Caledonian Logistics

Caledonian Logistics have carved a niche in the logistics industry, specialising in the movement of palletised goods.

Industry: Logistics

Based in:

Kintore, Aberdeenshire, U.K.

Fleet Size

80

Fleet Focus

Driver Behaviour, Productivity

Types of Vehicles:

Heavy Goods Vehicles (mixture of Artic and Rigid trucks, and 3500kg curtain siders and flats)

“I thought my biggest battle would be with the collections office and the routing office, because people don’t like change and they’re used to using the old system. But they just embraced it. They thought it was brilliant from day one.”

Gary Hughes,
Fleet Maintenance Manager, Caledonian Logistics

The Challenge: Finding a reliable telematics partner

Before Geotab, Caledonian Logistics had implemented a different telematics solution, but it was not performing as expected. Unfortunately, the legacy system was expensive, clunky to use, and hardwired into the vehicles by the supplier, which resulted in high installation and removal costs. As the lengthy five-year contract came to an end, Fleet Maintenance Manager Gary Hughes decided it was time for a change.

Caledonian Logistics needed a cost-effective and user-friendly telematics solution to keep track of where the company’s vehicles were throughout Great Britain, and allow route and load planners to communicate arrival times to customers.

More visibility into driver behaviour, increased accountability and stopped fuel theft.

The Solution: Convenient

Geotab fit the needs of Caledonian Logistics on several points. The first benefit was the more reasonable 12-month contract. Second, the easier installation process. Third, the ease of use.

“It was an easy install for us,” observes Gary. The design of the device and simple installation process added reassurance as well. If there were ever an issue with a device, a new one could be plugged in quickly and easily, without great expense or needing to wait on a technician.

Caledonian Logistics currently uses MyGeotab to monitor driver behaviour. He says he finds the driver dashboard to be a significant improvement over that of the previous system.

Gary checks his MyGeotab fleet dashboard weekly. “If there are any alerts to say that we’ve got a group of drivers or a driver that there’s an issue with their driving behaviour, then we’ll look at them more closely,” he says. “I can give you a League table of drivers at the touch of a button. And for me that’s brilliant. And it also gives us a dashboard that shows you immediately if you’ve got any red drivers, which means somebody you need to have a word with sooner rather than later.”

The Results: Enhancing accountability

Back office staff and drivers alike embraced Geotab, which is not always the case when introducing a new system. “They thought it was brilliant from day one,” says Gary. “There was zero resistance, which made my job a lot easier,” Gary says.

With the focus on monitoring driver behaviour, Caledonian Logistics has been able to make its drivers fully accountable for their actions. As an example, Gary was able to use the Geotab solution to identify and catch an employee who was stealing fuel.

“Geotab helped me pinpoint when and how they were doing it. So it made any investigation a lot shorter,” he recounts. “We were looking at the diagnostics [and discovered] he wasn’t taking fuel out of the vehicle. So that meant that the only place that he could be doing it is when he was filling up with fuel.

Next steps: Fleet system integration and compliance management

In the future, Gary is planning on expanding monitoring to include the vehicles. “Our Geotab Reseller is working closely with our maintenance software and planning software providers to get an interface between the two,” he says. By integrating other business systems with telematics, Gary will be able to get an alert through the TruckfileTM system when there is an issue with a vehicle. He can also schedule a repair with the next inspection.