Gregory Distribution has equipped its fleet engineers with mobile devices to replace a significant amount of paperwork in workshops. Introduced at 5 sites across the UK, it is part of a Group wide fleet management system from Freeway Fleet Systems providing real time, 24/7 information for centralised management including compliance, purchasing and business analytics.
Freeway’s software is already used across Gregory by up to 100 people; many simply access the system to view vehicle documentation but around 20 administrators and managers use Freeway through-out the day to access data relating to the fleet. By introducing mobile working in the workshops, Freeway has been extended to incorporate live information from maintenance operations company-wide.
Freeway’s mobile application is being used on rugged tablets by Gregory’s fitters to replace paper inspection forms, time-sheets and job-cards. The job-cards provide a wrapper holding all data on work done, whether internally or externally. Through their tablets the company’s 50 fitters also have immediate access to historic data for a vehicle such as previous defects fixed and parts used.
The Freeway tablets are connected to Freeway’s central fleet management system to provide real-time insight into scheduled, in-progress and completed fleet maintenance work.
“The introduction of mobile devices in the workshop has eliminated much paperwork and the keying in of data,” says Alan Worden, Group Technology and Contracts Director, Gregory Distribution. “That’s saved a huge amount of administrative time. It’s not only boosting our efficiency but it is making management easier as we can all instantly gain access to information about the fleet whether it be for checking compliance or seeing if and when a vehicle is available”.
Gregory has grown rapidly through acquisition and Freeway used to manage over 2,500 road going assets. Operating from multiple sites throughout UK, vehicles are maintained through a combination of in-house and outsourced services. The introduction of the tablets across different sites is a further step in improving Gregory’s central management of the business.
“By using Freeway’s software nationally we have been able to very quickly standardise our approach to compliance and easily publish a daily report illustrating our company-wide position. The tablets have helped us further align everything by introducing a standard process for workshop work and reporting.” Worden adds.
“With the roll out of tablets we now have a real-time element and that adds a new and important dimension to the system from a central management perspective. Freeway gives us one stop visibility of engineering activity and is helping minimise vehicle downtime,” Worden comments. “We can monitor and introduce best practices by comparing the performance of everything from people to workshops and suppliers, right across the business.”
