SupaTrak helps Park Logistics improve productivity and win new business SupaTrak, the vehicle tracking system developed by CMS Global Technologies of Swindon, is increasingly proving the perfect solution for a wide range of companies wishing to manage, control, monitor and manoeuvre their mobile assets more efficiently.
Park Logistics, the Nottingham transport and distribution firm, believed a tracking system could help make its local collection, delivery and trailer-swap operations more visible and efficient. The question was which could do the job best and at the same time be cost effective.
Park's Transport Manager Marc Allen had been checking out various systems for around seven months when he came across CMS SupaTrak at the CV Show and encouraged by what he saw arranged for a couple of test units to be fitted to vehicles on the company's various trailer shuttle runs with local blue chip customers.
Impressed by the increased vehicle visibility they provided and the consequent rapid improvement in efficiency and revenue generation that resulted from having more control over their movements, he successfully petitioned his Managing Director for the funds to fit SupaTrak to 20 vehicles.
What he particularly liked about CMS, he says, was that their prices were competitive and provided several different payment options, none of which entailed getting locked into long-term contracts. Moreover, there were no hidden installation costs and the backup support from CMS has been excellent.
Since Park Logistics began using SupaTrak, Marc says the company has seen a dramatic improvement in its ability to respond to customer demands, use its fleet more productively and become more competitive. In turn, this has led to several new contracts, including one with the region's largest retail chemist who, by its own admission, operates one of the most challenging distribution services going.
"We do a lot of trailer shuttle work for customers between their various local depots and much of it is very time critical: within an hour. Requests for trailer swaps can come at any time and it is vital that we can see which tractor units are nearest to be able to schedule movements quickly," he says.
We also do a lot of local NG-post code pallet collections and deliveries for a large company and were finding there was a great deal of vehicle overlap, which was an inefficient use of our resources. Given the geographical proximity of this work, tracking systems that could only update position every 10 minutes were of no use. It was therefore great to find SupaTrak, which updates every minute.
"SupaTrak is additionally used to see how close a returning vehicle is to base and as a checking mechanism to make sure the driver's next load is ready for collection. This reduces turn-around times and increased vehicle productivity, something that is very important for a relatively small transport business.
"The system has also proved its worth in helping to resolve disputes about delivery times and demurrage claims. Its clear and unambiguous record of vehicle movements has been used on several occasions to our benefit," he adds.
Marc says both customers and drivers like SupaTrak. The company promotes the system's benefits in its contract negotiations and will, if requested, link the customer into the system so they can monitor vehicle movements remotely.
As Marc's experience demonstrates, even the basic SupaTrak system has many
commercial uses beyond simple tracking. Low cost and user friendly, the system's centrally-hosted web browser UK mapping facility ensures all vehicles are always visible at all times. And the basic SupaTrak also comes with a comprehensive reporting function that includes start/stop and historic 'snail trail' options, so users can see where their vehicles have been, when and at what speed.
Add in some of the other available options such as satellite navigation, telemetry recorders and full European mapping, together with the ability to link SupaTrak to a company's existing collection devices and back office systems and you have a totally integrated, secure system capable of many additional operational tasks.
But most importantly, its simple, it works, can communicate with almost anything and is cost effective to use, starting at just 69p pre vehicle per
day.