Retailer Marks & Spencer has slashed vehicle mileage by 14% with a corresponding reduction in fuel use and emissions thanks to better integration of its distribution sites and improved routeing.
The Isotrak Active Transport Management System (ATMS) has been used by M&S in planning the reorganisation and measuring the benefits, explained Isotrak's Craig Sears-Black, speaking at a Carbon Footprint Supply Chain Summit in London.
He said that driven by the need to cut carbon emissions as well as competition-related costs, Britain's large retailers were leading the way in tracking the everyday efficiency of their vehicle operations. Another ATMS user, who Isotrak declines to name, had shown in trials that fuel savings of between 5 and 10% were possible simply through an improvement in driving style, which could be monitored through an Isotrak interface connection with a truck's engine management system in combination with satellite tracking.
Sears-Black 
added that "despite facing multiple obstacles, including 'aggressive' legislation, a shortage of skilled drivers, greater congestion and extended journey times,"retailers had shown that tracking technology systems like ATMS can reduce their carbon footprints while also saving fuel.