May / June 2016 |
Logistics |
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BULKDISTRIBUTOR |
25 |
Singing in the rain
Liquid handling solutions specialist Rain for Rent has partnered with Telogis to enhance fleet security and support business growth
Founded in 1934 , Rain for Rent offers temporary liquid handling solutions across 65 locations worldwide . Specialising in a range of maintenance projects - from flood relief to construction site dewatering - the company is known for its quality of products , customer care and engineering expertise . Its fleet of mobile storage tanks , for example , is used for short and long term storage of water , wastewater and contaminated liquids across many industry sectors . The firm ’ s UK team works alongside a dedicated supply chain to meet the needs of a diverse customer base across a range of sectors , from government to oil and gas , mining and manufacturing . Rain for Rent International UK has implemented Telogis Fleet to enable the company to monitor more accurately its liquid handling assets across various locations , and give senior management enhanced insight into their movements remotely , in the office and through mobile and desktop devices . Dramatically reducing time needed to travel to dispersed sites for manual inspections , this also helps the team more accurately monitor customer use of assets while protecting against security breaches and theft .
Connecting and protecting
Rain for Rent International UK has over 100 assets currently in its portfolio , and at a cost of £ 80,000 per unit , any instances of theft or movement has serious ramifications on profitability and revenue . Tom Finnegan , Rain for Rent ’ s UK business manager , says the company is a dynamic and trusted brand , recognised in the industry for the resilience and durability of its products . “ For this very reason , we need to be able to protect against any instances of theft ,” he says . “ Our units can measure 12m long and contain up to 70 cbm ( 70,000 litres ), meaning they ’ re extremely expensive to manufacture and repair . Once the assets are in position , they can hold tons of material which may also be perilous to the local environment if unlawfully moved . We wanted to become even more proactive in quashing any risk before it arose .” The team also wanted to get a better grip on rental usage , ensuring the containers were used for the purposes requested and the duration stipulated . To manage these business demands , Rain for Rent International UK decided it needed to deploy a solution that would seamlessly link its assets and mobile workforce , and turned to Telogis , which specialises in data and connected location intelligence . Finnegan adds : “ We had no existing software in place , and once the decision to invest in tracking tools had been made , we quickly came to the decision that Telogis best suited our needs . “ Telogis has an excellent reputation in the market and our US team had a very successful experience with it previously . That made it a natural choice for us . “ Through the use of Telogis Fleet , we can now monitor every asset through the online system , remotely or though the iOS or Android compatible mobile app . It gives a remarkably detailed level of insight , including the ability to report on start and stop times for more accurate billing . The user interface is incredibly easy to operate ; we were up and running in a matter of days .” Having grown a loyal and dependable customer base over the years maintaining high customer satisfaction levels is crucial for Rain for Rent , says Finnegan . “ We wanted to enhance our existing relationships through tracking of our rental products through software , connecting all parties on the location of a unit and ensuring transparency on the duration of a contract . With Telogis , we receive alerts when an asset moves outside of a virtual boundary . Before , it could have taken days before we became aware - or it might even have gone unnoticed altogether , which would have obviously impacted heavily on our bottom line .”
Asset management
From Scotland to Cornwall , Rain for Rent International UK has over 15 storage locations to house its various assets . It urgently needed to be able to monitor these products more precisely , and in real-time through one centrally controlled system . Previously , the entire inspection and auditing process had to be done in person , with the results entered by hand . “ For security and compliance purposes we ’ re required to conduct an inventory audit every quarter ,” Finnegan continues . “ To check each and every unit physically could easily take over a week to complete for one person . We urgently needed to update our operational processes and deploy a solution which would reduce this time , allowing us to focus on serving our customers and make our offering innovative . “ Through the use of Telogis , we ’ ve exceeded these objectives and now have crystal clear visibility on where all our equipment is at any time , no matter how remote the location . Our auditing process has been dramatically reduced to just one hour , achieved through the intuitive automated functionality of Telogis Fleet . This crucially allows us to focus our attention on driving business innovation and ROI .”
Competitive edge
In addition to location monitoring , the team was aware of the wider advantages which could be achieved through this type of solution , such as censoring for dangerously high levels of poisonous liquids being stored , preventing contamination or overflows which could have a harmful effect on the immediate environment . The team had an ambitious long-term international growth strategy in place , looking to expand further across the UK and Europe , including the Netherlands and Germany , and making available several thousand units for those territories over the forthcoming years . With several hundred units on order and on trial across central Europe , Rain for Rent is poised to achieve its ambitious growth targets , and plans to fit Telogis based technology to these additional units . Finnegan concludes : “ This is an exciting time of transition for us , and we look forward to extending our partnership with Telogis to the benefit of our customers and ecosystem of partners . We ’ ve already seen remarkable time savings since fitting the tools which translates into more business hours available to focus on strategy and improvement of services , enabling us to meet our business objectives , now and in the immediate future .” www . rainforrent . co . uk www . telogis . co . uk
70,000 litre tanks sitting on RFRI ’ s easy to install spill guards Rain for Rent wanted to get a better on where and for how long its assets were being deployed