MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
The latest satellite tracking technology is helping Nottinghamshire County Council to keep a 24 hour watch over its vehicles, plant and personnel in the field. The personal ‘resource management’ system from Masternaut Three X gives the Council a global real-time view of its fleet, plant and mobile staff, enabling it to enhance customer service levels, improve safety and reduce costs.
The new fully-integrated system utilises Masternaut’s renowned vehicle tracking, Lokate lone-worker personal communication and discrete Asset Track plant security devices.
By using the system, Nottinghamshire tracks over 200 vehicles, including gritters, gully cleansing equipment, vans, trucks and Lorries; ensures that lone workers are safe during site visits; and monitors mobile plant such as diggers, tractor mowers, wood shredders and ride on mowers.
"This is a powerful and comprehensive solution. It gives us a bird’s eye view of our resources and monitors activities in real time as well as provides historical records for every vehicle and piece of plant, helping to boost our efficiency levels and deliver service improvements to our customers. It also provides two-way communication for lone workers so that managers can keep in touch with staff whenever they are out on site," says Mick Monaghan, Projects Manager, Highway Operations, Nottinghamshire County Council.
The Council is already seeing benefits from the system, including the reduction of hired-vehicles from the fleet because Masternaut enables the Highway Operations team to quickly locate unused vehicles and allocate them to jobs. It has increased the efficient use and routing of vehicles which has provided a fuel saving.
"We quickly reduced our use of hired vehicles, saving us substantial operational costs while at the same time ensuring we make full use of the vehicles we own," says Mick Monaghan. "In addition, because we can see where, when and who is using the vehicles we have prevented unauthorised journeys and also improved route management. By using the system we have saved 1500 litres of fuel," he adds.
