Scottish Water has selected Masternaut satellite vehicle tracking to improve fleet utilisation of 1400 service vehicles, which is improving customer service while reducing running costs. Because the system provides accurate information, Scottish Water is also able to ensure compliance to road safety legislation. In addition, the company’s 110 scientific vehicles are equipped with Masternaut’s unique real-time temperature monitoring system, Mastercold.

“Masternaut is a comprehensive fleet management solution that provides a clear view of the fleet in a real time environment. It gives a detailed profile of vehicle activity and it will help with our business decisions going forward. We can see whether we are making full use of our fleet assets and it helps our teams to plan activities,” says John Tripp, supply chain manager, Scottish Water.

“The system gives us accurate data on mileage, fuel usage and emissions, which is important to managing and reducing the impact of the fleet on the environment. Our team leaders use the system to manage their vehicles on a daily basis, allowing them to act quickly and re enforce compliance and safety messages when necessary,” he says.

The vehicle tracking system also helps Scottish Water to respond to emergencies, pinpointing the nearest and most appropriate operator to deal with the incident. This could be at any time of the day or night and to provide added lone worker security, vehicles are fitted with panic buttons that send alerts via the tracking system to the control centres. It also allows the internal stakeholders to keep track of emergency planning vehicles as they travel to incidents, allowing them to provide accurate ETA’s to those already on site.

Our business partners have access to the system to help them plan and organise the work they do for us. For vehicle maintenance, this is an effective tool that not only ensures that vehicles are serviced on schedule but also saves on vehicle maintenance costs,” adds Tripp.

The company performs around 1000 tests each day on samples taken from water treatment works, service reservoirs and customer taps. Samples are taken from the various sites to the laboratories under strict temperature control in refrigerated vehicles. The Masternaut system records that onboard temperatures are within tolerance and provides alerts for unacceptable distortions.

“Scottish Water is one of a large number of utility companies that have chosen Masternaut, which includes Scottish Power, National Grid and UK Power Networks formerly EDF. Our service doesn’t just involve providing the technology; we also ensure our customers are achieving return on investment through our Customer Growth Team. We look forward to making further inroads into this sector,” says Martin Port, Managing Director, Masternaut.