Case Study - Swanson Transport and Navman Wireless

by Case Studies on 2011-04-13

Company Background
Swanson Transport has operated in west Auckland for over 60 years, providing cartage across the Auckland metropolis. With a fleet of 44 vehicles, a mix of Hiabs, general freight trucks and flat decks, the company’s services range from general freight deliveries such as food and liquor, to construction or infrastructure-related deliveries for engineering companies, timber merchants and power companies.

Customers either use their freight delivery service every day or use the company on an “as needed” basis. In May 2010, Swanson Transport installed the Navman Wireless tracking and messaging system (MDT 860) into 39 trucks.

“Previously I used an earlier model tracking system from another provider. It was linked to an RT and wasn’t reliable enough, “says Managing Director, Jeff Smith. “We knew what we wanted from a system and I did a lot of research before choosing Navman Wireless.”

“The deciding factor was the support that Navman Wireless provides.

We can’t afford to have our system go down. You want to know that the company you’re dealing with, will be there in five or 10 years’ time. Navman Wireless systems have been around, and are tried and proven.”

“The ability to integrate Navman Wireless with our existing transport software system was also an important factor in the decision.”

Savings each week equivalent to one driver’s weekly wage
The company has set up its systems to receive automatic reports every Wednesday.

“These were easy to set up and to receive,” says Jeff. “The timesheet report allows us to audit our drivers’ timesheets. We’ve seen an increase in productivity and greater control of our wage costs. It used to be diffi cult to be precise to the minute. Some drivers were adding 15 minutes here and there in a day. Over a week, this could equate to one person’s wage.”

Swanson Transport has also set up ‘overspeed alerts’, so that when any of their trucks travel over a pre-set threshold, the transport manager receives an email alert. If the report shows a truck with three-to four instances of speeding on a trip, the transport manager addresses this with the driver.

Thousands of dollars in savings from RUC claims
“Before we got Navman Wireless we weren’t claiming back any of our Road User Charges,” says Swanson Transport’s Eric Wood. “It wasn’t worth calculating them manually. But with Navman Wireless every time
our trucks travel off road, it is logged automatically – there’s no refuting the data. Some of our trucks enter customer sites which are hundreds of metres long. The trucks do these trips four to six times a day so, over a six-month period, we’re saving thousands.”

Information communicated quickly to drivers
Using Navman Wireless has reduced the company’s internal phone calls by 50 per cent; and integrating two systems has reduced a huge amount of double-handling of information.

Swanson’s dispatchers staff use the OnlineAVL2 application to monitor the truck’s movements so that the most appropriate truck and, in some cases, the nearest can be sent to the next job. The job details entered into the transport system are then automatically sent via the OnlineAVL2 application to the drivers. The drivers receive these messages on the MDT 860 with the customer details, location and the type of job. The drivers press ‘accept’ to confi rm they are starting the job and afterwards press ‘completed’, which feeds back into the  OnlineAVL2 and transport system.

“Confusion, errors and time delays have been reduced. The drivers now get all the details so they know what to expect on a pick-up – scaffolding, blocks or whatever, and whether they’ll require strops, lifting chains or pallet forks,” says Jeff.

More accurate updates for their customers
Swanson Transport can now give its customers exact details of when trucks leave a site or are due to arrive. It can also immediately let them know if there is a delay because access to their site is blocked.

“We know exactly where our drivers are at all times and when they are returning. For one of our key customers, an automatic email alert from OnlineAVL2 notifi es them when any of our trucks enters their sites. This enables them to accurately record and track the time of such deliveries. This is a value-added service we can now offer.”