Stobart Energy implements Freeway digital solution across biomass network

UK biomass producer Stobart Energy has rolled out rugged tablet computers across its fleet of 200 vehicles, to ensure high safety standards are met across its network.

The tablet computers are part of a new system deployed by Freeway Fleet Systems to give managers full visibility of the status of the fleet to ‘improve utilisation, cost control and compliance’, according to Stobart.

The digital solution will automate tasks related to maintenance, replacing all paperwork in the process. The mobile apps replace traditional job sheets and provide real-time updates to a central system that manages vehicles and other assets.

Local fleet managers can access the Freeway inspection app on their smartphones, allowing them to record critical and non-critical defects.

“Stobart Energy has an exemplary reputation in terms of safety and compliance; it’s very much the heart of the business,” said Paul Taylor, national transport manager at Stobart Energy. “Freeway is playing a key role in maintaining our high standards giving us live defect reports from across the fleet, whatever the location.  That means we can immediately plan our maintenance and deal with critical defects straight away.”

The biomass transport provider will also use the Freeway solution to manage stock, make purchases and improve financial control.

“Previously we really didn’t know how well our fleet was performing; let alone individual parts. With Freeway we are now getting all the information we need to manage the fleet more effectively by making better decisions based on gathered intelligence,” added Taylor. “Freeway basically gives us control over the business of fleet management that we simply didn’t have before.” 

The Freeway solution is also being implemented in Stobart’s workshop, which maintains 200 trailers, to accurately record time and cost by job, vehicle and engineer.

“This is allowing us to better manage the work by assigning the right people to the right job to boost productivity and retain a happy workforce,” said Mike Beech, workshop foreman at Stobart Energy. “We now have a single system that can manage everything; from stock control to purchasing parts, work scheduling and inspections, managing defects and all compliance needs.”