The system, in conjunction with the SAFED training programme across all vehicles, has helped optimise deliveries and vehicle usage and is saving the catering supplies wholesale specialist 10% in annual fuel costs by encouraging drivers to conform to speed limits and consequently improving miles per gallon (MPG) fuel consumption.

The web-based Masternaut Three X system live monitors vehicles as they travel to and from customer sites, providing real time information to assist senior managers with speeding, idling and route deviations.

“The Masternaut system has made a big difference to our entire fleet, which operates from both our Huddersfield and Clitheroe depots. As we get a real time view of the fleet, we are able to work with our drivers to encourage them to conform to speed limits. This not only makes them safer drivers safer it has also reduced our annual fuel bill by 10%,” said Paul Nowell, Total Foodservice Solutions operations manager.

“In fact one of our drivers won the recent national Masternaut Three X ‘Drive for Life’ safe driving competition, beating over 50,000 other UK commercial drivers. This is a great honour for the company and highlights the progress we are making across the organisation,” he added.

Improved route planning is another major benefit of the system, with a significant proportion of manual work having been removed through the use of Masternaut’s automated mapping functionality. The system prevents delivery routes from overlapping and ensures that customers are served from the most appropriate depot. In addition, the system allows the fleet operations team to guide drivers to difficult to find sites using its ‘bird’s eye view’ feature.

“We make over 1,500 deliveries per week and the system enables us to meet our on-time delivery promises. If there is a delay we are alerted, allowing us to contact the customer to give them a revised estimated time of arrival. This means they never have to chase us to enquire about their deliveries as we can provide a proactive service based on real-time information,” added Nowell.

www.masternaut.co.uk

The kiosks are the result of a deal with payments services company, YESpay its touchscreen kiosk specialist partner, Neo Products UK.

Customers will be able to use the kiosks to locate stock, view sample clips as well as ordering content for home delivery. They can also download MP3 tracks for immediate take away on a media or a storage device.

Following a successful trial, the retailer is planning to rollout transactions kiosks throughout its entire store network.

YESpay’s EMBOSS chip & PIN payment service integrates with the self-service kiosks, enabling faster, easier and more secure payments.

Dave Elston, e-commerce manager at HMV said: “The technology accepts all UK credit and debit cards, allowing prompt payment and delivery of goods securely. With customer demands increasing and people wanting to buy music in new ways it’s important to ensure that with new shopping methods, payments are met securely.”

He continued: “This technology will allow us to offer customers a means of ordering and paying for products that were either not available in store or by offering easy payment for audio downloads. Eventually the aim is to roll-out further to all stores, gradually increasing the quantity of kiosks in any given store. We saw over 27,000 product searches conducted over the Christmas period, which we believe have contributed towards physical product sales in stores.”

www.yes-pay.com