The Connected Workshop: Is Telematics The Secret To Its Productivity?

Productivity.

It’s the goal of businesses, governments and not-for-profits around the world. And for one little workshop based in the North Pole, it’s vital!

We’re not privy to the inner workings of the world’s most productive workshop, but if we were, we’re sure that telematics systems would be in place for these reasons:

Operator behaviour

An overview of operator behaviour is important for health and safety. From workshop buggy's to Santa’s sleigh, the operators of vehicles and machines play a large role in reducing or increasing safety risk. With telematics systems, you can get an overview of risky driver behaviours such as speeding, harsh braking and harsh acceleration. Fatigued drivers are more likely to be involved in collisions, which is not only risky for those on the road, but also costly when you add up vehicle damage and hours lost. For machinery, you can track operator actions such as if the legs of a mini-crawler crane are fully retracted when the machine is moving across site. These insights can drive pro-active safety on-site.

Preventative maintenance 

On a busy site having machinery or vehicles breakdown can cause the whole process to grind to halt, so preventative maintenance will make sure that neither the elves nor Santa on his sleigh have any unexpected hiccups. With assets working around the clock, an excellent fleet management software can help run a regular maintenance schedule, as well as help keeping WOFs, RUCs, and registrations up-to-date. By setting up alerts in the software based on engine hours, you can make sure the hardest working assets are given regular oil checks, safety checks and general servicing.

Asset utilisation

On a planet with around 2.2 billion children, Santa’s workshop must optimise every machine they have. Fleet management software pulls together both engine data and GPS tracking to give you an overview of your site. The site manager can see which machines are under-utilised and could be better re-deployed elsewhere. Understanding how assets are being used lets you maximise their uptime, leading to better productivity.

Timesheets and invoices

With large enterprises, accurate timesheets and invoices are crucial for cost control and compliance to labour regulations. With mobile devices in cab, your driving workforce can log in and log out for the hours they are on the road. Mobile workers, such as tradespeople and service providers, can submit timesheets for specific jobs whilst they’re on the go; including driving hours and distances for processing mileage. This means the back office can immediately start processing accurate invoices for customers and fair timesheets for staff.

Driver fatigue

On the busiest day of the year, Santa has a 24-hour driving schedule. Sentinel, our electronic logbook application, is just what he needs to manage his fatigue levels and make sure he is taking rest breaks. The logbook makes it easy to log start and stop times, it automatically records the time and location data, and it gives users a running update of when the next rest break is due.

If your fleet or site needs a boost in productivity, why not take a leaf out of Santa’s workshop’s book?