Established in 1962, G.M. Kane & Sons was started by John Kane, with just one truck. He named the company after his parents George and Muriel.
In the early days it offered general freight services between Sydney and Camden.
John soon decided to start specialising in flooring products, seeking out specialised equipment to handle carpet and vinyl rolls. As demands for its services grew, the company began offering state-wide services across NSW.
From humble beginnings, the company – now known as GMK Logistics – has grown into one of Australia’s leading flooring logistics providers.
The business was acquired by CTI Logistics Limited – a publicly listed logistics business based in WA – in June 2015 and is now a wholly owned subsidiary.
Today, GMK Logistics operates from Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
It manages a fleet of approximately 70 trucks, including sub-contractors. Local trucks range in size from 2-12 tonne rigids, while prime movers are sub-contracted for depot to depot runs.
Around seven years ago, GMK Logistics began rolling out Procon Telematics devices and its Fleetlocate GPS tracking software across the entire fleet of company owned and sub-contractor trucks. And as the company’s national compliance manager Gary Satara explains, they’ve never looked back.
From a compliance, vehicle maintenance and operational perspective, Procon ticks all the boxes.
“Procon offers a really simple and intuitive software package, but its functionality and capability go much further. If you just want GPS positioning, you can simply open it up and can see where all your trucks are located – in real time,” Satara said.
“If our fleet controllers get calls for a pick up, they know which truck is where, can see which is the closest and what pick-ups and drop offs that truck already has assigned. They can then contact the drivers to get it all organised.
“From a customer service perspective, if a customer calls us, and wants to know how far away a delivery is, we can check with a quick look at the system.”
Basic telematics aside, the Fleetlocate software can be customised to suit a wide range of needs. For example, GMK Logistics focuses heavily on the speed management package. “Every depot around the country looks after its own drivers. We have speed alerts set up for each state depot, so if a driver goes over the speed limit, their state managers will receive an overspeed alert. We also have a scheduled overspeed report that gets emailed to me and the state managers, so we are able to deal with any offenders promptly and effectively,” Satara explained.
“If someone needs a first warning, they will get one based on what the report says, so it’s performance management as well as speed management.”
Along with the functionality, Satara says the Fleetlocate software is also very reliable. “I don’t think I can remember a single time the system had a glitch. I don’t believe it’s ever gone down on us, and we’ve always been able to access it in the entire seven years we’ve been using Fleetlocate. Uptime has to be 100 per cent. So as far as maintenance goes, there’s never been a problem.
“Procon’s director, René Bueman, is across everything. I can call or email him and he gets back to me straight away. With new installs, we just let him know when a truck is going to be delivered and he schedules the installation, which is done either by him or an approved contractor. He’s always friendly, always responsive, knows the system back-to-front and is across everything he needs to be. And he’s always available, which is important for a transport business.”
Visit the Procon stand at the Brisbane Truck Show at Mezzanine 222- or for more information, visit proconmrm.com.au or call 1300 872 251.