The first thing you notice when you walk into Toby Boyles’ office on the expansive Baker Roofing Company’s campus in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a white board. On it is written Baker’s 12 Driver’s Credos, scrawled in a stream of consciousness three years ago during a monthly meeting of the company’s Safety Committee.
It is obvious that the value Baker Roofing places on safety is paramount to its success. As one of the nation’s largest commercial and residential roofing contractors, safety stewardship is a key ingredient to the company’s continued growth.
Interestingly, for a company whose technicians can be 40 stories above ground is that Boyles believes that in many ways, having its trucks and vehicles on the road presents a daily safety challenge that exceeds that of putting technicians on roofs.
Boyles, who has worked with Baker Roofing for 12 years, now serves as vice president and manages Baker Roofing’s fleet, facilities, warehouse, and company infrastructure. “We’re a 116-year-old company that adopts new technology swiftly,” Boyles says. “The strategic deployment of telematics solutions serves our safety-first initiatives and has also added to our bottom line by reducing costs, securing company assets, and increasing employee satisfaction and engagement.”
WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS
Abiding by the mantra “if it’s not measured, it’s not real” scenario, Boyles partnered with mobile workforce solutions company BlueArrow Telematics 10 years ago. “They send me a detailed report at no charge that addresses the metrics we want to measure,” Boyles says. “Using the right tools and telematics, I can know, not guess what’s working.”
“Baker needs clear, concise data that every employee with the company can understand,” BlueArrow Telematics CEO Stuart Lamm says. “They go well beyond what is typical for most companies.”
CUSTOM SOLUTION
BlueArrow’s customized program for Baker Roofing includes:
State-of-the-art asset tracking for vehicles, trailers, and high cost equipment. This solution reduces idling time and provides a GPS location for every company asset.
Distracted driving solution that monitors driver behaviors such as hard turns, harsh braking, and seat belt use and can eliminate driving distractions such as texting and talking while driving.
Fuel card provider to track where and when fuel is purchased to prevent abuse.
Geotab fleet management to integrate technologies and provide real-time custom reporting.
Maintenance monitor works to keep vehicles on the road by alerting drivers to key maintenance issues such as tire gauge and pressure, oil changes, and alignment.
“All these technologies work together to assist us to meet our safety initiatives and produce positive results for the entire company,” Boyles explains.
GAMIFICATION
Lamm finds Baker’s early adoption of what he terms “gamification” most impressive. Boyles prefers the term Driver Rewards Program.
This is an in-house initiative designed to reward both management and drivers by scoring leading indicators of safety, maintenance, and overall driving performance. BlueArrow set up specific parameters and reporting for each individual driver and their vehicle—GPS data, speeding, harsh braking, seat belt use, maintenance, etc.
“On a scale of one to five, we saw lots of threes and fours the first month. Today, everyone’s score averages four to four-and-a-half,” Boyles says.
The reward? Gifts, time off, pats on the back, and the driver with the best score gets to drive a brand-new truck.
COMPANY TRUCKS
With more than 600 company trucks on the road, Boyles’ decision four years ago to upgrade the fleet rather than complying to the industry standard of “running a vehicle into the ground” didn’t seem logical but ended up being another sensible strategy initiated by the company.
First, he worked directly with the truck manufacturer (first Ford, now Chevrolet) to standardize the specs on all of Baker Roofing’s work vehicles, ensuring the electronics and telematics packages were up to date. Next, he determined the value and savings Baker’s fleet of more than 600 trucks could provide if the company sold each truck when it became five years old or had more than 150,000 miles.
Boyles explains, “Every year or two, a new vehicle will get a few more miles per gallon. Add maintenance costs and almost negligible vehicle downtime to our gas savings—we’re saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on this alone.”
Boyles’ job is to ensure the resources, trucks, and tools used by Baker’s technicians are working as hard as they do. “Using BlueArrow’s Fleet Management solutions, we are doing our part to make the road a safe place for our employees and our community. We use real-time data to improve driver safety, plus improve fuel usage, which benefits our environment.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Find out more about BlueArrow Telematics, visit www.bluearrowtelematics.com.
MODERN WORKTRUCK SOLUTIONS: APRIL 2019 ISSUE
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