Building a world-class telematics solution to drive real outcomes for the business, its people, and customers
About Stateline Freight
When brothers Paul and Gerard Ryan started Stateline Freight back in 1993, they had just one van, one truck, and a clear mission: to provide exceptional transportation services to people and businesses in its local community.
Based in Tasmania, the family-owned business has become a recognised name in Australian logistics, with over 75 vehicles across five locations in Tasmania and the east coast of the mainland. Its built a reputation as a dedicated delivery partner that literally goes the extra mile, with an emphasis on establishing strong interpersonal customer relationships.
As a specialist in transporting medical supplies and other high-priority items, Stateline Freight experienced particularly rapid growth over the COVID-19 period. The organisation had to quickly ramp up its resources, buying new trucks and hiring more drivers to keep up with demand.
“We were already growing really quickly and COVID just escalated that,” says Stateline Freight Operations Manager Jorja Rezaie. “We went from having a few trucks at our Hobart location to 15 over the course of a few years.”
Teams previously kept track of deliveries and drivers with paper-based processes. The organisation has many long-term customers which have dedicated trucks and drivers assigned to them. That gave staff a comprehensive knowledge of who was driving on any particular day and when customers could expect deliveries.
As the business grew, this tracking process became more complicated.
“We needed a way to make sure we were keeping track of everything and overseeing what was happening with our drivers, whilst improving client services and delivery times,” Rezaie says. “We heard about what Telstra and solutions partner, Fleet Complete, were doing with vehicle telematics through a family friend, and it sounded like the perfect solution.”
Building a world-class telematics solution
Stateline Freight was interested in how vehicle telematics could help them digitise core services and deliver better customer outcomes. The business engaged in a consultation process with Telstra and Fleet Complete to help them understand how it could align telematics technology with their unique business requirements.
“We didn’t want to jump straight into something without doing our homework, so we had some long discussions with Fleet Complete about what they could deliver for our business, which was great,” Rezaie adds. “We felt they weren’t just trying to sell us something for the sake of it. They genuinely listened and explained what was possible.”
Impressed with the scale of services and comprehensive coverage in rural and remote areas, Stateline Freight worked with Fleet Complete and Telstra to deploy a robust vehicle telematics solution designed to meet their business requirements.
That included the deployment of GPS tracking hardware and delivery of a Fleet Complete Web Platform, allowing the organisation to quickly track and manage vehicles, gather data about delivery outcomes and monitor maintenance requirements through a single pane of glass.
Drivers were also set up with a mobile app, which automatically prompts them to ‘sign in’ to their assigned vehicle when they’re close to it and conduct a digital pre-start inspection, which feeds directly into backend systems. The app can also be used by other staff to monitor their vehicle fleet from anywhere.
Driving real outcomes for the business and its people
Fleet Complete’s vehicle telematics gives Stateline Freight much-needed visibility over its entire fleet. This is supporting the businesses’ growth and enables Stateline Freight to provide near real-time delivery updates to customers.
“It’s made a massive impact,” Rezaie explains. “We’re a big mover of medical supplies and we’re often handling high-priority cargo that’s needed quite urgently. Fleet Complete makes it so easy to quickly figure out where our trucks are and provide that information to our customers.”
Stateline Freight collates the telemetry data and use the Fleet Complete system to identify issues and optimise routes. That’s helped the organisation drive down delivery times, even on established routes with existing customers.
"We have all of the telemetry information on routes, and we can see when drivers had to return to a location twice, if vehicles paused, or if there were any other delivery challenges. That gives us an opportunity to identify patterns and come up with solutions."
It’s also helped with business planning and resource allocation, with more visibility over available drivers, when deliveries are due, and when trucks will be available. That’s helped the organisation provide more delivery options sooner and given them the confidence to take on more service bookings.
Ultimately one of the biggest outcomes for Stateline Freight is improved safety for drivers. As trucks traverse through rural and mountainous areas in Tasmania and across the country, sometimes things can go wrong. When that happens, Telstra’s coverage combined with Fleet Complete’s state-of-the-art GPS technology gives the organisation a critical line to their drivers.
"We take personal safety very seriously,” says Rezaie. “We've had drivers get caught in snowy locations without service. The telemetry solution allows us to get critical information about whether their vehicle is moving and turned on, letting us know that our drivers are safe. At the end of the day, that's what's most important."
Stateline Freight is a family-owned business that has built an incredible reputation from the ground up. It expects technology to support the next phase of their ongoing growth, with world-class partners like Telstra and Fleet Complete providing assistance every step of the way.
"Both Fleet complete and Telstra have been absolutely phenomenal,” Rezaie adds. “When I need support or there's something I don't quite understand, they're so quick to jump in and help me find the best solutions. We know each other on a personal level and it's a great relationship that will continue long into the future."
Find out more about our Telstra solutions:
