Tesco has attained a record 99.4 per cent availability across its entire refrigerated transport fleet fitted with Carrier Transicold equipment. This achievement, measured against a target of 95 per cent, is helping the retailer ensure its fleet is always ready to make timely deliveries across its nationwide chain of stores.

The statistics are based on a series of key performance indicators measured by Carrier Transicold over the past 18 months which have demonstrated that the company is delivering consistently higher levels of service than originally expected.

“We have looked at all areas of our operation and by focusing on every little aspect, we have been able to ensure that we continue improving our performance and are truly helping Tesco,” explained Scott Dargan, Carrier Transicold’s Operations Director.

Working in partnership with Tesco’s Regional Engineer, John Larosa and his team, Carrier Transicold has implemented a series of stretch performance targets to increase performance delivery, which have been achieved without exception.

“Carrier has also looked to introduce as much visibility as possible and this allows us to monitor and validate all of the key measurements on a real-time basis,” said Mr Larosa.

Carrier Transicold’s unique web-based fleet management package – My Fleet™ – allows Tesco to monitor the hundreds of Carrier Transicold trailer refrigeration units across the company’s nationwide fleet.

“It is refreshing to see a supplier that can actually prove they are doing what they claim,” added Larosa, “with the software and the continual support of Carrier staff, we can see that we are exceeding our target for availability of the fleet.”

Carrier Transicold has deliberately set out to examine all aspects of the service provided to Tesco and this includes areas outside the key targets of service completion rates, breakdown response times and first time fix rates.

“By analysing non-contracted maintenance fees, we identified a number of areas mainly caused by operator error, and so we arranged for our maintenance partners to visit the relevant sites to carry out operator training to improve the situation,” explained Dargan.

“By working closely with Tesco and examining every single detail of the service we provide we have been able to improve the service and increase performance and this really does help Tesco,” ended Dargan.