Aadvark Concrete

Excelling in customer service

Since its formation 10 years ago, Aardvark Concrete has established itself at the fore of the volumetric concrete industry. Based in Stockport, the business supplies concrete and aggregate to a range of DIY and trade contractors throughout the North West.

With a fleet of 14 vehicles and 23 members of staff, ensuring timely deliveries to its customer base is at the very heart of its operational success. The decision to introduce Navman Wireless vehicle tracking was made three years ago. John Kilroe, Managing Director at Aardvark Concrete explains:
“Myself and many of the operations team are based at the office and when we had all 14 vehicles out on the road, keeping track of their activities was a difficult and expensive process. It involved a lot of phone calls and costly administration time but with vehicle tracking we can just look at our computer screens and know precisely where all our trucks are at any time.

“This has made us more efficient in allocating new jobs and we are now able to match jobs to the most appropriate vehicles.”

Not only does the system allow John and the operations team to monitor all of their vehicles in real-time, but all of the Aardvark vehicles are also fitted with the integrated M-Nav messaging and satellite navigation units.

The M-Nav allows John and the team to contact the drivers, send them messages with job updates and route them to their next jobs removing the need to make phone calls ensuring communications are swifter and safer.

Boosting customer service

“Since installing the system it has been in use constantly,” declares John, “Our customer response times have seen significant improvements and we have been able to secure new business on the back of that.

“In addition, because we can see exactly where all of our vehicles are, we are now able to offer 30 minute delivery slots to all of our customers – much better than the typical am or pm slots offered by many competitors.

As a consequence, the technology has allowed Aardvark to increase the amount of jobs its vehicles are capable of completing each day.

“The system as a whole is great for time management. If a customer calls wanting to know the whereabouts of their delivery, rather than us calling the driver then calling the customer back, we look on screen and tell them exactly where he is and what time he will arrive.”

The advanced technology employed by Navman Wireless has also assisted Aardvark in other areas. The entire fleet is fitted with ConEx devices - a unit that captures other vehicle related activities. This can be used to alert businesses when doors are left open for example.

For Aardvark, it is used to see exactly when a truck starts and stops pouring concrete, which means there is no delay in despatching drivers to the next job.

Financial savings

The primary goal of installing vehicle tracking for John was to create a more efficient fleet and deliver better service to customers, but Aardvark have also seen significant cost savings.

“We have made savings from reductions in both mileage and improved communication with our drivers – prior to tracking our phone bills were much higher.”

Helping with business expansion

Aardvark Concrete is hoping to add £1m to its turnover over the next year by moving into new areas of business, including utility companies and local government organisations.

John explains how the advantages enjoyed as a result of installing vehicle tracking are expected to assist in the company’s future expansion plans:

“The system has improved efficiency and service in many areas of our business and has certainly given us a vital competitive advantage not only in our current operating environment, but the one into which we are embarking.”

“As far as I’m concerned Navman Wireless vehicle tracking is invaluable and we couldn’t function without it,” he concluded.