Priority Patient Transport

20 vehicles making 15,000 trips per year

The Company

20 vehicles making 15,000 trips per year

Priority Patient Transport, headquartered in Harrisonburg, Virginia, provides patient transport services – from emergencies, to regularly scheduled transports, to transfers from one healthcare facility to another. The company’s vehicles travel throughout Virginia, and in some cases, across the East Coast. The company has three offices and more than 50 employees in the field, driving 20 vehicles, transporting over 15,000 patients each year.

The Challenge

Managing a complex dispatch process

Because Priority Patient Transport provides a mix of scheduled and emergency services, planning and dispatch can be complicated. In addition to managing the general logistics involved in transporting patients for previously scheduled trips, dispatchers must also balance ever-changing schedules and emergency transports that arise.

Steve Higgins, executive vice president at Priority Patient Transport, knew he needed a better system for dispatch – and a way to gain more visibility into where his vehicles were and what they were doing.

Dispatch can be challenging for us. We needed a system that could accommodate both repeat trips and real-time scheduling, explains Higgins. And once our vehicles were on the road, we really needed to be able to track them in real-time. What we really wanted was a solution where dispatch and telematics could work together.

The Solution

Efficiency and visibility

Medical transportation brings with it specific challenges – both the healthcare facilities and the patients’ families want to be sure the transport is handled on-time, and in the quickest and smoothest fashion. Priority Patient Transport turned to technology from MedaPoint. MedaPoint integrated their EMS dispatching solution, AdvanceDispatch, with Webfleet to ensure that they work seamlessly together.

The integration enables us to view real-time vehicle location on our dispatch screen and send orders directly to the vehicle. Once drivers are on their way, we can see exactly where they are, how they are driving and when they will arrive, said Higgins. The integration eliminated all the calls that were coming into our dispatchers from drivers, and gave us peace of mind knowing where all of our vehicles were at any given time. Now we can always give accurate ETAs and communicate effectively with our drivers and customers.

Prior to implementing AdvanceDispatch and Webfleet, dispatchers communicated with drivers mainly by phone. This resulted in a lots of time spent talking to drivers, and necessitated additional staff. Now, with integrated technology in place, dispatchers can handle three times as many calls.

During our early days, we used one full time and one part time dispatcher in the office to handle volumes of about 5,000 calls per year, said Higgins. Now, we use the same staff to handle more than 15,000 per year. Eliminating all of those phone calls has had an enormous impact.

Hospitals and health centers want to work with an ambulance company that is at the top of their game, continued Higgins. Facilities like working with us because we’re able to give extremely accurate ETAs, know just where our crews are, and send vehicles where they need to be quickly.

Higgins also reports that being able to track the vehicles – and integrate that information with dispatch – keeps the crews honest. People don’t like to talk about it, but this is a business with unsupervised time. We want to be sure that drivers are doing what they are supposed to be doing with our vehicles. This is critically important for a medical service where time can be of the essence.

Finally, greater visibility has resulted in critical, life-saving capabilities. On a recent trip, transporting a transplant patient from UVA to Pittsburgh, the patient went into septic shock on the road, explained Higgins. With the crew working to save the patient, dispatch was able to find the nearest hospital and divert the ambulance there, getting the patient the help he needed in time.

Overall, Higgins believes that MedaPoint’s integration with Webfleet has had a lasting, and measurable impact on his business. In this business, performance is non-negotiable. With all the information we need, at our fingertips, we’ve decreased costs and increased peace-of-mind for us, our drivers, our customers and the patients. We couldn’t ask for more than that.

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Elis UK Ltd

The Company

Elis works with thousands of organisations across Europe, providing a range of textile rental and laundry services covering everything from clothing and chefware, to bed and bath linen and hygiene equipment. The company strives to promote excellence through continuous improvement.

The Challenge

On a daily basis, the company’s fleet of 480 HGVs and 270 LCVs make around 5,000 deliveries to UK restaurants, hotels, hospitals and manufacturers.

Elis was looking to make improvements in both driver safety and fleet sustainability, and wanted to do so with one integrated solution. With different telematics systems employed across different business divisions, the company lacked central control over its fleet operations and had no way of reporting ROI.

The Solution

The Webfleet fleet management platform from Webfleet has combined all the functionality Elis needs – telematics, cameras, mileage auditing, fleet data reporting and transport management – on a single interface.

The company now has one accurate, real time version of the truth across its fleet, and a complete risk management audit trail.

Driving behaviour insights

Using OptiDrive 360, a key feature of the Webfleet system, Elis initiated a driver improvement programme. OptiDrive 360 provides drivers with real-time feedback and coaching, notifying them when they are driving inefficiently or unsafely via their driver terminals and scoring them based on their performance.

Each depot is incentivised to improve their driver scores and we've seen some dramatic results, said Peter Kelly, Group Compliance and Fleet Manager, Elis. Incidences of inefficient or unsafe driving have been cut by 58 per cent, vehicle idling by 76 per cent and we've virtually eradicated speeding.

Furthermore, we’ve successfully reduced overall fleet mileage by 24 per cent. Combined with wider business initiatives, these improvements have helped us cut carbon emissions by more than 2,000 tonnes and achieve fuel cost savings of £1.8 million.

A digital eye on the road

Three-sixty-degree footage from ICanProve.IT on-board cameras can now be viewed directly from Webfleet. The footage allows the company to address the root causes of performance issues with individual drivers, and also provides irrefutable evidence to safeguard them in the case of non-fault incidents.

Driving events are automatically categorised by level of severity. Crashes or events above ‘level 3.5’ result in automatic alerts being emailed to Elis’s Logistics Manager, who can click through to witness what is happening in real time. Automated downloads of before and after footage can also be reviewed, with Elis’s claims representatives able to access these within minutes.

