Steel Manufacturer Improved Productivity With Telematics

Opportunity

This company produces the bedrock materials for automotive, appliance, construction and many other industries in the United States and Central Europe.

At its plant, medium- and heavy-duty trucks are integral to operations, repeatedly traveling a loop of one to three miles around the massive facility. If the trucks are stopped, so is productivity. It needed a way to know whenever — and wherever — that happened.

Strategy

Managers wanted to be alerted if a vehicle stood still for 20 minutes or more. Wheels responded by equipping the trucks with telematics and a geofence around the plant. Along with single sign-on to access the system and the ability to review their data in real time, they received notification when a vehicle remained in place past the established threshold.

Results+

With telematics, its managers knew when any truck was sitting too long and exactly where it was, so they were aware of any problems and could address them promptly. This not only reduced idle time for the trucks, it sped up the entire loading process
from an average of 45 to 27 minutes — an efficiency improvement of nearly 40%.

Bonus: Telematics also granted the fleet office’s ability to monitor tire pressure and high-risk driver behaviors, such as harsh braking and speeding.

Now not only can the fleet proactively mitigate delays in production, they can continue to manufacture steel for the growing world — uninterrupted.