100 vehicles delivering a wide range of food and non-food items to more than 1,600 locations every day? Good tracking and smart security are certainly important in this regard. Conway looked for and found the way to get this right.
Fast and smooth delivery with Conway's vehicles
Conway is the specialist in on-the-go consumption. They supply everything for the "appetite on the go" at newspaper stores, sandwich stores, gas stations, amusement parks and thousands more customers in Belgium. In addition to a wide range of food and non-food items, they make their customers successful with logistics services and smart shopping solutions. Conway's fleet consists of more than 100 vehicles of different types, including multi-temperature trucks, trailer trucks and large and small vans.
Need for robust vehicle tracking & security
About ten years ago, Conway was already looking for a global solution to reduce the driver's paperwork as well as to track and secure vehicles. Koen Peeters, Director of Operations, explains:
"It was not so obvious to find a partner that specialized in all those aspects. Or you have to go to a huge, unwieldy program that has everything, but is not tailored to our needs. That's how I ended up with AllConnects and we made the split between the device for the driver (for which we now have a separate solution) on the one hand and geolocation and vehicle security (via AllConnects) on the other."
A reliable tracking system was needed to better track all vehicles and check fines. In addition, they were experiencing thefts and better security was also a necessity. So they opted for cargo compartment security and an immobilizer.
It requires an investment, but it is well worth it.
"For Conway, the comfort and safety of our drivers has always been very important. So we don't hesitate to invest in this. Moreover, if with this you can also prevent some thefts, you have quickly recouped part of the investment."
Koen emphasizes that you also have to invest time in the web application to get everything out of it. Especially in the initial phase you really have to work with it to see how it works, what reports there are and how you can optimize it as quickly as possible for yourself. The drivers themselves also quickly saw the benefits, according to Koen: firstly with regard to their own safety and secondly because of the transparency about fines and damage cases.
"A wonderful tool for the people who follow up with the fleet."
The web application is used by all employees of the transportation department on a day-to-day basis: track and act on real-time locations of all vehicles, compare with previous trips, check fines (were we there, and who was driving?) or extract reports (which vehicles were driving over the weekend?).
"For the people who monitor our fleet, it's a wonderful tool. The more you use it, the more you experience its benefits. Both in terms of tracking drivers and vehicles, you can do a lot with it."
The use of pictograms, for example, provides Conway with a quick overview: "If we need to pick up a trailer somewhere, we open up the map with all the vehicles and you can see from the pictogram which vehicle, which can actually pull a trailer, is closest."
AllConnects: thinking along, partnership and trust
"With the service team of AllConnects we have a very good contact. They listen carefully to our needs and handle confidential information perfectly. For me, the big advantage is that they really do think along with us. The thinking along and the speed of response, I think that is top notch and that is important to us."
"Sell the package and then just draw your plan with it? That's definitely not it. That's 1 of the reasons you continue to work with them. It feels more like a partnership than a client-supplier relationship."
