Leeds, UK, 27 May 2008 - Major material-handling equipment supplier CMS Lift Trucks is implementing the advanced Masternaut Three X satellite tracking service for its entire fleet of service vehicles. Part of the Barloworld Group of material-handling companies, CMS is the leading lift truck company in Northern Ireland, with 25 per cent market share. The company is the sole and exclusive distributor of Hyster equipment that can lift from 1 to 48 tonnes.  

Customer service is extremely important to CMS and already the Masternaut service is providing significant operational advantages that are helping to maintain the company's lead over its competitors.

Andrew Neill, General Manager, CMS Lift Trucks describes the benefits of Masternaut: "We get real-time information about the exact location of our service vehicles and we have linked each individual engineer's skill set to the vehicle, which allows us to provide a superior service to our customers. In short, Masternaut live data allows us to get the right person to the right place at the right time."

The CMS service fleet comprises vans and two HGVs for transporting large equipment. Each one is discretely fitted with a tracking device that uses GPS to establish the exact location of each vehicle. The position is transmitted constantly using GPRS and the vehicles positions are displayed in real time over the Internet. CMS access this information using a web browser which enables management to monitor the movement of individual vehicles as well as the entire fleet. Currently, CMS is viewing Masternaut real-time information using desktop monitors and will soon implement a large wall-mounted plasma screen so that all members of the control room team can see the movement of the service fleet at once.

Andrew Neill says CMS is extending the functionality of Masternaut by populating the system with customer details. "By populating the system we can see all of our customers and exactly where each one of our engineers is located in relation to them. There is a huge benefit in being able to tell them when the engineer will arrive. Masternaut gives us the transparency of information that allows us to keep our customers informed," he says.

"In addition, we are able to send our customers a text message to let them know when an engineer is within 500m of the site gate. This is extremely useful because it allows the customer to meet the engineer and take him directly to the job. It saves a lot of time and is advantageous to both our customer and ourselves as it helps to reduce costs," says Neill.

With the quality and accuracy of information available via Masternaut, CMS is able to deal efficiently with invoice queries. "We can show our customers exactly when our engineer arrives on site and when he leaves. This tallies with the invoice and resolves any discrepancies. It is extremely useful as we have over 1000 existing customers and a potential customer base that tops 3500. This cuts down the paperwork significantly," says Neill.

Summing up the service, Neill says: "As with our parent company Barloworld, CMS is gaining huge benefits from Masternaut. The technology gives us an ongoing advantage in Northern Ireland and Masternaut Three X's customer service is excellent. They understand what we do and respond promptly to what we ask them to do. It is a good relationship."