Organic food retailer Abel & Cole to reduce carbon footprint with Cybit Fleetstar Vehicle Tracking

• Solution helps reduce miles driven by nationwide home delivery service
• Enables next phase of initiatives for the winner of three consecutive National Customer Service Awards
• For high resolution pictures, please click here

Cybit, the UK's leading online Telematics Service Provider, has implemented its Fleetstar-Online vehicle tracking solution into the home delivery fleet of Abel & Cole, the UK's leading organic food retailer. Abel & Cole will use the Cybit system to reduce its Carbon footprint and benchmark all home delivery vehicles across its six national depots – making the distribution of its organic produce more efficient.

Abel & Cole has been a winner at the National Customer Service Awards in each of the last three years and will deploy Cybit's technology to help enable its next phase of service development.

"We have had great success in growing our home delivery network throughout the past 20 years – starting from just going door-to-door to now having nearly 100 vehicles across the country," commented Ben Reardon, Head of Logistics, Abel & Cole. "As a supplier of high quality, locally sourced organic produce, we feel we must also reduce our own impact on the environment. We have been trialling the use of plant oil as a fuel with Regenatec Biofuel systems – and strategically implementing vehicle telematics will further cut our footprint by focusing on efficiency in our operation."

Cybit's Driver ID module – part of the Fleetstar-Online solution – will provide visibility of fleet activity by employee to help Abel & Cole manage driver behaviour from a duty of care perspective. Abel & Cole will also deploy Cybit's powerful Data Analyser solution to provide long-term analysis of fleet performance and measure the effectiveness of management programmes over periods of weeks, months and years.

"Cybit's install team has worked closely with our operations team to ensure that the system will add real value to our business: optimising the effectiveness of our existing operations and helping to manage future growth. We never air freight our produce and environmentally friendly road transport is a fundamental principle of our business," Ben Reardon concluded.

"Home delivery organisations have a massive cost and operational efficiency burden, because they have to coordinate complex routes, maintain a high level of service for their customers and remain competitive on price," commented John Wisdom, Sales and Marketing Director, Cybit. "Abel & Cole's vehicles typically make between 60 and 100 separate drops every day. We are providing them with the tools to dynamically manage the entire fleet, ensure delivery schedules are adhered to and managed most effectively. Online visibility and activity reports allow Abel & Cole to take steps to reduce its carbon tyreprint."

Fleetstar-Online is Cybit's scalable Internet-based telematics solution that features real-time vehicle tracking, exception reporting, replay mode, customised reports, mileage information, SMS messaging and live traffic information. Fleet vehicles are fitted with a small electronic in-vehicle-unit, which is tracked by GPS in real-time and then transmits data to Cybit's online control centre. It provides companies with a cost-effective fleet management solution, which offers users anytime, anywhere access to the system via a standard web browser.

<sub>About Cybit:
Cybit is a global force in Telematics, operating within three core sectors: Internet-based vehicle Telematics solutions; Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) Management; and Private Mobile Radio (PMR) based asset tracking and precise positioning solutions.  

In the vehicle Telematics sector, Cybit is one of Europe's leading Telematics Service Providers (TSPs). More than 1,700 business to business clients use the company's fleet and asset management solutions to manage in excess of 45,000 assets primarily in the public sector, service industries and logistics and distribution markets. Solutions include in-vehicle technologies, work flow management, CanBus integration and internet-based monitoring and reporting software. The company also provides consulting services to advise on operational and legal issues such as duty of care and working hours.

Cybit is also a global leader in the field of EEZ fisheries management, tracking many thousands of fishing vessels on a daily basis. The company provides vessel monitoring and catch management solutions for many of the world's major fishing nations. As well as EC governments including the UK, Ireland and Greece, Cybit helps to manage valuable fishing stocks for emerging nations such as Ghana, Namibia and Mozambique.

Cybit's PMR business provides asset-tracking and precise positioning solutions for both maritime and land-based applications including exploration and mining. Its precise positioning solutions are in constant use in the location and exploitation of oil, gas and mineral reserves around the globe.

Additional information is available at www.cybitholdings.com, www.cybit.co.uk, www.truck24.com, www.amatics.com, www.cybitpositioningsolutions.co.uk and www.bluefinger.com, www.abelandcole.co.uk

Contact information:
Duncan Burford
IBA - PR for Cybit
Tel: 01780 721 433
Email: dburford@iba-europe.com

Graham Gordon
Marketing Manager, Cybit
Tel: 01480 389100
Email: ggordon@cybit.co.uk</sub>

Issuers of news releases, not Targetwire, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.