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.
