Tarmac achieves a safer, more sustainable, data-driven fleet via Motormax and Geotab's solution

Challenge: Need for a unified fleet management platform

A key concern for Tarmac was the need to gain greater visibility and control over its complex fleet operations that span thirteen regions and business units across the UK. Instead of having to use a variety of different portals and platforms, the team required 100% of its fleet and assets to be controlled through a single management platform that integrated seamlessly with its existing Motormax multi-camera recording solution.

The procurement team required a robust telematics system that could grow alongside the business. They wanted to create a long-term collaborative relationship with the new telematics provider, with ongoing support and innovation to find creative solutions for their diverse fleet management challenges and to ensure the continued success of the project. 

The number one priority for Tarmac is the health and safety (H&S) of its drivers and the public, and the team needed their new telematics system to help them to improve the fleet’s H&S 

performance. Beyond this, the team wanted a partner that would help to streamline operations, reduce operating costs, and support Tarmac with its net zero targets and EV100 pledge. 

The solution: creative, collaborative problem solving 

Motormax has worked successfully with Tarmac since 2017, installing hundreds of vehicles with live Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and various camera systems to suit specific vehicle types. This strong existing relationship, and the integration of the Motormax camera footage with the MyGeotab fleet management platform, were a fundamental reason why the procurement team selected Geotab as its fleet safety and telematics partner, marrying industry-leading camera systems and telemetry in one unified platform. 

Streamlined implementation process

The installation team worked tirelessly to fit a total of 1,849 GO9 telematics devices into vehicles and plant equipment across the length and breadth of the UK. Since many assets were located on high-risk work sites or contracted to work 24 hours a day, many installations had to be completed out-of-hours on evenings and weekends. 

Due to the transient nature of Tarmac’s contracting fleet, Transport Managers were often unable to provide the location of their vehicles more than a few days in advance. This required the installation team to be very flexible and to communicate effectively with 12 Transport Managers across the different regions. 

312 connections were also made with existing OEM telematics systems, including Cat, Vogel, JCB and Volvo. 

“Given the fragmented geography that Tarmac operates across, often in remote locations, finding a partner that could cope with this and invest the time, effort and flexibility into a successful implementation was essential. Both Geotab and Motormax have worked hard with the Tarmac teams, showing resilience, in making the rollout a success.” – Lee Green, Head of Category Management & SRM, Tarmac.

View through a single pane of glass into total fleet operations

The Motormax camera system integrates with the MyGeotab platform via an API, using the power of Geotab’s rules engine and reporting mechanisms. Transport managers can download footage when a predetermined event from the Geotab rules engine is triggered so that they have the exact video evidence they require for training, disciplinary and insurance purposes. 
 

The single platform enables transport managers to access telemetry and camera footage in one location. Full AHD footage captured by Motormax camera technology sits alongside Geotab’s 

telematics platform improving fleet safety and efficiency.

Image description: Motormax camera footage is fully integrated into the MyGeotab fleet management platform. 

Through the MyGeotab fleet management platform, Tarmac now has a single, simple point of access to their:

• Motormax multi-camera system
• Driver safety scorecard reports
• Drivers licence checking
• Preventative maintenance scheduling programme
• Tachograph remote download solution
• Idling control dashboards
• Standardised reporting
• Collaborative customer care 

The account managers from Motormax and Geotab, together with Geotab’s Solutions Engineering department, continue to work closely with the operations team to tailor the fleet management and multi-camera recording solution to Tarmac’s evolving needs.
 

This close working relationship between all three companies ensures a collaborative approach, with ongoing communication and engagement across multiple departments. 
 

“We developed a deep understanding of the challenges faced by Tarmac in order to effectively design and develop bespoke solutions to solve specific challenges. Ongoing collaboration is key to ensuring we find solutions to continually improve the safety of Tarmac’s fleet.” – Mark Leedham, Corporate Relationship Manager, Motormax

Fleet safety as a focus

The team sees that the integrated camera and telematics solution will help to improve its accident management procedures, reducing accident costs and reputational risk and therefore lowering their insurance premiums. The camera footage and driver safety scorecard reports enable managers to recognise and reward the best-performing drivers, and to coach others to help them improve their performance, with actions raised against them when necessary in the standard Tarmac H&S system. 

“The integrated video telematics solution from Motormax & Geotab has helped us to ensure that managers have guidance to follow when it comes to addressing poor driver behaviour, so that they can have fruitful conversations and provide necessary training." – Kirsten Kobrin, Category Manager FM&E UK & Ireland, Tarmac

Geofencing for fleet optimisation

The operations team has created geofences around manufacturers’ dealerships, with notifications set up when a vehicle hasn’t moved for more than 48 hours. This alerts management if a vehicle is sitting off the road and the garage isn’t dealing with it, improving fleet utilisation rates. 
 

