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(FTA) Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme, and Silver status members of the Transport for London Freight Operator’s Recognition Scheme (FORS), all of which reinforces our commitment to minimising our impact on the environment in which we operate.


With Branch Management trained on how to interpret the data and compare it against their baseline, we’ve been able to encourage drivers to strive for further improvements. Daily updates have been integrated into existing communication channels, allowing branches to engage with the driver to check how they’re doing that day and, in the process, discuss the latest data on their driving and the impact it’s having. This activity has promoted a cultural mind-shift in relation to safe and fuel efficient driving, something that ultimately we anticipate will be automatically adopted by the driver without having to consciously think about it.


Of course it’s been vital to engage with our staff and their representatives, the GMB, from the very start with this project, and they have been very supportive throughout. We’re talking about something that will directly affect each and every driver, so their support and understanding of our objectives is essential. We are lucky enough to have a very positive working relationship with the GMB and this has had a vital part to play in the success of the project


You’d think that with an international fleet there would be regional differences that were thrown up during the implementation process but surprisingly this hasn’t been the case and the countries outside of the UK who have implemented so far have also seen success and reaped the benefits. The real challenge has been the sheer scale of the operation itself and the physical logistics of fitting the technology to our existing fleet. Planning is the key and when you have over 2,000 vehicles and multiple vehicle types in the UK alone you can see why this kind of project can be a complex beast. We insisted that each vehicle type had a template for fitting, cleared by our Vehicle Design Manager and careful calibration of the variants to ensure we could standardise the measurements across the fleet. There’s no point


providing a baseline and weekly measurements of improvement if we don’t start with a level playing field and consistent method of measurement.


Another challenge has been the volume of employees requiring training for this project. So far some 2,000 drivers and managers have completed the necessary training and our goal is to complete this process by August this year. In total that will be over 3,000 employees trained on the use and interpretation of the data that Telematics provides.


So what’s the future for Fleet Management? The mantra within this discipline will always be to tightly ‘control the controllables’. Simple good housekeeping can in itself make a big difference and this makes sense in an environment of ever escalating fuel costs in a very volatile marketplace. By its very nature fleet management runs a very lean ship and, as a consequence, is very unforgiving of anything that impacts on costs or efficiency rates. I’m constantly looking to drive efficiency through securing best price, best value and best service – not an easy juggling act on occasion. Of course in this mix is the complexity of the Legislative requirements on emissions. The absence of one standard environmental measurement in the UK means that any company with a significant reliance on logistics has to concentrate its efforts on regional zones with the strictest legislative requirements.


The ‘big ticket’ solutions for future fuels are really still in their infancy in terms of R&D. We’re looking at a good 5-10 years before new fuel alternatives like hydrogen and fuel cell technology become viable, if that. There really isn’t one single solution for a mixed operational fleet, especially when you consider costs and weight impact of the available solutions, all of which need to be bourn by the operator in a difficult economic climate without impacting competitiveness. So the pressing question is, what can we do that’s


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