Truckfile systems help managers work smarter
For busy workshop managers, the keys to a hassle-free life are efficiency and simplicity, contends fleet software solutions provider Truckfile: the goal is to ease jobs through as smoothly and quickly as possible – while ensuring that the crucial recording and reporting is fully up-to-date.
This task can be made far easier by selecting the right tools, says Truckfile, adding that its fully integrated IT system provides everything required by own-account, independent or franchised service departments of all sizes, in a single box.
Truckfile is the brainchild of Magic Internet Technologies. Based in Redditch, Worcestershire, the company was formed in 2006 to create a fleet and workshop management system for the commercial vehicle and transport sectors.
Following the launch of its Electronic Inspection System – later rebranded as Truckfile – it has worked closely with customers across the UK and Europe to develop a package of solutions, any combination of which can be dovetailed together and then adapted to provide a bespoke package.
A typical truck, van or bus operator, for example, might want to use the twin prongs of a maintenance recording system and vehicle telematics, the firm suggests – ideally from the same supplier – to help keep tabs on all statutory records and ensure its fleet is always compliant.
Support from experts at a supplier like Truckfile can help businesses step up to a more proactive approach, the company says; rather than just waiting for things to go wrong, the data recorded can be used to build a predictive maintenance schedule across an entire fleet – tackling issues before they arise, with the obvious benefit of a potentially significant reduction in downtime.
Fleet managers facing calls on their time and attention from several sides at once can benefit from Truckfile’s ability to filter the data it captures; the system can be set to flag up only ‘exceptions’, where there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Truckfile says it is continually working to refine and extend its systems’ capabilities.
“The wealth of information that today’s trucks are capable of giving us is huge – a modern vehicle can easily generate four gigabytes of data per day,” said managing director Paul Clarke.
“All that has to be stored somewhere but it also has to be boiled down into something simple that offers a clear benefit. Truckfile is already the ‘digital filing cabinet’ of choice for the industry to provide just this service.”
A further benefit highlighted by the company is its provision for DVSA’s Earned Recognition initiative. As a validated IT systems provider for the scheme, it claims to offer both ease-of-use and adaptability. Functions as diverse as scheduling, document management, legal compliance, cost control and KPI reporting, can all be collected and stored on a single system.
Technicians can be allocated jobs electronically, and then use handheld tablet devices to record everything they do, taking and attaching photographs where necessary. Drivers, meanwhile, may use the Truckfile App to perform and record their daily walkaround checks. Any issues discovered are immediately escalated through the system and dealt with accordingly.
Managers are able to view details for each vehicle on-screen, alongside workshop inspection sheets. Full visibility over a whole workshop or fleet operation is readily available, obviating the need to go searching in different locations for documents when they can be accessed on the desktop or remotely, via tablet device.
For independent or franchised service departments, likewise, Truckfile maintains and stores records for all customer vehicles. Like their counterparts in own-account workshops, technicians use rugged hand-held tablets to carry out inspections. Any defects can be recorded, with photographs attached, taken on cameras integrated into the tablets. Inspections sheets are stored automatically and available for reference by both the workshop team and the customer.
Large, multi-site service providers can easily process tens of thousands of vehicles per year, points out Truckfile, often working around the clock. This means managers rely on an informative yet simple way of keeping track of what’s happening at all sites, across every shift. Its system provides that overview, but also the ability to quickly drill down into any aspect of a customer or vehicle’s records.
For many fleets and workshops, paper recording has been a thing of the past for some time now. But Truckfile’s latest development, Truckfile Voice, takes technology a step further by using spoken words, instead of paper or keyboard, to record all updates.
Truckfile Voice allows workshop staff to record inspection and repair jobs using a series of ‘hands-free, eyes-free’ spoken commands. Technicians wear a light, comfortable headset which incorporates a microphone – and simply say what they see as the job proceeds.
The equipment then logs their responses. Details are saved and records updated automatically, with no extra time required for inputting.
Truckfile Voice is able to speed up the process by an average of 20 per cent, the company claims; for instance, if a technician could previously complete four inspections per shift, the system will allow them potentially to manage five in the same time. A pilot scheme to test the system in a real-life setting is about to get underway, with full roll-out to follow soon after.
With well over 200,000 individual vehicle records stored for more than 24,000 users, Truckfile is accessible from any internet-connected device, with no need for additional investment in servers or extra hardware. All documents are available around the clock and are securely protected against loss or damage.
