Fleet engineers at Maxi Haulage have switched to tablets for managing defects and inspections as part of a digitisation programme, writes Peter Brown.
The haulier has invested in Freeway, a fleet management system from Freeway Fleet Systems, to look after 150 vehicles and 712 trailers that operate from seven depots across the United Kingdom Ireland.
Freeway covers asset management, compliance, and fleet maintenance. Andy McGuire is the general manager for fleet at Maxi Haulage. “We’ve long been burdened with paperwork, with records that had to be laboriously typed in by hand,” he revealed.
“Freeway is now automating all of this with digital job cards and inspection sheets. It’s transformational, not just because we are eliminating paper and data entry, but because suddenly everything is live and online, so we have a level of visibility that we just didn’t have before.”
In the past two years, he said, Maxi haulage had reviewed ‘all the major systems on the market’, and he added: “All had certain advantages, but Freeway was seen as the most complete.
“However, two things stood out about Freeway. One was the fact that it was a truly open system designed to easily integrate with other systems – in our case, that meant Mandata.
“Secondly, it was clear Freeway was well proven and supported – something that we appreciated after a visit to another major haulier.”
Maxi Haulage Limited was incorporated in 1974 and in 1976, along with its sister company Caledonian Vehicle Delivery Service Ltd, joined forces with Maxi Construction to form the Maxi Group of Companies.
As part of one of the country’s leading privately owned companies, we are a major provider of haulage, distribution, and logistics services throughout the UK and Ireland.
