Case Studies

Hovis

Managing Supply Chain Complexity to Drive Fuel Savings & Accident Reduction With Fleet & Vehicle Telematics

We operate a massive supply chain operation for 365 days a year, covering over 20 million road miles and delivering in and out of our major towns and cities which is a challenge. We base our whole logistics operation around the Microlise solution. I couldn’t envisage running our business without having the right telemetry and data tools in place.

Adam Bassant, General Manager Logistics, Hovis

600 drivers operating across the road network

95% of drivers performing at A-C level

62% reduction in accidents since 2015

The Challenge

Hovis has been baking bread from the finest ingredients for more than 130 years and is an iconic and well-loved British bakery brand. From Richard ’Stony’ Smith’s discovery of how to separate the wheatgerm from flour without losing any nutrients during milling, to replacing horses and carts with trucks, the company has continued to innovate.

It continues to expand and diversify its product range, embrace new manufacturing processes and, as part of its logistics operation, champions the latest technologies including deploying two zero emission electric vehicles in London and utilising market-leading transport, delivery execution and mobility solutions.

Hovis is a baking business owned by Endless LLP based in High Wycombe. The company employs 2,800 people in eight bakeries, one flourmill and three distribution centres across the UK. Hovis Logistics completes circa 1.2 million customer deliveries per year, deploying a fleet of 250 trailers and approximately 400 vehicles ranging in size from 7.2 up to 15 tons.

Hovis was already using a telematics system across its fleet but went to market and in 2015 opted for the Microlise connected solution.

The Approach

Hovis initially deployed a Microlise telematics solution to support improved fleet safety and utilisation and driver performance.

Since 2015, Hovis has added Journey Management to the solution, making particular use of the Schedule Execution Board to enhance customer communication and understand how the fleet is performing against plan with clear colour codes indicating early, on-time and late ETAs.

The Safety Module, including forward facing cameras and Incident Analysis has also been deployed as has the Microlise sign on glass, Proof of Delivery solution.

The Result

Following implementation, fleet visibility, utilisation, efficiency, driver performance and safety metrics have all improved. According to Adam Bassant, General Manager Logistics.

“At project start-up, we were transitioning across from an old system and needed help getting to grips with the new system. Microlise really helped
during this process and was particularly supportive when it came to bringing our drivers along with us. They provided customer case studies, spoke to our drivers, and helped us to set tailored driving style and driver behaviour parameters. This interaction really helped to put drivers’ minds at ease – they understood that we were doing things for the right reason.

“The Driver Performance module acts as a great educational tool, when drivers see the metrics, they naturally want to improve on what they’re doing. It really works - 95% of our drivers are currently in the top ABC driving band. When you have a team of 600 drivers operating across the road network that is a real achievement.”

And according to Tony Stuart, Head of Operations Support, Logistics the advantages of improved driver performance can be seen across some key financial metrics including fuel savings and accident reduction: “The Microlise solution helps us to understand how a driver behaves while they’re on the road. We believe that if a driver is more relaxed, they’ll drive better which leads to greater fuel economy, road safety, better vehicle performance and fewer breakdowns. A less stressed driver means performance levels increase. Our drivers can also see their own reports which I think is important.”

In the event of an incident on the road, Tony and his team also have all they need to take swift and decisive action: “The Safety Module has proved to be an excellent tool for us. It gives us all the data we need to analyse any type of incident down to a forensic level. From telemetry that shows what a driver was doing supported by forward facing camera footage, we can get a complete picture of what’s happened at any time and I know we’ll get that information each and every time we need it.”

For Ross Burford, Logistics Operations Manager, based at Dagenham, having the right technology in place is critical to ensuring complexity is managed for customer service of the highest level.

“Microlise allows us to say to our customers they will get this amount of product, on this day, at this time, and that absolutely sets us apart from the rest – we stand at 95-98% for on-time deliveries every single day – that gives our customers complete confidence and the assurance that we will do exactly what we say we’ll do.”

Want to know more?

We look forward to showing you how our solutions can help you to reduce costs and environmental impact, while increasing safety, efficiency and compliance

Request a demo