Iveco reports encouraging results across its UK dealer network after five years development of “Advisor' ' an electronic workshop management system.Provided by FDTEK and based on the 'R2C Online' management compliance system, the Advisor programme was developed with Iveco as a means of stream-lining workshop procedures while cutting administration, improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Fabio Santiago from Iveco has been with the project from the start: “The Advisor system is now used across all of our UK dealer and service points and without exception its benefits have been widely felt.”

Fabio explains that Advisor has replaced the traditional labour-intensive manual procedures associated with vehicle checks, maintenance, repairs and performance monitoring to the extent that a typical medium sized workshop could reduce costs by around £70k per annum. Being electronic and accessible on-line from any location, means that dealers, manufacturers and operators can carry out all fleet-related procedures, eliminate paperwork and retrieve information about any vehicle in “real-time”.

“The advantages are immense” continues Fabio, “Our dealers save time and reduce errors. A vehicle record can never be misplaced and when required for a VOSA inspection, it can be viewed instantly.” Additionally, in the event of any “no-show” or missed appointment, the system will automatically reschedule inspections. This, says Fabio, enables individual events and procedures to be automatically tracked and scheduled for the entire life of each vehicle.

From an engineering point of view, Advisor has, according to Iveco, bridged the gap between front-line vehicle performance and Iveco's production plants in Spain and Germany. Iveco is now widening the Advisor service for use across Europe and plans to introduce it on an international basis by 2012, providing electronic vehicle management for over 3000 service points. “Our engineers can now have a birds-eye-view of every vehicle's vital performance data,”adds Fabio, “This enables us to provide a dynamic response from within production to any issues which arise in the field.

All countries are effectively tied together and for sure, the system has brought us closer to our customers and better able to resolve any problems as they occur.” Nick Walls, Managing Director of FDTEK, the designers and providers of R2C Online service, is also upbeat about the positive conclusion: “Iveco were one of our very first customers to join the R2C Online network through their Advisor programme and I'm delighted with the success that they are experiencing. The unique range of functionality available through R2C Online is provided as a service which anyone can subscribe to.

'This, combined with our low monthly subscription fees, has been the catalyst to the rapid adoption of the platform by the commercial vehicle industry. We have worked closely with our customers to create a market leading service and are delighted that the ROI experienced in the UK has now generated interest to roll out across their European network.We are looking forward to now developing the R2C Online service on an international basis and to start with such a prestigious client as Iveco is testament to the benefits provided.”