Argus Tracking Helps Ryman Healthcare Grow
Ryman Healthcare is on the fast track to doubling its size in the next 10 years, and with that expansion comes an ever-growing vehicle fleet and a need for better management and understanding of that fleet.
Providers of retirement living and care options, Ryman Healthcare was limited in its ability to monitor the use of its approximately 180 vehicles – until it invested in Argus Tracking.
Ryman Healthcare has been in business for over 30 years. It does everything, from buying land and designing villages to managing the day-to-day running of its villages. With 34 villages across New Zealand and Australia, it offers independent and assisted living, plus rest-home, hospital and specialist dementia care.
Its rapid growth has been positive but has presented challenges in managing its increasing vehicle fleet. Contracts and Systems manager Darrin Findlay jokes, “It feels like we’re getting new vehicles almost on a daily basis.” Darrin was part of the initial set-up with Argus Tracking and talks about how Ryman Healthcare is “leaps and bounds” ahead of where it was in terms of managing its vehicle fleet.
Risk Point Reporting Takes Care of Health and Safety
Like many other companies without fleet management software, the only way Ryman Healthcare could monitor the safe use of its vehicles was via ad hoc reporting. “We’d handle any complaints that came in, or address really obvious things like damage to a vehicle,” says Darrin. That method, he says, was inefficient and less than ideal. Argus Tracking understands the role health and safety plays in today’s workplaces – telling people to “drive safe” is no longer enough. The solution’s Driver Behaviour dashboard and scorecard use GPS to spot any negative behaviour while using a work vehicle – overspeeding being a main concern. It then applies risk points to each driver accordingly. That data is compared to the 46,000 other drivers Argus monitors daily, so a company can see how its drivers are doing against the national average.
“Every Monday we receive risk summary reports, which are automatically e-mailed to our Operations, Sales and Construction teams. Each team will then up with any at-risk drivers. The GPS tracking is the most effective way for us to be proactive and stay on top of issues before they become a real problem,” says Darrin.
Fuel Use Management
Another feature of the Argus system that appealed to Ryman was the ability to track fuel consumption. Ryman is part of the CEMARS carbon reduction programme and is actively reducing its carbon emissions. The Argus system has allowed Ryman to accurately track fuel use, and potentially target fuel savings in the future.
Fuel costs can be one of the greatest expenses of running a fleet – and the bigger the fleet, the more expensive and comprehensive that cost becomes.
Argus Tracking’s Fuel Watch integrates directly with fuel cards from all major fuel suppliers. This simplifies fuel bills and supplies companies with a visual representation of fuel consumption. This means businesses like Ryman can easily identify discrepancies between distance travelled and fuel consumption.
“Being able to track our fuel usage has been beneficial in helping us to better monitor our fuel usage and become more fuel efficient,” Darrin says. They’re currently working with the Argus Tracking development team on integrating the Australian fuel providers as well, he adds.
Growing Together: Mutual Relationship
With Ryman’s plans to basically double its business in the next ten years, Darrin says the best part about Argus Tracking is its willingness and ability to grow alongside them.
Currently, the company has approximately 180 vehicles across two countries – a mixture of light vehicles and specialist construction vehicles – and that number is growing by the day. Argus Tracking is working with them to deliver the tools to fit their requirements, Darrin explains, including tracking the operation of their specialist vehicles.
“The people at Argus have been great to deal with - their communication is good and any issues or queries are addressed and resolved promptly. They’re always willing to talk about improving and developing the software for new things we’re implementing, which has an obvious pay off for the both of us,” he says.
Argus Tracking’s top-of-the-line GPS software makes quick work of all Ryman Healthcare’s tracking needs. “We really wanted a system that was efficient in helping us manage our vehicles and monitor the health and safety aspects of our fleet. We like that Argus is a New Zealand-based company – having a local contact to deal with is great – and the services they provide are comprehensive. They’re growing with us and we like that,” Darrin says