Geofences are also utilised in clean air zones (CAZ), notifying the van admin team of the vans that have entered these zones each day so that payments can be made and fines avoided.

Unified management reporting 

The project team from Geotab, Motormax and Tarmac worked hard to unify the rule sets and reporting requirements across Tarmac’s four divisions so that standardised safety reports could be created from MyGeotab. These reports have proven valuable in gaining senior management buy-in and support. The suite of automated, tailored reports delivers meaningful data to different departments and enables fleet managers to work more efficiently and take appropriate action to continually improve fleet safety and driver behaviour.

Geotab has provided Tarmac with access to its Data Connector to simplify and automate the reporting process for the Fleet Compliance Coordinator, automatically feeding this data directly into Tarmac’s existing business intelligence (BI) tools. This saves him several hours a week that he previously spent creating the high-level overview reports required by the board. MyGeotab is used for all fleet-related reporting, and the intention is that the Data Connector will be used for custom Tarmac templates.

Impact: Getting drivers home safely 

Improved fleet safety

Although only three months into its unified reporting structure, speeding violations per 1,000 miles have already reduced by 25% compared to the last month with the incumbent system.
 

The fleet safety scorecard indicators including harsh braking, cornering and acceleration initially increased significantly compared to the incumbent system, due to Geotab’s increased accuracy of measurement. Now that Tarmac has a clearer oversight into these safety metrics, they can start to be controlled and reduced.
 

Safety and compliance events are now accurately assigned to the driver rather than the vehicle, thanks to the implementation of a driver ID system with fobs. This is critical to Tarmac’s H&S and compliance programme and has also tackled the issue of unauthorised drivers operating vehicles.
 

“One of the big benefits is to have the driver ID system, which helps us to swiftly identify which driver was driving the vehicle at the time of a speeding violation or an accident - that will really help us going forward.” – Jonathan Meddings, Fleet Compliance Coordinator, Tarmac

Reduction in accident rates 

With Motormax and Geotab’s integrated single-platform solution, Tarmac has access to connected safety, sustainability and driver responsibility insights that create a safer, more efficient, data-driven fleet. Now that managers are using these insights to monitor and train drivers on their safety performance, they are confident that this will reduce their collision rate.

Reduction in idling

Through MyGeotab’s idling reporting, Tarmac now has pure and true visibility of the idling rate and time of each vehicle in both their static and mobile fleet vehicles. This resulted in a reduction in plant equipment idling of over 30% within just 3 months of the contract starting. 
 

This reduction in idling has improved overall fuel efficiency, reduced fuel-related costs and reduced unnecessary engine usage, vital since the vehicles undergo regular 500-hour maintenance schedules.

Improvement in fuel economy

Fuel economy has improved by 30% from an average of 21.55 mpg during the last three months of using the incumbent telematics system, to 28.05 mpg in Apr 24 using Geotab. This will directly reduce fuel costs, improving their bottom line. 

Next steps 

The operations team plans to use active insights to anonymously benchmark and compare performance internally between the thirteen different regions and business units to improve fleet efficiency, safety and productivity. 
 

The next focus will be on improving vehicle utilisation, ensuring that all vehicles are being used to their full potential and aren’t parked up for multiple days. By improving utilisation, there may be potential to downsize the fleet when the data shows that fewer vehicles are required, providing significant cost savings. A greater understanding of vehicle utilisation will also ensure that the right type of acquisition model is used when a vehicle is brought into the fleet. If a vehicle is only needed once a week, the team can hire for that one day, rather than lease.
 

From a sustainability perspective, Geotab will work with Tarmac on its goal of reducing absolute carbon emissions. Tarmac is a signatory of EV100, pledging to transition 100% of its fleet to electric by 2030. Geotab’s electric vehicle suitability assessment (EVSA) will provide real-world financial, environmental and range data to assist them with this decision-making process. 
 

Tarmac is also conducting a pilot study of AI video technology, harnessing the technology of Geotab with the hardware of Motormax to deliver key safety and compliance insights. 

“Tarmac’s trial of Motormax and Geotab’s AI beta video technology shows an extension of our existing collaboration into other innovations, and that will improve our safety performance in quarries, construction sites and road sites.” – Lee Green, Head of Category Management & SRM, Tarmac 
 

Due to the success of this project, Geotab and Motormax are now preferred suppliers to the whole CRH Group. 

“The key benefit of our collaborative project with Geotab and Motormax has been to support our “Work Safe, Home Safe” philosophy, getting our drivers back home every day.” – John Meddings, Fleet Compliance Coordinator, Tarmac.