Table of Contents
Overview:
See how Groupe Robert turned fleet maintenance challenges into competitive advantages through data-driven insights and predictive analytics over more than a decade.
About Groupe Robert
Based in Montreal, Groupe Robert is a leading logistics and transportation company working throughout Canada and the USA. Founded in 1946, Groupe Robert has grown steadily while managing truckload and less-than-truckload services, intermodal solutions, and distribution centers.
Today, it is recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, with a commitment to excellence for its staff and clients.
Seeking Savings and Success in Fleet Maintenance
In the early 2010s, Groupe Robert wanted to extend their technology-focused approach to reaching new heights to their fleet maintenance operation.
Given a difficult economic environment at the time and an evolving marketplace, the company understood that finding critical efficiencies and cost-savings would drive long-term success.
Instant Maintenance Insights
Groupe Robert implemented Cetaris Fleet in 2012, solving a long-term need for improved analysis of cost, labor, and chronic repairs. On top of deep tools to optimize and maintain assets through accurate data, the company gained the ability to stay informed, benchmark KPIs, understand trends, and leverage predictive analytics. The company invested in Cetaris to begin a valuable long-term partnership.
The results were nearly instantaneous throughout the maintenance operation, and the warranty benefits stood out.
“The warranty module is so thorough and powerful,” Vice President of Material Resources Daniel St-Germain said when looking back. “With all the warranty reimbursements we got, instead of losing them like we did before, we gained our ROI in only one year.”
Reflecting on the different modules Groupe Robert had begun leveraging in Cetaris, Daniel noted, “Their possibilities are so powerful and we are still discovering them.”
A Decade of Continuous Improvement in Fleet Maintenance
Now more than 12 years into their experience with Cetaris, Groupe Robert has continued to see new surprise benefits and operational improvements.
First and foremost, the company has been able to capture all the data and insights they once lacked.
“It helps us because we can pull data pretty much on anything we want,” said Joey Milletti, Technical Services Supervisor at Groupe Robert.
This has extended to crucial financial benefits. “It’s really easy to find an opportunity to save money,” he added. “We’ve seen a lot of opportunities, and we’re saving a lot.”
Given another challenging economic cycle, this has proven to be all the more valuable today. “We’re doing a crackdown on savings, and we’ve saved a lot compared to other years where we thought we were already efficient.”
Speaking to us, Joey shared how the company continues to discover surprising insights even after many years of using Cetaris. Giving an example of a study done earlier this year, the company learned that it was newer trucks, purchased from 2019 to 2022, that were costing more to maintain than older ones from 2015 to 2018. This has helped inform important maintenance and parts decisions that are expanding Groupe Robert’s cost savings.
Next Steps in a Great Partnership
Don’t expect Groupe Robert to stop seeking ways to improve processes, find efficiencies, and save money.
“We’ve revamped our maintenance, schedules, and PM (preventative maintenance) process in the last year,” Joey said, talking about the latest internal goals using Cetaris, “and we’ve seen a lot of savings.”
With a company so energized to find more ways to thrive after a dozen years using Cetaris, we can’t wait to see the maintenance success they’ll be having another 12 years from now.
How could Cetaris impact your maintenance bottom line? Calculate your estimated warranty reimbursement increase.