Insulation business InsuHeat is protecting its company vehicles with a little help from Competitive Tracking Ltd.
Fleet management technology supplied by Competitive Tracking Ltd is streamlining an insulation company’s operation and is at the core of its security arrangements to safeguard productivity. InsuHeat Limited, based at Willenhall in the heart of the West Midlands, offers services ranging from cavity wall and loft insulation to cavity cleaning, roof slate ventilation and draught proofing. The company’s 20-strong workforce serves residential homeowners and social housing throughout the region.
I’ve now got peace of mind knowing that the company’s vans are stationary and where they should be” Mark Burrows, InsuHeat Limited’s Managing Director
Every vehicle in its fleet houses high-tech cavity blowing machines, which are purchased from new, and cost in excess of £13,000 each. These pieces of equipment are key to InsuHeat’s operation and its service to customers. “All of our vehicles are locked up within our secure unit at night, and over weekends, but we had two break-ins when we launched the company more than three years ago,” said Mark Burrows, InsuHeat Limited’s managing director.
“If one of our vans is stolen, we could pick up a new one the next day. It would take eight weeks to take delivery of a new cavity blowing machine however – valuable output time we could ill-afford to lose.”
“I’ve now got peace of mind knowing that the company’s vans are stationary and where they should be.”
Mark Burrows, InsuHeat Limited’s managing director Business protection: saving money and ensuring peace of mind
InsuHeat needed to find a solution to its security concerns and turned to Competitive Tracking Ltd, having previously invested in a competitor’s telematics technology that failed to meet management expectations. “Our previous system didn’t offer us live vehicle-tracking and information could only be accessed via its operating software from one site at our office,” Mark continues. “Using it proved a complicated and problematic process. “By contrast, the multifaceted system that Competitive Tracking installed allows us to monitor our fleet from any PC at any location.” Competitive Trackings system uses a Windows-based software and uses GPS satellite technology, a GPRS network and the World Wide Web. A geofence – a geographic boundary created by the vehicle tracking software – has been set up around InsuHeat’s Willenhall head office and is triggered every time a company vehicle enters or exits the premises. A message alert is then sent immediately to the managing director’s mobile. “Our insurance premiums have fallen and when I go home at night, I’ve now got peace of mind knowing that the company’s vans are stationary and where they should be,” said Mark.
Competitive Tracking delivers business efficiency
In a bid to maintain quality standards for InsuHeat’s customers, and to monitor the efficiency of the cavity blowing machines, Competitive Tracking have wired into the blowing equipment. These register key details such as when a machine is being operated, for how long, and immediately feed this information back to the office. “An average job to install cavity wall insulation will take an hour and a half, and it will normally take no more than a minute to fill one wall. If a machine blows for a shorter period of time, I can pick up the phone and find out why this is the case and make sure the machinery is working as it should be,” Mark added. “It could be that a house or its cavities are smaller than average, but the system allows us to accurately monitor the activity and ensure we deliver service excellence. All of our staff are qualified, experienced employees and they have been quick to appreciate the benefits that the Competitive Tracking system offers them during their working day. They also recognise the added value to the company as a whole, which is passed on to customers.”
The system’s high level of functionality has been designed to be as intuitive as possible for its users and, as such, is being operated by InsuHeat’s employers and employees with a minimum of effort. “In the case of our previous system, we were still scratching our heads after two years of using it. By contrast, we were up to speed with Competitive Tracking’s fleet management and vehicle tracking system after just a few weeks.
