North Lanarkshire Council is transforming the management of its 600-strong mixed fleet following the roll-out of a new system.
Part of a move to paperless working by the council, the technology from Freeway Fleet Systems provides workshop mechanics with rugged tablet devices featuring a mobile app to provide digital job cards and inspection sheets while giving full visibility of vehicle usage, maintenance and running costs.
The previous legacy fleet management system, used in conjunction with spreadsheets and paper records, was a cumbersome and inefficient way of managing the fleet, which includes cars and vans as well as refuse vehicles and ride-on grass-cutting machinery.
The council went live with Freeway in 2022, using Freeway’s software implementation specialist Genie Insights to help transfer data from the existing system and spreadsheets, with paper reports replaced with digital versions.
“It’s still early days with Freeway but the system has already completely transformed the management of the fleet,” said Lynn O’Neill, service delivery manager (performance & compliance), waste and fleet. “We’ve eliminated much of the paper and data entry work. That’s not only boosted efficiency but has allowed us to re-direct efforts to other important tasks to improve asset management and levels of service.
“The biggest benefit of Freeway is that everything we need is one click away. It gives us visibility of everything going on so we are always fully informed. This means we can make better decisions and improve communication as we have the information that we need to hand,” she explained.
It’s also automated the management of vehicles used across different council departments.
“We’re forever on the phone trying to get hold of people to schedule workshop bookings and then chase them when they forget,” O’Neill added. “So, now we will automate communication with emails and texts, with an escalation to managers if needed. And those responsible for a vehicle will be able to use the Freeway app on their mobile phone to check on a vehicle’s availability and status.”
Other automation is being introduced to improve accident reporting and insurance claims. Soon, drivers will be able to record their walkaround vehicle safety checks using a Freeway app which will in turn give the workshop immediate insight into any defects that need to be rectified.
Freeway also allows the council to drill down into the costs of running the fleet, giving insight into everything from operating costs, individual vehicle performance, recurring defects, to parts and labour costs including overrun hours of jobs.
“I don’t think we’ll ever actually get to the end of implementation as so much can be done with Freeway and it’s evolving all the time. The fact that support is also good – and we had invaluable help setting up the system – has made a tremendous difference to success allowing North Lanarkshire to reap the rewards of greater efficiency and cost control,” O’Neill added.
