Arval plays a part in Fleet Europe Awards wins!
Some fields are mandatoryThe Fleet Europe Forum Awards ceremony held in Berlin at the end of last year 2008 was quite an occasion for Arval. No less than three of the very high profile multi-national companies who received awards are customers of Arval. So we decided to see what it was that convinced the jury.
Arval is very proud to be able to congratulate no less than three of its high profile international customers – Shell, Koné and UTC – for the awards they won at the recent Fleet Europe Forum in Berlin. These companies are extremely professional in terms of international fleet management, and deserved their recognition. These prestigious, annual awards are organised by MMM Business Media international, the publishers of Fleet Europe magazine amongst others.The top Award in the main category ‘International Fleet Manager of the Year’ went to Claus-Peter Krüger of oil giant Shell. Shell has successfully implemented a harmonised car policy at international level mirroring the company’s strategy, through a clear involvement of the main stakeholders and the consolidation of the standardised sourcing processes. What has differentiated Shell from other participants is, according to the Fleet Europe Awards jury, the strategic direction taken with regards to green and safety policies, including demonstrated results in reducing carbon footprint and improving ‘behind the wheel’ driver behaviour with a direct impact on the annual TCO.
Claus-Peter Krüger led the implementation within Shell of a Global Strategy for company cars covering all countries. The main focus was put on quality, health and safety of both personnel and contractors, and the environment. Standardised sourcing processes have been established to concentrate on these areas, and there is of course a concern for price. Contract management is also a key factor, and this has been implemented and is now operational with key suppliers globally. Here too the emphasis is on the same subjects (quality, health, safety, environment) and the effectiveness of the strategy is measured using KPIs. Global fleet reporting has been set up to help Shell move in the right direction.
UTC 
In the same ‘International Fleet Manager of the Year’ category, third prize went to Gaël Robert of international company UTC. The main objective in their fleet strategy is for international supplier rationalisation where the main elements of the TCO are concerned. This means attempting to make fleet processes leaner, carrying out business process re-modelling within the different countries. Adapting international best practices locally and ensuring supplier involvement within a long-term partnership are also important, leading to a tri-partite approach with UTC, the leasing company and the manufacturer. This also necessitates scrutinising the decision-making process and structuring its entire work-flow so that nothing slips through the net where the UTC or suppliers processes are concerned.
Koné 
Aimed at recognizing the innovative projects in the fields of Green & Safety and the unique character of a particular case study, first prize for ‘International Fleet Innovation Prize for Green’ went to Steve Gellatly of KONE, the elevator and escalator company. KONE’s case stood out because of its European-wide roll out, which is strongly backed by top down management sponsorship and well elaborated communication plans. All drivers are directly involved through eco/safe driving training and monitoring and follow-up afterwards. As the Fleet Europe Awards jury put it, “This total approach really goes way beyond cosmetic measures and is ultimately aiming at Environmental Excellence.”
Steve Gellatly’s initial target is to reduce demand for fleet through other solutions, as for example ‘opt out’ options for management and benefit vehicles, as well as service technician route optimisation (via Telematics). The use of public transport where appropriate, and deploying alternative vehicle types such as motorcycles or even bicycles where these can replace cars are also part of the strategy. Clearly, KONE still operates a substantial fleet, so once these ‘reduction’ measures have been taken, the emphasis is on making the rest of the fleet as green as possible. The fleet is thus appropriately managed to satisfy business requirements. Through a global car fleet optimisation initiative called Project Oxygen, KONE focuses on aligning global and local policies to secure not only TCO optimisation, but also reductions in CO2 emissions. They also strive to improve safety and reliability which together contribute to the company’s image internally and externally.