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freight and logistics
To support service delivery, the Council operates a
fleet of in excess of 1300 assets. Of these assets,
around 600 are standard vehicles, with the
remaining 700 made up of heavy plant machinery and
associated equipment.
Identifying the inefficiencies
Against this background and with the growing demand
on local authorities to improve processes and reduce cost,
in November 2009 NAC embarked upon a major review
of its fleet department. As part of this initiative, Transport
Manager Gordon Mitchell was recruited to head up the
analysis of the existing fleet management strategy and
identify areas for improvement.
One of the key areas identified by Gordon and the
external consultancy brought in to assist with the project,
was the department’s use of technology. Although NAC
had installed Chevin’s RoadBASE software in the early
90s, over time its existence and potential to deliver
improved visibility over elements, including maintenance
and repair schedules, accidents management and
fuel consumption had lapsed. As a result, the dozen
employees using the system failed to maintain the data
or utilise the functionality to its potential, resulting in the
existence of meaningless data, unnecessary manual
administration and record duplication.
The inefficiency created by duplicating administration
tasks and having unclear visibility over scheduled
maintenance jobs, vehicle allocation and stock control,
meant NAC’s transport department was failing to operate
Creating leaner operations and driving
down fleet management costs by a sixth
North Ayrshire Council and Chevin Fleet Solutions
North Ayrshire Councils (NAC) works with a number of partners as part of the Community Planning
Partnership to improve the lives and opportunities of members of the local community it serves. The Council
delivers a range of services for residents, visitors and businesses, from rubbish and recycling collection and
social housing, to library provision and road repairs.
to its potential: driving up costs and heightening the risk
of compliance failings.
Gordon comments: “When RoadBASE was originally
installed around two decades ago, I have no doubt that it
was met with much excitement. Any system that centralises
data and makes it easy for users to access all the
information they require in one place is going to produce
benefits. However, as employees left the department, the
knowledge of RoadBASE left with them so, gradually, as
the years went by its use declined and people reverted to
manual report production and purchase order creation.
“Yet it was clear to see the value RoadBASE could add
to our transport department and what needed to be
done to revive its use.”
Solving the problem
Gordon and his team at NAC explored several options in
a bid to regain control of the council’s fleet operation and
reduce the financial investment required, in line with both
central government andNAC budgeting guidelines. One of
the solutions considered, was investing in fleet management
software from a competitor provider, popular within the
public sector. However, upon comparing functionality
and investment required, NAC opted for a data cleanse,
upgrade and training programme from Chevin, designed
to educate employees to use the RoadBASE software to
its potential.
As part of the data cleanse, NACundertook a complete fleet
review to ensure all new data entered into the RoadBASE
system would be accurate and up-to-date. Equally, the
existing outdated data was removed, creating a blank
canvas for the newly collated up-to-date information to be
stored. Phase two of the project was installing an upgraded
version of the software, which would provide enhanced
speed and performance.
For the final phase of the project, a systems expert from
Chevin Fleet Solutions was deployed on site at NAC,
to provide in-depth training to Gordon and his team.
Ensuring all users were empowered to use RoadBASE to
fulfil their specific role-related tasks was key to promoting
successful uptake and usability of the system.
Gordon explains: “I didn’t want to invest time and resource
into conducting reviews and inputting fresh and accurate
data if, two years down the line, we were going to find
ourselves in the same situation. To achieve tangible cost
savings and get the most from RoadBASE, training was
essential. Chevin Fleet Solutions made the process simple,
explaining the features and benefits in straightforward
language and taking the time to ensure all members of