Tarmac achieves a safer, data-driven fleet via Motormax and Geotab’s single-platform solution
Motormax has partnered with Geotab to deliver a cutting-edge fleet safety solution for Tarmac, leading supplier of construction materials, contracting and building services.
The business has nationwide operations encompassing a mixed fleet of over 2,000 vehicles including trucks, vans, pickups and plant equipment.
A single fleet management platform
A key challenge for Tarmac was the need to gain greater visibility and control over its complex fleet operations that span thirteen regions and business units across the UK. Instead of having to use a variety of different portals and platforms, the team required 100% of its fleet and assets to be controlled through a single platform that integrated seamlessly with its existing Motormax multi-camera recording solution.
The business required a telematics system to improve fleet performance, streamline operations, reduce operating costs, and support its net zero targets and EV100 pledge.
Improved fleet safety and efficiency
By integrating Motormax’s multi-camera recording system with Geotab’s GO9 telematics, in just three months, this system has resulted in significant improvements in fuel efficiency, driver safety, and overall fleet performance.
Tarmac has achieved:
- 30% improvement in fuel economy
- 25% reduction in speeding violations
- over 30% reduction in plant vehicle idling
Collaborative problem solving
Motormax has worked with Tarmac since 2017, installing live Digital Video Recorders (DVR) and various camera systems across a range of vehicle types. This existing relationship and the integration of Motormax camera technology with MyGeotab fleet management platform were fundamental reasons why Geotab was selected as its fleet safety and telematics partner.
Tarmac Fleet Risk and Compliance Manager, Jonathan Meddings said “The key benefit of our collaborative project with Geotab and Motormax has been to support our “Work Safe, Home Safe” philosophy, getting our drivers back home every day.”
Installation
A total of 1,849 GO9 telematics devices have been installed so far to vehicles and plant equipment across the UK. Since many assets were located on high-risk work sites or contracted to work 24 hours a day, many installations had to be completed out-of-hours.
Tarmac Head of Category Management & SRM, Lee Green explains, “Given the fragmented geography that Tarmac operates across, often in remote locations, finding a partner that could cope with this and invest the time, effort and flexibility into a successful implementation was essential. Both Geotab and Motormax have worked hard with the Tarmac teams, showing resilience in making the rollout a success.”
Single platform integration
The Motormax camera system seamlessly integrates with the MyGeotab platform via API, leveraging Geotab’s powerful rules engine and reporting tools. When a predefined event is triggered by the Geotab rules engine, transport managers can instantly access and download video footage, providing crucial evidence to support driver behaviour analysis, training, and insurance claims. This integration allows managers to view both telematics data and full AHD-quality camera footage in a single platform, streamlining operations.
Through the MyGeotab fleet management platform, Tarmac now has access to:
- Motormax multi-camera system
- Driver safety scorecard reports
- Drivers licence checking
- Preventative maintenance scheduling programme
- Tachograph remote download solution
- Idling control dashboards
- Standardised reporting
Close collaboration
The account managers from Motormax and Geotab, together with Geotab’s Solutions Engineering department, continue to work closely with Tarmac’s operations team to tailor the fleet management and multi-camera recording solution to businesses evolving needs.
Motormax Corporate Relationship Manager, Mark Leedham said, “We developed a deep understanding of the challenges faced by Tarmac in order to effectively design and develop bespoke solutions to solve specific challenges. Ongoing collaboration is key to ensuring we find solutions to continually improve the safety of Tarmac’s fleet.”
Fleet benefits
Reducing incident costs
The team sees that the integrated camera and telematics solution will help to improve its incident management procedures, reducing incident costs and reputational risk therefore lowering insurance premiums.
Reduction in incident rates
With Motormax and Geotab’s integrated single platform solution, Tarmac has access to connected safety, sustainability and driver responsibility insights that create a safer, more efficient, data-driven fleet. Now that managers are using these insights to monitor and train drivers on their safety performance, they are confident that this will reduce their collision rate.
Improving driver behaviour
The camera footage and driver safety scorecard reports enable managers to recognise and reward the best-performing drivers, and to coach others to improve performance with actions raised against them when necessary in the standard Tarmac H&S system.
