alerts us when a truck's servicing is due. We've saved money because little issues are now it's fixed on time before they become a problem."