Member Article

Black Country logistics specialist taps into ‘Spillard Live’ to boost driver safety and maximise expansion

One of the UK’s leading logistics experts has teamed up with Spillard Safety Systems to help it combine consistent growth in its operations with improving the safety of its drivers.

JJX Logistics, which has increased its workforce by 20% to 65 people, has become an early adopter of ‘Spillard Live’, a new platform designed for the future of connected vehicle technology.

By fitting the industry-leading 4 camera system (front, rear, offside and nearside) to 10 of its vehicles, the West Midlands-based company can now dial in remotely to view all of the cameras in real-time, as well as being able to view historical footage.

This means accidents can be reviewed to determine cause and liability, whilst the system’s in-built GPS allows every truck to be tracked during the 50 weekly trips they make across Europe.

Another benefit is improved health and safety, with the driver now able to use the cameras to view blind spots on the nearside (when left indicator is activated) and also the rear blind spot when in reverse.

“The last eighteen months have seen us enjoy significant growth, with the move to our new 150,000 sq ft facility quickly following on from the launch of a depot in London Heathrow and a thriving Paris operation,” said John Donovan, MD and founder of JJX Logistics in 1997.

“Whilst our fleet and the number of journeys we make for clients across 12 different industries are expanding, the safety of our drivers and cargo continues to be paramount and that’s why we decided to tap into our strategic relationship with Spillard Safety Systems.”

He added: “We asked its experts to look at the way we operated and how we could utilise the latest technology, with the outcome being ‘Spillard Live’, initially installed on 10 vehicles out of our 45 fleet.

“There is little doubt it’s the future and our drivers have been very complimentary so far. We can track where all of the 10 vehicles are in real-time and can clearly see what has happened if an incident occurs - this has already helped us prove that a couple of accidents were not our responsibility.

“Most importantly though is the way the cameras improve visibility of our drivers, keeping them and other road users safe.”

Spillard Safety Systems, which recently secured £800,000 of new contracts to put it on course for £6m annual sales, has been making strong inroads into the commercial sector since entering it in 2015.

‘Spillard Live’ is its latest product offering and is based on an award-winning Internet of Things (IoT) platform that can track a vehicle in real-time with live video and analytics.

It captures, processes and learns from multiple sources and has been designed so that it is compatible with any device capable of transmitting datasets.

The data received is analysed using complex algorithms to improve driver behaviour, so much so that audible alerts can be sent to notify employees that their actions are being recorded - a feature that has been proven to have a positive effect on their behaviour.

In addition to JJX Logistics, ‘Spillard Live’ is also fitted to fleets run by AF Blakemore, DHL, Fowler Welch, Lomas Distribution and Marston’.

Craig Spillard, Finance Director at Spillard Safety Systems, added his support: “Our solutions offer the best of both worlds for firms like JJX Logistics, who want to manage strong growth whilst also ensuring the safety of staff and other road users.

“Technology can deliver both of these things in a cost-effective way that can continually be updated when new updates and advancements come online. We’ve been working with John and his team for four years now and understand what makes them tick and the level of service we need to provide.”

He concluded: “We are constantly innovating our product range to make sure we are at the forefront of solutions that help ‘kill blind spots’ and make driving or operating equipment safer.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .