Howard Tenens
Third party logistics company selects DriveCam to help ensure customer quality.
Situation
Howard Tenens is one of the largest privately owned third-party logistics management groups in the United Kingdom with more than 2.5 million square feet of warehouse space. The company employs more than 600 people and distributes and stores goods for a variety of blue chip customers. Howard Tenens competitors include DHL, Federal Express and other large transportation companies.
Committed to honesty, integrity, and superior service, Howard Tenens wanted to ensure its high standards as an organization were transferred to the contractors who transport goods for customers on Howard Tenens' behalf. In the event of an accident, Howard Tenens also wanted an impartial account of what actually happened so claims could be settled quickly and fairly.
Matt Bibb, divisional director responsible for managing Swindon warehouse and distribution operations, selected DriveCam's behavior-based risk mitigation solution to improve driving behavior across Howard Tenens' fleet.
Solution
Matt began researching DriveCam, a global Driver Risk Management (DRM) company with a track record of helping commercial and government enterprises reduce vehicle damages, workers' compensation, personal injury and claims costs, when a Howard Tenens contractor crashed the company vehicle he was driving. No other drivers, passengers or vehicles were involved in the crash and the Howard Tenens driver was not seriously injured, but details of what actually happened were never confirmed. Matt sought a more effective way to ensure the safety and integrity of his drivers and obtain impartial evidence.
In September 2006, Howard Tenens deployed DriveCam's behavior-based risk mitigation solution in 16 of its vehicles. By December 2006, Howard Tenens made the decision to deploy the solution across the remaining 100+ vehicles in its fleet.
Matt liked that DriveCam's approach is proactive and enables fleets to identify and improve risky driving behaviors among their drivers. DriveCam's exception-based video event recorder is mounted on the windshield behind the rearview mirror and captures sights and sounds inside and outside the vehicle. Exceptional forces such as hard braking, swerving or collision cause the recorder to save the critical seconds immediately before and after the triggered event. Saved events are analyzed and used in ongoing driver coaching programs to improve behavior and mitigate driver risk.
Matt reports that Howard Tenens drivers initially were skeptical of the solution. As was the case with earlier technologies, including the tachograph, an electronic device installed in U.K. transport vehicles to monitor driver hours of service and vehicle speed, at first drivers were resistant to the perceived intrusion of the video event recorder. To alleviate their concerns and gain driver buy-in, Howard Tenens, with the support of DriveCam's Safety Services experts, invested time in deploying an educational program for its drivers on how the DriveCam solution works and how it would be used to help them improve their driving, or in the event of a collision, determine what actually happened.
Within a week of the video event recorders being installed, one of Howard Tenens' drivers was involved in an incident with another vehicle. The two vehicles collided on a narrow country lane. Evidence captured on the DriveCam video event recorder demonstrated that the Howard Tenens driver was not at fault because the other driver did not attempt to yield at all. Without this evidence, fault for the accident would have been split between the drivers of the two vehicles, or worse, assigned entirely to the Howard Tenens driver because his vehicle was larger and as such he is required to yield to the smaller vehicle.
"That incident immediately proved the value of the DriveCam solution to our drivers," said Matt.
Drivers soon saw other benefits of the DriveCam solution and began using the video event recorder's manual activation feature to record instances of locked gates preventing them from making deliveries and absentee consignees at designated times of delivery.
Matt notes that Howard Tenens earlier had implemented the ÔICON' system, a paper-based driver management tool, across its fleet. Developed with the U.K. Road Haulage Association, ICON is a toolbox of training materials meant to help transport companies improve the quality of their driving and increase safety. "The DriveCam solution fits perfectly with ICON," said Matt. While one is a paper-based training and management of skills system, the other (the DriveCam solution) "helps me manage the attitude of my drivers and identify risky driving behaviors likely to result in an accident."
Implementing the DriveCam technology was easy, according to Matt, who reports that evidence captured on the video event recorder is automatically downloaded when drivers return to Howard Tenens' fueling station at the end of their shifts. A dedicated team member in DriveCam's San Diego, Calif., headquarters reviews all of the gathered video clips, scores and filters them before sending them to a fleet manager at Howard Tenens who uses the video to coach drivers.
While Matt notes that there was a slight learning curve in the beginning of the relationship as a result of differences in traffic laws between the United States and U.K., he credits DriveCam's commitment to service and a dedicated team member to ensuring a successful partnership.
"The service DriveCam's dedicated cross-functional team in San Diego has provided us has been consistently great," said Matt. "DriveCam obviously spent time training the right people to help us and they have been with us from the beginning, getting to know our company's culture and our country's laws so they could be true partners in helping us mitigate risky driving behaviors across our fleet."
Impact
Impact of the DriveCam solution was felt immediately as Matt reports the company saw an "almost overnight improvement" in how it operates. The average number of events captured on the video event recorder fell from hundreds per week to an average of 10 per week per vehicle by the second week of implementation. That number soon dropped again to only one or two event captures per week per vehicle.
Additionally, the DriveCam solution has helped Howard Tenens' drivers reduce wear and tear on vehicles, increase miles-per-gallon averages, decrease the incidence of accidents and lower operating costs. Fewer accidents means more vehicle availability to meet customer demand.
Howard Tenens also has seen a reduction in the number of complaints they receive from motorists about their drivers, aiding in corporate reputation management. As a result, Howard Tenens has established a driver's league and recognizes drivers who demonstrate good driving behavior.
"Despite our success, we're still a private, family-owned enterprise committed to delivering customers good service and the DriveCam solution is linked to that," said Matt. "DriveCam helps us ensure our organization's high standards are carried across our workforce."
Adds Peter Morris, chief executive of Howard Tenens: "The DriveCam risk reduction program is the most significant health and safety program Howard Tenens has entered into. Providing practical, on-the-spot analysis of driver behavior as it happens, DriveCam proved itself within a week of installation. I feel confident that DriveCam's contribution to the success of the company will be seen in all areas of its distribution -- operations, reducing costs, improving safety and increasing customer satisfaction."