Beginning with a single horse and carriage over 120 years ago, Stows Waste Management has grown into a fourth-generation company leading in the collection and disposal of waste across multiple industries, including hospitality, industrial, domestic and commercial.
Based in Melbourne, Stows employs a staff of around 20 team members and boasts a fleet of 14 vehicles, including liquid tankers, hook lift trucks, low-clearance vehicles for underground carparks and one portable unit.
Slashing Unnecessary Costs and Reducing Paperwork
Like many transport fleets, the key focus for Stows Waste Management is the customer. The company’s success has been built on a commitment to building long term relationships and is continually investing in its product and service offering to ensure it remains at the forefront of waste management technology.
As part of its operations, Stows uses a range of auxiliary equipment, and spends a lot of time driving off-road. Manually calculating fuel tax credits for this travel is time-consuming, and the company previously resorted to averages for claims, meaning it missed out on hundreds of dollars each year.
At the same time, many of Stows’ processes were heavily paper-based, including their fatigue run sheets, checklists and document storage. Every time a document needed to be updated, a team member was required to go into every truck and vehicle to replace it manually.
Creating A Paperless, Managed Environment
With support from Paul Stow, Managing Director of Stows Waste Management, Stows implemented Teletrac Navman’s FTC Manager, and the company immediately reaped the benefits by retrospectively claiming several years of credits to bring money back into the business and in turn, pay off the system immediately.
Stows also implemented Teletrac Navman’s in-cabin driver device and GPS-enabled fleet management solutions. Previously, pre-trip inspections on their vehicles were done on paper and the information manually entered into the system. Now, as soon as an operator identifies an issue in their checklist, the operations staff is alerted that the truck requires repairs, whether minor or major.
According to Imran Darwiche, General Manager at Stows Waste Management, the new solutions have “created a whole heap of efficiencies”, helping the business to save time and money.
Not only has going paperless allowed important documents to be updated across the fleet in seconds but shifting to digital methods has provided Stows with the ability to generate comprehensive reports, from driver hours to vehicle use, with just a few clicks. Staff can draw actionable insights from data instantly, such as which vehicles are being used the most and whether it’s worth buying additional types of vehicles that get consistent use.
The rollout of the digital workforce has proven to be popular with Stows’ drivers as they’ve seen the impact the technology has on their daily operations.
“The drivers love the fact that the system actively keeps them safe on the road, alerting them when it’s time to take a break,” says Imran.
The company’s previous GPS tracking system would take a while to refresh and didn’t provide the most up-to-date locations. As Hannah Stewart, Operations Manager at Stows, says, “with Teletrac Navman, the system is very current, allowing us to give customers very precise ETAs which they like.”
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