Hoppenbrouwers Techniek is one of the leading companies in the mechanical engineering industry, providing support to businesses across a wide range of technical areas. The company uses Geotab’s integrated OEM telematics solution, in order to optimize operational control of its mixed fleet of 1,200 vehicles, of which 650 are LCVs. Currently, around 800 vehicles are connected, but the Company is looking to connect more vehicles in the future. Geotab’s OEM solution allows telematics data from multiple manufacturers to be integrated and centralized through the cloud-based MyGeotab fleet management software.
The Challenge: Blind spots in fleet management
Hoppenbrouwers’ fleet rapidly doubled in size, causing the operations team to have a lack of visibility on the locations, conditions, and usage of a large proportion of their vehicles. Previous telematics providers had been unable to provide comprehensive data support and flexibility outside of the one vehicle make that they fully supported.
The company wanted a fleet telematics solution that offered a unified platform with full support for all of their makes and models of vehicles, to give them complete visibility and control.
It was also important to Hoppenbrouwers to find a solution that would support their sustainability objectives, enabling the operations team to improve fuel efficiency, driver behavior, and idling rates so that they could reduce vehicle emissions and their fleet’s carbon footprint.
The Solution: OEM integration allows for 100% fleet coverage
Geotab’s OEM solution provided Hoppenbrouwers with the ability to access their data across all their vehicle makes and models, with the freedom to tailor it to their needs. The OEM integration uses the vehicle manufacturer’s factory-fitted telematics hardware to process rich vehicle data and driving behavior information, presenting it all in the MyGeotab management platform.
OEM integration was used in all newer models of vehicles, while older vehicles were fitted with a Geotab GO9 tracking device. As the company phases out older vehicles, they will move to 100% OEM. This will allow them to choose the vehicle that’s right for their fleet, without having to worry about a lack of data visibility, or unnecessary downtime to set up the new vehicles in the fleet telematics system.
The Results: Full visibility for greater efficiency and sustainability
Complete fleet visibility – With 100% of the fleet now fully supported through OEM telematics or in-vehicle trackers, the operations team has a complete overview of the locations, conditions, and usage of every vehicle. This enables the team to optimize efficiency, driver safety, and productivity.
Vehicle tracking – When one vehicle was involved in a collision, the fleet manager was able to see on MyGeotab where it occurred, when the driver started driving, and what happened prior to the accident. This enabled them to fully support the driver and minimize the insurance risk.
Improved vehicle utilization – The operations team was able to identify vehicles that were unused for several days at a time, allowing them to increase fleet efficiency and providing the opportunity to ultimately downsize the fleet to their real requirements.
Control of driver behavior – Through MyGeotab, the operations team was able to identify that many drivers were driving at excessive speeds, risking their safety and that of other road users, while also increasing fuel consumption and costs. With simple dashboards and reports, they are now able to actively manage this behavior to improve fleet safety, reduce costs, and reduce the risk of at-fault collisions.
Support with sustainability objectives – In the Netherlands, companies must report on their carbon footprint and have strategies to reduce it. Hoppenbrouwers combines the data from MyGeotab with their fuel cards to track fuel consumption. They plan to use this together with mileage data to identify the drivers who have the poorest fuel efficiency, in order to help them improve their eco-driving performance. They have also been able to minimize fleet mileage by identifying the closest driver to a job, reducing their carbon footprint, while improving the efficiency of the fleet.
By using MyGeotab to improve fleet productivity and identify underutilized vehicles, Hoppenbrouwers believes that they will ultimately be able to downsize their fleet, completing the same amount of work with fewer vehicles. This would improve the sustainability performance of the fleet and reduce capital expenditure.
From the Fleet Manager
“Having a mixed fleet of LCVs, we really needed a telematics solution that could work with the vehicles’ inbuilt telematics systems. Geotab’s OEM solution has given us data visibility across our entire fleet, and because we can now manage it in one interface, we can make real improvements to our fleet efficiency.”
Michiel Westdorp, Fleet Manager, Hoppenbrouwers Techniek.