This story first appeared in the July issue of DieselTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
EROAD has helped make inroads into Canterbury University’s fleet management.
Ken McEwen looks after security, emergency management, building access, housing, fleet and event management at the Christchurch university.
Late in 2015 with a fleet of more than 60 cars, light trucks, vans and four-wheel drive vehicles on the road at any given time, McEwen decided to manage the fleet smarter, rather than harder.
EROAD impressed him with its ability to support university staff wherever they were, from working in the field alone to driving large groups of students from place to place or travelling to teach in other cities.
“It was hard to believe that it was going to change behaviour so quickly. But speed dropped, fuel consumption fell and no one moaned. It happened in no time at all,” McEwen says.
EROAD also gave him the tools he needed to help protect the university’s image on the road and pinpoint drivers who might need extra help.
“I get the speed alerts by email, as they are happening, and can have a conversation with a driver as soon as they return the car. I’ve not yet had to have the conversation twice.”
By leveraging the EROAD tools, he established a charging system for the fleet, which has seen a change in the culture towards vehicle use with individual departments now responsible for using vehicles efficiently and more.
“Departments used to assign roughly $6000 per month to car cost allocation. Now it’s around $2500 per month,” McEwen says.
EROAD has also had an enormous impact on fuel costs.
“In the first month of using EROAD, we received 7000 over-speed alerts. We now see fewer than 150 a week and only four or five of these are for sustained periods of time.
“As a result, I saw my fuel cost drop more than $3000 per month, even with increased utilisation and kilometres travelled by the fleet.”
EROAD’s pool car booking system, U Book-It, has also helped the university increase its fleet’s efficiency.
“People used to book out vehicles for days or weeks to make sure that when they needed it, it was there,” McEwen says.
“U Book-It is helping us change this. If someone books a vehicle and it doesn’t arrive, then we can jump on the computer and see how far away it is and provide them with a spare car if needed.”
McEwen estimates better utilisation has allowed him to reduce the size of his fleet by two vehicles, saving the university an estimated $30,000 a year.
“We appreciate the system. It’s very, very usable and was the smoothest IT rollout we’ve had in years. Operationally, there have been no problems for our staff. When we tell them it is going to do something, it does.”
EROAD has also been beneficial in unexpected ways, including assisting with tax requirements, he says.
The year before installing EROAD, the university was audited and time and resources had to be diverted into proving its vehicles were being used in the right way in regards to fringe benefits tax.
“EROAD removed the manual burden associated with fringe benefits tax. We are now able to prove what our vehicles are being used for and by whom,” McEwen says.
“Before, we could never claim insurance on any of our vehicles because we never knew who was driving when small incidents occurred.”
Now vehicles are inspected at the end of every day, with any problems recorded in EROAD’s vehicle inspection tool and the drivers identified through U Book-It for the claim.
EROAD is even shaping the university’s layout – it helped McEwen identify significant vehicle use between departments, resulting in the two units moving closer together.
“We are now better off, financially, operationally and in the community. Our brand, our cars, our people – everything matches.”