Tarmac Category Manager FM&E UK & Ireland, Kirsten Kobrin explains, “The integrated video telematics solution from Motormax and Geotab has helped us to ensure that managers have guidance to follow when it comes to addressing poor driver behaviour, so that they can have fruitful conversations and provide necessary training.”
Geofencing for fleet optimisation
The operations team has created geofences around manufacturers’ dealerships, with notifications set up when a vehicle hasn’t moved for more than 48 hours. This alerts managers if a vehicle is off the road and the garage isn’t dealing with it, improving fleet utilisation rates. Geofences are also utilised in clean air zones (CAZ), notifying the van administration team of the vans that have entered these zones so payments can be made and fines avoided.
Automated, tailored reports
The project team from Geotab, Motormax and Tarmac unified the rule sets and reporting requirements across Tarmac’s three divisions so that standardised safety reports could be created from MyGeotab. These reports have proven valuable in gaining senior management buy-in and support. The suite of automated, tailored reports delivers meaningful data to different departments. This enables fleet managers to work more efficiently and take appropriate action to continually improve fleet safety and driver behaviour.
Efficient reporting
Geotab provided Tarmac with access to its Data Connector to simplify and automate the reporting process for the Fleet Risk & Compliance Manager, automatically feeding this data directly into Tarmac’s existing business intelligence (BI) tools. This saves several hours a week that were previously spent creating the high-level reports required by the board.
Safety scorecard
The fleet safety scorecard indicators including harsh braking, cornering and acceleration initially increased significantly compared to the incumbent system, due to Geotab’s increased accuracy of measurement. Now that Tarmac has a clearer oversight into these safety metrics, they can start to be controlled and reduced.
Driver ID system
Safety and compliance events are now accurately assigned to the driver rather than the vehicle, thanks to the implementation of a driver ID system with fobs. This is critical to Tarmac’s H&S and compliance programme and has also tackled the issue of unauthorised drivers operating vehicles.
Tarmac Fleet Risk & Compliance Manager, Jonathan Meddings commented, “One of the big benefits is to have the driver ID system, which helps us to swiftly identify which driver was driving the vehicle at the time of a speeding violation or an incident.”
Reduction in idling
Through MyGeotab’s idling reporting, Tarmac now has true visibility of the idling rate and time of each vehicle in both their static and mobile fleet vehicles. This resulted in a reduction in plant equipment idling of over 30% within just 3 months. This reduction in idling has improved overall fuel efficiency, reduced fuel-related costs and reduced unnecessary engine usage, vital since the vehicles undergo regular 500-hour maintenance schedules.
Future cost savings and efficiencies
Moving forwards, Tarmac’s focus will be on improving vehicle utilisation ensuring that all vehicles are being used to their full potential and aren’t parked up for multiple days. By improving utilisation, there may be potential to downsize the fleet when the data shows that fewer vehicles are required, providing significant cost savings.
Sustainability
Geotab will work with Tarmac on its goal of reducing absolute carbon emissions. Tarmac is a signatory of EV100, pledging to transition 100% of its fleet to electric by 2030. Geotab’s electric vehicle suitability assessment (EVSA) will provide real-world financial, environmental and range data to assist them with this decision making process.
AI Technology
Tarmac is conducting a pilot of AI video technology that combines Motormax fleet safety solutions with Geotab’s platform. Tarmac Head of Category Management & SRM, Lee Green said, “Tarmac’s trial of Motormax and Geotab’s AI beta video technology shows an extension of our existing collaboration into other innovations, and that will improve our safety performance in quarries, construction sites and road sites.”
Due to the success of this project, Motormax, in partnership with Geotab, are now preferred suppliers to CRH Group.
Read the following press releases and articles highlighting the impact of the Geotab and Motormax partnership with Tarmac:
Tarmac boosts fleet fuel economy 30% with Geotab and Motormax tech – Van Fleet World
Tarmac improves fuel economy of 2,000-strong fleet by 30% – Fleet News
The role for today’s fleet management partners amid myriad market challenges – Fleet World