Category:
Food and Beverage
Breakthru Beverage
Food and Beverage
- Customer Story
GreenRoad Innovates to Support Breakthru Beverage’s Digital Transformation
CHALLENGE
When Breakthru Beverage, a $6 billion North American beverage wholesaler, began pursuing its bold digital transformation strategy, one of its initiatives was to migrate all of its Fleet Management systems, including the GreenRoad Safety Telematics Platform and others, onto a single ruggedized mobile device. The goal was to simplify fleet operations and increase flexibility, in part by eliminating multiple installed hardware devices.
“We were looking for ways to streamline our Fleet Management systems without sacrificing valuable functionality, including especially GreenRoad’s real-time driver coaching,” commented David Julian, Breakthru Beverage’s Director of Distribution. “The challenge was to find an alternative, ‘digitized’ way to collect the granular driver behavior data previously measured by the installed hardware – and for a solution, we turned to GreenRoad.”
Presented with the challenge, GreenRoad’s engineers devised an innovative approach: leveraging the sensors within the tablet itself to substitute for those in the hardwired device. This could enable the provision of GreenRoad’s accurate real-time driver coaching, driver safety engagement and other functions using only the mobile device, with no need for hardware to be permanently installed in the vehicle.
After development and testing, this approach became the GreenRoad Drive™ app, the fleet industry’s first and only app-based Safety Telematics solution – and Breakthru Beverage became one of its pioneering users.
THE SOLUTION
The GreenRoad Drive™ app uses the mobile device’s internal sensors, combined with proprietary algorithms, to accurately detect over 150 complex driving maneuvers of various severities in real-time. This accurate information becomes the data feed for the GreenRoad Safety Telematics Platform, powering real-time driver coaching, alerts and more to help prevent accidents before they occur. Over time, use of the system promotes a smooth driving style that prevents ‘moderate’ as well as ‘severe’ maneuvers, resulting in significant improvements in fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance while reducing damage to cargo.
Mr. Julian continued, “When your cargo is premium-grade wine and whiskey, a hard swerve can cause nearly as much damage as a collision. GreenRoad’s real-time coaching helps our associates develop smooth driving styles, protecting our cargo as well as our drivers.”
To enable a proactive approach to safety management, the GreenRoad Drive™ app also provided Breakthru associates with real-time AI-based alerts and a full set of KPIs, all backed by drill-down into underlying detail and trend analyses.
As a software-only based app, GreenRoad Drive™ could be downloaded and onboarded quickly across the Breakthru fleet, with no hardware installation needed.
The Result
”For years, GreenRoad was part of our shift from reactive to proactive fleet management, and with the GreenRoad Drive™ app, it has become become an enabler of our digital transition,” concluded Mr. Julian.
During the first year that Breakthru deployed the GreenRoad Safety Telematics Platform, its accidents declined by 31%, accident-related costs declined by 74%, and fuel consumption declined by almost 7%, or roughly $300 per vehicle per year. Over the years, the company experienced a steady reduction of risk, enabling it to negotiate significant discounts to its insurance premiums.
“The beauty of the system is its simplicity. Our associates drive, they get feedback, and if they follow the feedback, they get a good Safety Score. It’s human nature for competition to set in: no one wants to be at the bottom of the list, so they make the effort to drive safely to keep their scores strong. Over time, that translates into fewer accidents, reduced fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs.”
About Breakthru Beverage Group
Breakthru Beverage Group is one of the leading alcohol wholesalers in the United States and the largest broker in Canada representing a full total beverage alcohol portfolio of spirits, wine and beer. Across all markets, Breakthru aligns a nimble and insightful approach to sales, marketing and operations. Family ownership is active in the business and committed to being stewards of heritage and champions of innovation. For more information, visit www.BreakthruBev.com.
