Ferns cuts fuel costs with TomTom
A surfacing and reinstatement specialist says it has cut carbon emissions and annual fuel costs by £160,000, with the help of fleet management technology from TomTom.
Part of the Ferns Group, Ferns Surfacing undertakes more than 40,000 reinstatement projects annually, on public highways and private land, from minor remedial work to large scale resurfacing.
Now Ferns is using TomTom’s driver behaviour monitoring tools to underpin a performance improvement programme, which has yielded a reported 95 per cent reduction in speeding incidents within the first three months. Other incidents of undesirable driving, such as harsh steering and braking, decreased by 65 per cent, the company says.
Ferns has been deploying the TomTom Active Driver Feedback system, which feeds data back to drivers in real time through their navigation devices to improve their style on the move. These devices, combined with tracking and ecoPlus fuel management units, have been installed across the company’s 100-strong vehicle fleet, ranging from 3.5-tonne tippers to 32-tonne hiabs.
At every depot, Ferns offered a weekly incentive for the driver with the best or most improved performance. The worst performing drivers, meanwhile, have been given one-to-one support and encouragement.
“As well as fuel savings of £160,000 within 12 months, the improvements in driver behaviour have also led to a reduction of £50,000 in our insurance premiums,” said Andy Saunders, contracts director at Ferns Surfacing.
Following the system’s introduction, Ferns has also successfully cut CO2 emissions – a key component of new contract tenders – by 36 per cent, and is able to provide demonstrable proof of the improvements.
Vehicle and driving behaviour data is available for managers in Webfleet, TomTom’s online fleet management software, as a live dashboard or in a customisable report. An OptiDrive indicator combines the fuel efficiency information with speeding, idling and braking data, and scores the driver out of ten in a column stack chart.
In addition, the TomTom system helps ensure vehicle utilisation is optimised and that job delays are kept to a minimum, which helps to avoid large penalties for the company. This is made possible by TomTom’s smart mapping and navigation tools, including live traffic information, to help cut journey times.
