Punch Telematix customers among the prizewinners
5 March 2008 by LS
Punch Telematix, a growing, innovative listed telematics company is proud that two of its customers were recently awarded prizes. Ninatrans distinguished itself by winning the ‘Truck ICT Award 2008’ and Corneel Geerts won the ‘Best Innovation of the Year 2008’.
Truck ICT Award 2008 – an intelligent combination of tried-and-tested technology and in-house development
The ‘Truck ICT Award’, an initiative from MMM Business Media, was awarded for the second time on 22 February last. The ‘Truck ICT Award’ rewards a company based in Belgium which manages its own fleet of trucks and implements an extremely effective ICT policy. The prizewinner for the 2008 edition was Ninatrans, a leading Belgian haulier which has specialised in aviation transport and carries goods between airports almost throughout Europe (www.ninatrans.be). Ninatrans was given the prize because of its intelligent combination of ‘best of breed’ technology and its in-house development. The result of this approach is ICT infrastructure that is tailored to the needs of the company and its customers to a maximum degree.
Ninatrans is a pioneer in the area of using ICT in daily management. The company has developed its own software applications since the start of the 1990s and it was one of the first firms to equip its trucks with on-board computers in 1999. As the firm is convinced of the competitive advantage offered by efficient ICT management, Ninatrans also wants to remain a pioneer. A way of optimising the quality of its service based on the existing and self-developed back-office applications was sought during 2006. Ninatrans used the most suitable specialised supplier for each component of its transport management solution. Punch Telematix’s CarCube on-board computer and associated FleetWorks back-office application were selected for the on-board computer systems. User-friendliness, fast, easy integration with existing back-office systems, the professional approach to the project and the modern, innovative technology on which the Punch Telematix solution is based were decisive factors in this choice. The successful integration of the CarCube bundle was announced in September of last year.
Ninatrans can confirm that user-friendly transport management solutions repay their initial expense. The company has calculated that its total ICT investments have already been repaid within 48 months as a result of direct cost savings. The indirect benefits such as competitive differentiation and customer loyalty-building are also certainly just as important. For example, the company offers its customers the possibility of tracking their transport in real time and calling up reports. Optimum customer service and customer satisfaction are of central importance during the development of its ICT applications. Ninatrans is also continuing to invest in extending its ICT applications.
“This distinction crowns all of our efforts”, says Benny Smets, director of Ninatrans. “Thanks to CarCube, we can offer our customers fast, efficient feedback and the opportunities offered by our own software development can now be fully exploited for the first time. The investment in CarCube was the missing link, in a manner of speaking.”
The winner of the ‘Best Innovation of the Year 2008’ chose CarCube
The ‘Best Innovation of the Year 2008’ award was presented on 24 January last during the third edition of the ‘Best of Transport 2008’ event at Théâtre du Vaudeville in Brussels, Belgium. The initiator of ‘Best of Transport’ is Transportmedia, which is known for publications such as Transport management and Logistics Management among others. Transportmedia celebrates hauliers which work ingeniously in the areas of fleet management, logistics, company management, human resources, etc. through the ‘Best Innovation of the Year’. The trophy for the most innovative haulage firm was awarded this year to Corneel Geerts, an intermodal haulage firm from Wijnegem near Antwerp, Belgium (www.cgeerts.be). This was not the first time that the company was among the prizewinners. It was also presented with the European Intermodal Award 2007 at the end of last year.
Playing a pioneering role is not unusual for this family firm. In the 1960s it transported the first container that arrived into the port of Antwerp at the time and it was the first to offer a roro-ferry service to Sweden with its then partner Trailer Express in the 1970s. The company developed its pan-European distribution network in the 1980s and 1990s and once again was one of the first firms to organise transport to and from Eastern Europe. Today, Corneel Geerts offers combined transport throughout Europe and has specialised in grouping and ADR transport, among other things. The company offers a roro-ferry service for all of Scandinavia and the United Kingdom and combined rail-road transport to Italy and Spain. Corneel Geerts has a fleet of over 60 trucks, 200 trailers and 200 exchangeable containers. All of the trucks are equipped with the CarCube on-board computer, and the FleetWorks back-office application has been integrated into the back-office systems developed in-house. Computerisation and streamlining of the business processes were also decisive for Corneel Geerts in the success of its intermodal policy.
In a reaction to the award Marc Geerts, general manager of Corneel Geerts says: “You have to renew constantly to stay ahead of the competition. We also owe this to our reputation as a pioneer. Our cooperation with Punch Telematix makes it possible to continue to play this groundbreaking role. Our trucks are controlled from the sky!”
Wim Maes, CEO of Punch Telematix is satisfied: “Our customers’ success is also our success. After all, our main goal is to achieve and increase our customers’ success with our products and services. Our customers can increase their efficiency and offer better service with the help of our solutions, which leads to better margins, greater customer satisfaction and a keener competitive position. We are happy that an independent jury has confirmed this.”
