New Zealand’s telematics industry is a hotbed of innovation, attracting an international reputation as the technology leader for on-board telematic systems – which are transforming the way transport and fleet operators operate their businesses.
This cluster of forward thinking kiwi technology companies includes International Telematics , TR Telematics, Smartrak and Navman Wireless who are relentlessly driving forward the technology that provides vital vehicle data to fleet operators in real-time.
While the immediate focus for the transport/fleet industry is often around fuel savings, these advanced systems do far more than tell you where the next job is and how to get there, or that your driver on the Hamilton run has a heavy right foot.
Many of the New Zealand companies leading the technology charge are operating highly successfully in huge overseas markets, such as Penrose-based International Telematics, which has a strong and growing US and Australian-based operation.
Dean Marris, general manager and founder of International Telematics describes the company’s approach: “We went about things differently to others, not viewing it as just dots-on-map, or sending data to a server.
“We load all the intelligence on to the device, so as a business grows, you can add things like driver behaviour, idling and engine management data.
“What you also need to be able to do is compare key channels, things like RPM vs fuel usage vs gear selection and throttle position, rather than provide massive amounts of data to servers to compute. The iBright will tell you ‘this is where we are sitting’.
“That’s the architecture and it’s allowed us to go into different verticals by interfacing with certain protocols, an example of that refrigeration units, or reefers, which are a big part of our US business.
“Customers there need to be sure of the exact temperature of their stock, and need to see this across the course of a trucks journey. We’ve helped logistics companies win contracts based on this one feature alone, and it can be used for so much more.
“You can interface with all manner of things, if you have the protocol on board, and we have the most of any device in the world, with 48 different protocols.
“The next era of technology will be tied into the operator rating system, individual driver accountability with performance profiles, and pay-scale incentives. Our job will be to provide the technology base to help operators comply as well as they possibly can.”
Toll New Zealand run ITL’s iBright eRUC in their fleet, and James Smith, Toll’s national transport manager believes the iBright eRUC’s simplicity along with a policy of having a black box device in all Toll truck’s made this decision a simple one.
“We liked the fact ITL has replicated the eRUC license as it looks today in paper form for our drivers and CVIU to easily recognise what is on the eRUC label. It obviously also has the certified distance recorded on the screen as well. We have a company policy of all trucks to have a black box recorder as part of our safety policy”. says Smith
“This compliments our need for customer focused information on traceability of the freight, the asset use and location data for productivity and of course the driver behaviour and driver management information all integrated drives the value”.
Systems built to meet customers needs
Based in the picturesque Waikato Innovation Park, surrounded predominantly by high tech agri-research departments, Smartrak is part of this technology wave. A Deloitte Fast 50 company, it is strong in Australia and set for further expansion, along with key players such as International Telematics Ltd.
Special projects manager, Chris Yu, showed DIESELTalk their system in action. With household name customers, Smartrak look after the tracking of thousands of vehicle and static assets. Yu demonstrated a brief snapshot of Transfield Services, which provide installation work for Telecom and Vodafone.
With around 1000 vehicles tracked, they require information such as: how many jobs are there to do? Where are the driver/installers? What assets (equipment) do they have on board?
The screen shows on a national level where the vehicles are, and it’s possible to zoom down to street level to acquire comprehensive job, vehicle, driver scheduling and location information.
Transfield’s Christchurch call centre can see this information in real time and see exactly what is where and what’s scheduled to do. Job instructions can be sent from call centre to driver – this is a communications system as well as a GPS tracking system.
Smartrak’s systems are intuitively built – users can create reports across a huge range of parameters including driver behaviour, speed, idle time and, really, the list goes on. It is possible to burrow down to acquire a lot of information across the fleet and assets. Smartrak provide pre-built analysis tools that allow users to create myriad reports and will also build customised reports to provide the precise solution the customer needs.
For Transfield, the requirement is around job information – so the system is job centric. For another business, focus may be on reducing emissions, so a system is built to provide a solution to meet that requirement.
Looking at a report, it’s easy to see which vehicles are being used and which are not. Zoom in, analyse further, and it’s possible to see that usage information over a far greater time range to reveal the useful business assets – is that vehicle being used enough?.
The system requirements are…. an internet connection and web browser. Whether you’re a national carrier or business owner/manager, the information is online in real-time. It can be viewed on an iPad or smart phone. It’s cloud computing – there is no localised software.
Everything Smartrak does is smart, but it’s basic also – while the information is deep the delivery channel is simple HTML and Java based, viewable with a log-in.
Smartrak’s ethos is built on providing intuitive, simple, customised solutions for transport and asset management. Smartrak build a system to meet a customer need.
The Smartrak visit highlighted how fortunate New Zealand’s transport industry is to have this locally-based new technology wave on hand. Companies like Smartrak, International Telematics, TR Telematics and Navman Wireless are all well ahead of their game, providing NZ’s transport industry with comprehensive and world-class fleet solutions.
TR Group, Navman Wireless and EROAD
TR Group approached telematics as one of New Zealand’s most experienced transport operators, managing over 3000 trucks and trailers throughout the country.
“Our passion is trucks, and we really understand how our customers operate and how they want to run their business,” says Michael Swarbrick, general manager of TR telematics.
“We are always thinking about how we can help them operate the vehicles better, and give them added value.”
TR first started investigating telematics products around 6 years ago, and developed a telematics division 4 years ago.
“Being such an integral part of the New Zealand transport industry means we can really help operators understand what this technology can offer, we have an innate understand of its different applications.
They partnered with Navman Wireless and EROAD to develop their telematics proposition, both companies also being experts in their field with a New Zealand focus – a partnership of experts.
“Our partnership with TR Group came about naturally,” says Ian Daniel, vice president of Navman Wireless.
“We’ve always had a good relationship. Where they are positioned in the New Zealand transport sector is pretty unique, and they were looking to partner with a reputable telematics player.
“They talked with a lot of people in our space and we went through a fairly rigorous selection process
“They know trucks, they’re wired into the transport sector, and they wanted to be able to better managed their truck assets.
“Depending on arrangements some vehicles may be fully maintained while others or not. Incorporating telematics into the business plan is a win-win for them. They get to help reduce the cost of their clients, and they can look at driver behaviour and hope to reduce any maintenance that might sit on their side of the fence.
“By using Navman to manage and monitor behaviour those costs are going to be lower across the board.
“A key thing with TR is they are always sure to be preventative and proactive, rather than reactive, and that is how you keep customers for life.
“I started in Navman wireless a little over ten years ago, and was very much pushed a blank sheet of paper and told to build the product. It’s been a meteoric rise, despite some lumpy times in the early-mid 2000s.
“We are in 14 countries – globally – now, with market leadership in New Zealand, Australia and Chile.
EROAD – provider of the world’s first secure electronic hubodometer
Peter Batcheler, commerical manager of EROAD says that his company’s vast experience, as the largest provider of telematic products to the New Zealand heavy vehicle market, meant the partnership with TR was a natural fit.
EROAD has been independently audited as New Zealand’s most reliable GPS/Eruc system provider and is the only ever winner of 2 HiTec Awards (best product, best service) in the same year.
They provide of 99% of all electronic RUC in New Zealand and are the largest Ehubo provider by over 450,000,000 kilometres.
“We offer a full range of in-depth telemetric data that incorporates vehicle behavior, real time tracking, geo-fencing, fuel management, and driver specific data archives,” says Batcheler.
“We got together with TR two years ago and it became a no brainer that they should become a distributor of our product.”
Batcheler is one of the founding shareholders of EROAD, and his experience in the transport industry includes holding the position of CEO of Gough transport supplies, and prior to that was the managing director of Steelbro.
Brian Michie, the EROAD inventor who founded the company back in 2000, introduced the idea to Batcheler while he was still at Goughs.
“I thought an electronic distance recorder was a fantastic idea. I’d had my fair share of experience with mechanical hub odometers, enough to tell you they are prone to failures.
“The paper based RUC systems has a huge deadweight cost of about $100 million a year to maintain, an estimate between the Road Transport Forum and NZTA figures.
“The time consuming nature of RUC means the ability to track it electronically is a clear benefit. To become a certified eRUC provider you have to have an incredibly reliable and accurate systems, meaning the distances recorded can give operators all sorts of data on what their drivers are doing, and what their compliance status is.
“It is both a privilege and a huge responsibility to become certified, and we worked with the NZTA for over five years before the initial roll-out.”
Batcheler already had strong contacts at TR through managing director Andrew Carpenter, and manager of strategic development, Neil Bretherton.
“This relationship went back to when I was a supplier with Steelbro, supplying them side lifters. Our paths crossed again ten years later,” he says.
“TR has a very clear vision where they want to reduce the total cost of operations for their customers. The only way to do that is to have sufficient data to understand the vehicles, so it is logical that they identified with EROAD.
The U.K connection
John Boocock joined TR as manager of operational support services at the beginning of 2012, to further strengthen the experitise of both TR and EROAD. He brought with him a varied background in transport.
Boocock was studying for a degree in transport and logistics when the British fuel strikes were taking place in 2000. Gordon Brown, then chancellor of the exchequer put $100 million pounds into the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund to help operators become more efficient. One of the companies Boocock had started was responsible for Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED), which Boocock wrote in 2001.
It was during a fleet efficiency seminar in Hong Kong that he was spotted by our own Ministry of Transport, who were interested in developing heavy fleet training here in New Zealand. Several options from around the world were investigated, and SAFED was eventually chosen. Boocock flew out to New Zealand on several occasions to train up 9 senior SAFED instructors.
While doing some work at TR Group the chance came up to test out a Volvo with a telematics system installed, which Boocock says doubled the amount of key performance indicators looked at in SAFED. These were incorporated into the New Zealand SAFED program, and upon returning to the UK to present to their Department of Transport, it was pointed out that the New Zealand system was now superior.
Boocock’s wife travelled with him to New Zealand on the initial visits, and fell in love with the country, prompting the couple to make the move permanently. The same week that Visas were being filled out, an email arrived from TR group requesting help in setting up a telematics support network. The rest as they say, is history.
Telematics is a NZ success story and the transport industry has been quick to adopt the technology.
It’s clear that telematics will have an ever growing role to play in the transport industry, for large operators and small, the cost efficiencies are real and tangible from day one, and the information provided is not restricted to where is a particular vehicle, it reveals much about the productivity, business culture and behaviour of an entire business.
Telematics is, and will further, change the way transport operators operate.
Here’s a brief contact list of the New Zealand telematics companies driving the technology forward. See DIESELtalk magazine for more.
International Telematics
Dean Marris – General Manager
09 379 7211
TR Telematics
Michael Swarbrick – General Manager
09 580 8492
Smartrak
Bryce Herbert – General Manager
07 857 0800
Navman Wireless
Ian Daniel – Managing Director
09 481 0541
EROAD
Peter Batcheler – Commercial Director
09 970 4708