If events occur as a result of evasive action, taken to avoid accidents, camera footage will support the drivers. In other cases, advice or training may be offered, or disciplinary action taken, to help improve driving performance.

Where accidents have occurred, the cameras have helped prove liability said Peter Kelly. We use to pay out on 80 per cent of accidents, we now only pay out on 20 per cent, saving us £1.2 million in insurance claims handling costs.

Rear mounted cameras are also being used to ensure goods are loaded and unloaded correctly, with footage of mistakes incorporated in training videos to improve safety standards.

With Webfleet we’re futureproofed, added Peter Kelly. The solution is one of the best investments we've ever made - the figures speak for themselves. It's a total win-win – for us, our drivers, our insurers and the environment.

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Strata Logistics Ltd.

The Company

Strata Logistics is a growing independent haulier covering the whole of the UK with a focus on the North West and East of England as well as Central and Greater London. With 12 HGVs, its fleet provides distribution services for a variety of sectors, including blue chip organisations such as Yodel, Hermes, ASDA and Tarmac.

The Challenge

As a new logistics business, scaling-up initially called for extensive outsourcing. But to grow to the next phase of maturity, the company needed to bring its administration processes in-house.

Strata identified that a lack of visibility over driver’s hours, working time on site and live tachograph compliance was making the management of workflow difficult. Work scheduling was also becoming cumbersome, with a reliance on using spreadsheets.

In addition, to continue eligibility for key contracts, Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) accreditation was needed.

The Solution

Following an extensive market review, the company specified a fully digital, single interface, fleet management solution, underpinned by Webfleet.

The cloud-based fleet management platform from Webfleet was integrated with TDi Software’s TransMaS traffic management system and disc-check tachograph analysis software, along with connected cameras from VisionTrack.

The combined solution is now helping Strata to achieve high levels of automation-led fleet efficiency – getting the right data to the right people at the right time.

A shot in the arm for productivity

A number of separate operational tools had been previously employed to administer, schedule and dispatch deliveries, communicate with drivers and manage and record job information.

The company has simplified how these processes are carried out, eliminating duplication of effort and streamlining its workflow management by using one single, integrated, software interface. Jobs can now be scheduled dynamically, with daily job itineraries sent to drivers via Webfleet’ PRO 8 Series ruggedized terminals. As jobs are accepted by Strata’s drivers, the system automatically provides truck-specific navigation instructions and accurate ETAs, meaning customers can be notified when their deliveries are due to arrive. Drivers can also capture customer signatures electronically on their driver terminals, with proof and time of delivery immediately relayed to the back office.

We had previously relied heavily on manual planning, but the introduction of the integrated Webfleet and TransMaS solution has been revolutionary, said Paul White, Owner, Strata Logistics. We have seen fantastic gains in productivity and now have full visibility over our entire operation without the need to distract a driver from his duty needlessly.

Asset tracking

Strata Logistics’ vehicles and trailers are usually parked off-site, which had previously required drivers having to manually report back to management on their status.

Using Webfleet’s Asset Tracking functionality, managers can now see their precise location at the touch of a button, and receive alerts whenever they’re in use to help improve security. At the same time, TransMaS will inform them whether the trailers are loaded or empty, helping improve job planning and allocation.

Improved visibility, enhanced safety and fuel cost savings

The new system is also helping to improve driver behaviour, encouraging Strata drivers to be greener and safer behind the wheel. Webfleet’s integral OptiDrive 360 functionality highlights dangerous or inefficient driving, profiling drivers based on incidents such as harsh braking, sharp cornering or speeding. All the while, VisionTrack’s connected cameras provide associated video evidence for each and every event.

This supporting footage helps paint a complete picture of where intervention, such as driver training, may be required. It also offers surety in the event of vehicle collisions or insurance claims. It is still early days but we have already started to benefit from significant fuel savings, said White.

Average fuel consumption has improved by around 12 per cent, helped in no small part by a 75 per cent reduction in speeding and a 50 per cent drop in vehicle idling incidents.

We also expect our maintenance spend to fall as we experience less wear and tear on vehicle components, such as tyres and brakes.

In a bid to incentivise further performance improvements, Strata has now produced a reward scheme, linked to drivers’ monthly OptiDrive scores. Automated weekly performance reports are shared with all drivers adding a competitive element.

In recognition of improved operational practices and enhanced standards of driver and vehicle safety, Strata has achieved FORS bronze accreditation and is now well on the way to silver certification.

Compliance commitments

To help protect the safety of vulnerable road users, the connected forward and side-facing vehicle cameras have been supplemented with side sensors and left-turn warning alarms. These measures ensure compliance with the Transport for London (TfL) Direct Vision Standard, in force from October 2020.

An app on the PRO terminals is being used by Strata’s drivers, meanwhile, to perform their vehicle safety checks. Before they set off each morning, they will digitally confirm the safety of key functions, such as tyres, exhausts and brake lights – uploading supporting photographic evidence where required.

The combination of Webfleet TachoShare with TDi’s disc-check is also making life easier for Strata to remain compliant with tachograph regulations.

TachoShare has taken responsibility away from the company’s drivers by automating the remote download of driver card and vehicle unit data, saving them time through reduced administration. Disc-check then simplifies back office tachograph analysis and reporting, helping to monitor and reduce the likelihood of future infringements.

Furthermore, Strata management has achieved greater control over working hours and shift patterns, with fewer cases of drivers staying out overnight, thanks to access real time reports for remaining driving time.

The office now receives automated alerts when drivers are due to take breaks, when shifts are due to end and, significantly, when compliance policy has not been followed.

Strata Logistics’ investment in the fleet management solution was supported by TDi Software, an official Webfleet partner.

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