In just five years as national logistics general manager at Iron Mountain Europe, Rory Morgan has overseen a 93% reduction in accidents and a 14% improvement on fuel efficiency figures.

The initiatives he has introduced include a vigorous training programme backed by the use of telematics to raise the level of drive performance.

The subsequent reduction in accidents has seen the 450-vehicle fleet make huge savings on its insurance premiums.

Morgan spent 15 years as a truck driver, which has given him complete understanding of the challenges and issues facing his drivers. He believes this knowledge has been a major help in his current role.

“If you haven’t actually done the job it makes it difficult to empathise with drivers,” he says.

Iron Mountain encourages its senior managers to go ‘back to the floor’ by spending time in each department, including with the drivers.

Morgan believes this level of integration will improve relationships and understanding, helping him to gain the support of management when implementing new policies.

He is looking at electric vehicles and driving policy consistency throughout the 4,500-strong European fleet to further improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Fleet News: What was your reaction on winning?

Rory Morgan: When I came to Iron Mountain, because of the speed of growth, they didn’t really feel like they were a transport company so people in transport roles did not have the right support or knowledge.

My remit was to make sure there was more continuity, consistency and the right procedures in place.

Now we have the right people, a training academy and some key initiatives in place for emissions and efficiencies.

Winning this award is recognition for the whole company and it’s a really good thing to take back to the drivers.

FN: How did you get into the fleet industry?

RM: I was a truck driver for 15 years. The company that I worked for was good at promoting within and drivers that showed promise were brought into managerial roles.

I worked my way up. I moved to Iron Mountain five years ago into a regional logistic role which evolved into a national role which incorporated the fleet.

We now have a footprint in 17 countries around the world ranging in various sizes of fleet and still growing.

FN: Which initiative has brought you the most success in the past 12 months?

RM: Our driver training links everything together and has been the focus for many years. When a driver comes for an interview they go through a stringent process of training and vetting.

The probation period is accompanied by assessments and further training in all aspects from driving to customer interaction.

We also carry out refresher training, reactive training if drivers have had an accident, proactive training and courses to keep driving efficiencies and savings.

FN: You have recently installed GreenRoad – how do you rate it?

RM: We trialled it last year on 30 vehicles and had excellent results. Fuel efficiency improved by 14% and accidents dropped 93%.

We have installed it across the whole fleet in the UK and Ireland, which enables the trainers to build a profile of the drivers.

We are now working with IDS for online risk assessments and driver licence tests so we can individually rate drivers and target training.

FN: You have recently taken delivery of your first electric vehicle – what is your verdict?

RM: Birmingham is the ideal operation because we are so close to the city centre. Quite a few of our vehicles do very low mileage so it is a perfect opportunity for an electric vehicle.

It is something we really want to look at but it is cost-prohibited at the moment. If we can get a vehicle which is cost-effective over a four-year period then it will be easier to change more vehicles.

I think technology will soon advance to the point that electric vehicles will be cheaper than their diesel equivalent and will be able to run 200 miles on a charge.

When that time comes, we will be able to easily replace at least half of our city-based fleets with electric vehicles.

FN: You trialled some fuel saver technology last year. Was the trial successful?

RM: The technology looks at how the vehicle is performing and conducts its revs to get the most out of the engine.

We achieved 12% fuel savings but with the GreenRoad system, if the driver is driving as they were trained and achieving the savings, that is pretty much doing what this technology does.

FN: How do you get your drivers into the mindset to drive economically?

RM: GreenRoad helps us individually target drivers. We have weekly conference calls with regional managers and talk through the scores and transport issues. We issue rewards for those who perform well.

 

Morgan’s area of responsibility extends beyond the UK into Iron Mountain’s other European operations.

He is looking to replicate the fleet success in the UK by sharing best practice across Europe to improve efficiency and bring cost savings.

That’s not to say there aren’t more initiatives in the planning stages to drive down cost in the UK operation.

Morgan is looking at extended leasing with a view to lengthening van replacement cycles to four years.

Vehicles would be moved around the business to even out mileage and ensure they can be kept for longer.

“As we drive relatively low mileage, we feel the vans can run for longer,” he says, adding: “We currently lease with Lex Autolease and have a one-badge deal with Ford in the UK.

“However, we will not be going down that route moving forwards because we want to have the freedom of choice when selecting vehicles.”

The company has also recently achieved Van Excellence status on the Freight Transport Association managed programme – one of the first to do so.

As a member of the code development group, Morgan played a key role in shaping the initiative, which he believes is vital to prove to the Government that the van sector is able to self-regulate.

FN: What does Iron Mountain do to make sure it ticks all the boxes for duty of care?

RM: We have a stringent logistics audit which covers all areas of compliance, training and health and safety. The audits are carried out at least twice a year.

A central compliance team oversees the maintenance and vehicle checklists that are carried out and our driver training academy is constantly looking at improving the drivers’ skills to make them safer on the road.

FN: What are your aspirations moving into 2012?

RM: We are looking to build on the customer experience and looking to our drivers to develop into account manager roles to further promote our services and be proactively looking for sales opportunities.

We are also looking at utilisation. We have reduced our fleet by 10% over the past 18 months and still looking at how we can make vehicles go across functions.

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