Freeway smartphone app ‘puts fleet control in your pocket’
Maintenance software provider Freeway Fleet Systems has outlined the benefits of its ‘Fleet in your Pocket’ smartphone app, which provides instant access to key operational data held within the Freeway software. The app lets managers use their phones or tablets to assign work, address defects, and prevent bottlenecks that hold up jobs.
For example, where parts orders require management authorisation, the software automatically sends sign-off requests to the appropriate manager based on the order value, allowing requests to be approved or rejected directly from a smartphone.
“A driver reporting a defect, an engineer completing a job card, a supervisor checking workshop progress, or a stores team issuing parts can all record activity digitally as it happens,” explained Freeway.
“Each action strengthens the real-time picture of the fleet: which vehicles are available, which are off road, which defects are outstanding, what work is in progress, which parts are being used and where operational pressure is starting to build.
“That immediacy matters because delayed information weakens management control. A paper defect report is only useful once it has been handed in, interpreted and processed. A job card completed at the end of a shift only tells management what has already happened. Digital capture moves information upstream, giving management the opportunity to respond earlier, allocate resources more effectively and reduce avoidable downtime.
“This is increasingly important as fleets face rising costs, tighter margins, technician shortages and greater compliance demands. Small inefficiencies in labour, parts, vehicle downtime and asset utilisation can become significant when repeated across a fleet. This is where the role of fleet software becomes more important… It is about helping managers see what is happening now, understand what needs attention next and make faster, better-informed decisions across the workshop.
“By connecting workshop activity, asset history, live maintenance data and management oversight in one system, Freeway helps operators strengthen control, reduce avoidable downtime and keep vehicles moving.”
