Started around 30 years ago, Transrock supplies landscape rocks throughout Victoria, relying on its fleet of seven trucks to service its customers’ needs.
A change in ownership has seen Tim Stevenson take the reins of this thriving Wonga Park based business earlier this year. He told Big Rigs that the attraction to Transrock was its long history serving landscapers, schools, councils and other civil construction businesses, combined with the team’s reputation for being a reliable partner.
“It’s been great working with Transrock’s previous owner, Mark, to ensure we deliver a consistent experience for our customers while also having a fresh set of eyes look at our key processes,” said Tim.
“One of the first priorities I had was to implement technologies and systems across the business and fleet. From my perspective, having this visibility helped me make decisions from day one.”
That’s when Tim turned to WHG Technologies to develop a customised solution for his fleet of tippers – ranging from rigids through to truck and dogs.
“Implementing this sort of technology is something the former owner supported as part of the sale, he was instrumental in making the fleet available and reassuring the team about the change. The previous owner and I discussed that he’d have implemented a GPS system if he was keeping the business.”
WHG worked closely with Tim to develop a complete technology solution that incorporates:
• The WHG ecosystem of Telematics and FleetCAM AI video technology
• WHG’s Logmaster integration for compliant logbooks
• Pre-start checks integration with ‘Odoo’ business management software
“Odoo is our ‘everything-else’ system,” Tim explained, referring to the business management software that underpins Transrock’s operations. “It runs our sales process and now connects with WHG to feed live data into servicing and maintenance. Together, they give us clear visibility across the fleet, including letting us track our excavator engine hours in real time.”
The integrated system consolidates product, customer, and telematics data, enabling Transrock to manage servicing schedules and receive automated maintenance alerts. Soon, Odoo will also allocate delivery jobs directly to drivers.
“Going digital means our drivers know exactly where they’re headed next – and tracking on our vehicles means our excavator team can have the next load ready before the truck even rolls in,” said Tim.
“Working with WHG, Transrock has gone from a paper-based business to a digital business in a few short months. It’s very useful to be able to prepare for scheduled fleet maintenance off the back of the combined system.
“We’re growing the fleet and fast approaching the limits of what paper and pen can handle. As we add more trucks and sites over the next year, robust digital systems are essential to stay in control.
“The truck engine data is all read through the WHG ECU CAN-BUS module. Recently, we received an alert that one truck was a little low on oil, so we called the driver, asked him to pull over, check it and top it up. You don’t want to solely rely on the technology, but it’s another safety net to prevent breakdowns.
“Having visibility of our trucks’ location through WHG’s iLink platform has made our team’s life easier. Previously if a customer needed to know where our drivers were, you’d have to hang up, call the driver to work out where they are, then call the customer back. Now with a couple of clicks, we can update the customer immediately,” explained Tim.
“Often, we’re meeting customers with excavators at the other end, so when we drop off our product, they need to stop another job and be ready to unload or move the material. Being able to give customers a heads up of when the driver is arriving, ahead of time, is a big advantage.”
From a monitoring perspective, Tim said the WHG solution provides greater visibility over driver behaviour as well. “If there are any issues with speeding or harsh braking, we can have those conversations proactively. As a new business owner, you can never know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. I already had great confidence in my team, and the technology has proved that they aren’t taking any unnecessary risks on the road, reflecting the team’s professionalism and shared commitment to safety.
“Geofencing has also been beneficial – knowing if a truck leaves the yard at a really strange time is invaluable – and if that ever occurred, I’d receive an alert.”
On the video telematics side, Transrock has started with forward facing FleetCAM cameras on each of its trucks, with plans to extend that to include side facing and tipper cameras too. “We’re currently working on expanding our FleetCAM system with WHG at the moment,” Tim added. The next phase will further support drivers on the road and help protect them from false claims or incidents.
Despite numerous telematics providers in the market, for Transrock, partnering with WHG has been the perfect fit. “WHG has been really proactive in integrating with our systems. The WHG team has been so great to work with, spending the time to understand our specific business problems and being open to customising systems to best suit our business needs, and making the whole process easy,” said Tim.
Tim now has his sights set on growing the business in the years ahead. “I’d love to eventually look at expanding to additional yards – which would mean doubling or tripling the size of the fleet.”
For a company built on moving rock, Transrock’s biggest shift has been digital.
A paperless fleet, smarter systems, and a strong, professional team – that’s the new bedrock of its success, and its next 30 years.
To learn more about Transrock, visit transrock.com.au.
For more information on WHG Technologies, visit whg-telematics.com.