Over a six month period there was an 88% reduction in speeding events.

The Company

Blackbourne Integrated M&E offers a fully co-ordinated service for mechanical & electrical contracting and maintenance across the UK. The company has more than 50 years experience of delivering co-ordinated design processes and efficient site management programmes and prides itself on delivering contracts on time and on budget. Headquartered in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Blackbourne has two other offices in Rosyth and Hertfordshire. A consistently proactive management approach to any task, from the replacement of a light bulb to the re-wiring of a complete office block, means that customers value Blackbourne's well organised, cost effective and reliable service.

The Challenge

The maintenance division has a fleet of 45 vans, ranging in age from six months to seven years. Of these, 40 are used on a reactive basis, so an effective and efficient fleet is a business imperative, together with the company's objective to improve its carbon footprint and raise its ranking in the Northen Ireland Environmental Benchmarking survey.

Blackbourne chose a combination of Webfleet and Agnew (a Webfleet partner) to provide a fully integrated fleet management system. This allows them to obtain the most comprehensive fleet management intelligence from a wide range of perspectives, from driving behaviour through to MOT and tax renewals.

The Solution

Blackbourne chose the LINK system to determine optimum routing for each job, with ecoPLUS being installed in each van for accurate MPG and fuel management. This application enables the company to manage the fleet 24 hours a day, from any PC. The tracker allows Blackbourne to identify and direct the closest engineer to each new task, reducing reaction times for customers that require an emergency response. It produces eco and safety reports, which identify speeding, harsh braking and inefficient or reckless driving.

From a health and safety perspective, the ability to monitor driving behaviour was an important element of the Webfleet system, said Blackbourne Facilities Director, Bryan Campbell. Whilst the number of offenders was extremely small, we discovered that most speeding incidents were occurring on A class roads. Because each driver could measure and monitor their own behaviour through the OptiDrive indicator score in Webfleet they were more engaged and we experienced improvements almost immediately. Over a six month period there was an 88% reduction in speeding events.

With carbon footprint reduction being a core business objective, the intelligence provided via LINK and ecoPLUS enabled Blackbourne to monitor CO₂ saved. During the same period, a 5% reduction in CO₂ emissions was recorded.

Safety is also a big concern and safer driving has resulted in a 66% reduction in accidents. In addition, average miles driven per day have decreased by 8%, resulting in a similar decrease in time spent driving. Webfleet provides us with major insight into driver behaviour and vehicle performance and allows us to support those drivers who need to improve their driving style, said Bryan Campbell. The reports provide real time management information presented in a format which is illustrative and easy to understand. The Webfleet fleet management systems have also integrated seamlessly with Blackbourne's paperwork by identifying driver information, service and tyre schedules, and tax and MOT renewals.