Trojan Utilities
Trojan Utilities needed an intelligent solution to help manage the roll out of smart meters in the UK…Masternaut helped to improve fleet productivity and delivered a 24% reduction in fuel use.
Trojan Utilities is a smart meter installation and maintenance company, based out of Bolton, formed in September 2011 to deal with the challenges surrounding the government roll-out of smart meters. By 2020, every home in the UK is projected to be able to use smart meter technology to see how much energy a household is using and manage it more effectively. Trojan Utilities works alongside UK energy providers to install smart meters throughout the UK.
Challenge
Trojan Utilities required a solution that could assist the business in helping to more effectively plan jobs and manage its team of engineers.
As of May 2015, Trojan Utilities has installed over 160,000 meters, a figure which is rising by over 2,000 meters per week. It required a system that could help it manage that level of installations on a long-term basis, taking into account 97 engineers based at four depots across the UK. In addition, the system needed to cope with the requirements of dispatching reactive work.
Communication is a key part of the work conducted by Trojan Utilities, so any system would need to have a built-in feature that assisted in the company’s communication with its field workers.
Trojan Utilities is committed to reducing its impact on the environment, wishing to minimise its fleet’s CO2 emissions. Any system implemented needed to help work towards this goal, with the added bonus of reducing the fleet’s overall fuel bill.
Solution
Trojan Utilities implemented a telematics solution from Masternaut across its 100-plus strong fleet of commercial vans, with the system used for a range of purposes by multiple departments across the business.
The Masternaut system is used to dispatch engineers to proactively plan jobs and reactive emergency installs. It can identify the closest person, calculate their travelling distance, and accurately predict fuel economy based on distance and driver behaviour.
The system provides Trojan with in-depth driver behaviour monitoring, looking at speeding, mileage and harsh events. From here Trojan can ascertain the effects various improvements have on fuel usage.
The Masternaut system comes with a two-way messaging system, allowing engineers and Trojan Utilities to import contact numbers and communicate whilst out in the field.
Outcome
Since installation, Trojan Utilities has enjoyed a big increase in the productivity of its fleet as well as a marked reduction in fuel usage.
Driver behaviour overall has seen a major improvement, helping to improve the health and safety of Trojan Utilities’ mobile workforce and other road users. This is highlighted by a 97% reduction in instances of speeding.
Masternaut’s system has helped deliver increased fleet productivity, primarily through improved scheduling, route planning, two-way communication, and the distribution of reactive and proactive jobs. The system provides information on time of arrival at jobs, which goes into punctuality reports, designed to highlight areas of concern and how these can be improved.
The Masternaut system has also delivered a reduction in fuel usage, delivered through dynamic scheduling and improved driver behaviour. Reducing harsh events, idling and miles driven by each driver has seen a drop in fuel usage of 24%.
In the future, working together closely with Masternaut, Trojan Utilities hopes to cut CO2 emissions further by continuing to improve driver behaviour, and by using the system to schedule and predict vehicle maintenance.
Quote
Masternaut has become essential to our business. We selected them because the system offered us everything we needed in one package. The system is used every day and we can’t operate without it. Without Masternaut, our fuel bill would be much higher so the system is effectively paying for itself. As a business, we’re operating in a challenging sector and the system has helped us cope with the rigours of installing in excess of 2,000 meters per week. That figure is only going to rise as we get closer to 2020, but with Masternaut, we’re confident that we’ll continue to stay ahead of the curve in the growing demand for smart meters.
Gemma Openshaw, Operations Director, Trojan Utilities