Challenge:
As storms become more severe, Ceres' business has grown and the contractor has added more heavy machinery such as bucket trucks, chip trucks, and skid steers. Ceres estimates that it owns and operates more than 1,200 units and rents 100+ on any given day.
With these 1,200+ assets in circulation across the United States, asset availability, maintenance, security, safety, and managing driver hours has become critical. Asset availability is crucial to the productivity and profitability of construction firms. Without accurate usage data, maintenance may be performed too early (wasting resources) or too late (causing damage) and breakdowns cost time and money and cause disruption. When assets are lost or stolen, or when road accidents occur due to driver inattention or error, projects are delayed even further and become even more costly due to increased insurance premiums, accident payouts, and asset replacement costs.
Ceres needed a holistic solution that could address a myriad of problems that were hurting the business’ profitability. A scalable platform that could address multiple issues from safety to security, as well as supporting vehicle inspection and maintenance programs was critical.
I can see us really excelling with TN360. It does so much for us, and we're only beginning our journey.
- Dakota Arndt
Solution:
Ceres Environmental deployed Teletrac Navman’s scalable TN360 ACM platform for asset and construction equipment management; AT301 Fleet Tracking Devices; Cameras; and ELD Fleet Tracking System. Using TN360 ACM at the core, Ceres Environmental has a single pane view of its assets to understand everything from asset location to driver hours and safety, maintenance scheduling, as well as inspection logs and fuel usage.
There has been a big push to get Ceres Environmental employees, who are most directly engaged with vehicles and equipment on a daily basis, to complete daily inspections to improve equipment usage visibility and maintenance accuracy. Personnel report daily on metrics such as wear and tear or mechanical issues and equipment is assigned to specific employees to ensure better documentation of who is operating which unit at all times. When an inspection fails during morning checks, the system sends immediate notifications to the shop. This enables timely ordering of parts and allows the repair to be assigned to the next available mechanic. In the field, especially during storm response, failed inspections also provide mechanics with a preliminary diagnosis before they arrive on site. This allows them to prepare the necessary tools and parts, speeding up repairs and reducing downtime.
Teletrac Navman's video telematics solutions, particularly its AI-powered Smart Dashcam, can significantly improve driver safety in the construction industry and help with insurance claims and premiums reduction. These cameras, with features like dual forward and inward-facing lenses, provide real-time visibility into driver behavior, accidents and road conditions, helping to identify and address risky actions, as well as exonerating drivers in the event of false claims being made against them. This proactive approach, combined with features like real-time alerts, promotes a safer and more supportive work environment for construction workers.
To support effective asset location tracking and utilization, Teletrac Navman’s asset trackers combined with geofencing capabilities provide Ceres with transparency into where its assets are at any given time, including alerts when they leave a job site.
Results:
- Utilizing Teletrac Navman’s asset trackers Ceres Environmental has been able to find hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen equipment – including three trailers and two skid steer – which were stolen in a month.
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To further reinforce security, the company has set up geofencing for all of its jobs and sends alerts for assets that enter or exit after hours.
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The deployment of Teletrac Navman’s connected platform and forward-facing dash cams have led to exoneration of the company’s drivers in at least one incident. The company also uses TN360 ACM to track fuel costs – one of its largest expenses.
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Setting up a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule has improved its ability to plan ahead. It allows Ceres to proactively order necessary parts in advance of scheduled services. With early alerts indicating when PM is coming due, it can notify mechanics in advance, enabling them to integrate the maintenance into their schedules effectively. Having service templates within the application streamlines the process — mechanics can access a step-by-step checklist directly on their mobile devices, ensuring consistency and efficiency in completing tasks.
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Ceres has been able to boost jobsite productivity monitoring: Managers gain better insight into employee performance at each jobsite through more detailed reports from the ground level.
About Ceres Environmental:
Throughout its history, Ceres Environmental has provided construction, demolition, and environmental services for a variety of governmental agencies throughout the Caribbean and US territories. Ceres is most well known nationally for its award-winning response to Hurricane Katrina and has been awarded and has executed contracts totaling more than $3.2 billion in disaster recovery work during the past several years.
Ceres also provide wood waste management, arboriculture and environmental services for a variety of agencies and are an industry leader in the development of recycling techniques for municipal waste, demolition waste, and contaminated vegetative storm debris.
Ceres has successfully performed contracts in nearly every American state and in Greenland, Haiti, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Ascension Island.