United Biscuits (‘UB’), a manufacturer of biscuits and snacks, has equipped its trailer fleet with a new satellite location service that provides live tracking via the internet.
UB reports that it anticipates savings of £100,000 a year through better use of its fleet. Masternaut’s self-contained trailer units provide GPS tracking and GPRS communications to give UB a live picture of their distribution operation in progress.
UB has fitted 175 trailers with the tracker and a further 22 tractor units and three vans have been equipped with the standard Masternaut telematics. In addition, UB’s drivers have their own electronic ID keys, giving controllers automatic verification of the driver. UB also relies heavily on contractor vehicles and drivers and the trailer units are powered and activated on coupling so that all loads are tracked.
The makers of brands such as McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes, Hula Hoops and Jacob’s Crackers, UB deliver 70,000 loads a year to around 3500 sites nationwide. Masternaut’s web service logs information on each vehicle or trailer activity minute-by-minute, highlighting events such as waiting times, inactivity, delays and route deviations.
What they say
"Masternaut gives us complete visibility of the entire in-progress transport operation. We know where everyone is all of the time and this makes it much easier to plan dynamically; adjusting schedules and routes as required. Since we rely on contractors, the trailer tracker is perfect for us as it is the whereabouts and progress of the load that is important and this system works whoever is pulling the trailer," says Rob Wright, National Distribution Controller for UB.
"We have worked out that the ongoing cost of Masternaut will be easily outweighed by the anticipated cost reductions and the net saving is expected to be £100,000 a year. We have yet to factor-in additional benefits such as better customer service and improved contractor productivity, but with the added visibility and control that the service provides, we can foresee a number of other benefits that will lead to financial gains,” adds Rob Wright.
