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With their previous provider, Sterling Crane Canada had trouble tracking and locating many of their assets due to spotty GPS coverage and limited reporting. This often led to unplanned maintenance and downtime that impacted their equipment reliability and operational effectiveness. Having assets spread across Canada and some cranes over a decade old, they also needed to ensure that their equipment was well-maintained and ready for rapid deployment to job sites. “It was really difficult for us to gather that information and trust the accuracy of it,” said Daniel Gopan, Fleet Manager. With Canada’s unique terrain and weather challenges, they were looking for a solution that could help them not only find their assets, but also dive deeper into their utilization and preparedness. 

Sterling Crane Canada switched to Samsara after a successful trial. The simplicity of the rollout saved Sterling Crane $129,000 in hardware upgrade and labour costs, while keeping them ahead of impending infrastructure and regulatory changes. Whether their equipment was in a metropolitan or remote location, Samsara’s reliable network and durable hardware easily connected to it, providing real-time visibility into key data, including diagnostic reports, hour meter readings, and utilization reports. “We saw immediate benefits from accurate data reporting, GPS locations, and insights we've never had before,” said Marco Goodridge, Head of Compliance. 

Sterling Crane Canada uses these insights to deploy their technicians to the right areas at the right time, reducing equipment downtime and inefficiencies for their operations and maintenance staff. As a result, the switch to Samsara saved US$517,000+ in annual maintenance costs and 10,000+ hours annually in technicians’ labour time. These accurate insights have also helped Sterling Crane Canada significantly reduce maintenance and repair spending, with estimated overall savings of US$1.1 million for roadable units and at least US$2.1 million for off-road units. In doing so, they are able to extend the lifespan of their equipment while also ensuring it is reliable and ready for use, saving millions in replacement and shipping costs through efficient upkeep.

Samsara’s data and reporting has also supported Sterling Crane Canada’s goal of achieving 80% planned and 20% unplanned maintenance, which ensures they are using all of their equipment to its full potential. Since implementing Samsara they have gone from 66% planned and 34% unplanned maintenance to reaching their 80/20 goal, a 14% improvement. “With Samsara, our maintenance process is more efficient. We've improved the reliability of our equipment, which in turn improves our reputation with our clients,” said Mark Pisani, VP of Operations. 

Identifying and allocating key resources where they’re needed most.

Now, Sterling Crane Canada can accurately identify unused and underused assets with Samsara’s utilization and dormancy reporting. As a result, they can strategically allocate resources across the country to avoid a concentration of equipment at branches and imbalanced asset distribution, ensuring they strategically place equipment in high-demand areas or logistically convenient spots. This has helped improve asset utilization by 8% across branches to 74% and made certain that their customers get the equipment they need, exactly when and where they need it.

Samsara Video-Based Safety provides real-time coaching

Before Samsara, NOEMS faced a lag getting driver performance data. "With our previous system, we would get data about risky driving behaviors a week after it happened, and we couldn't tie it to a particular driver," said Cedric Palmisano, Deputy Chief of Special Operations and Logistics. "With Samsara, we can see which operators are using which vehicles, and Samsara will give them real-time feedback to flag behavior. Samsara helps us coach our operators within hours, when it's more likely to be effective."

AI Dash Cams help the City identify a range of driving behaviors, including distracted driving, drowsy driving, following too closely, wearing seat belts, speeding, and rolling through stop signs. NOEMS also uses Safety Scores to encourage drivers to improve risky driving. "Safety Scores are reflected in our providers’ evaluations, so if their performance exceeds expectations, they get a bonus," said Palmisano. "We're incentivizing our safety culture, and providers are responding with significant improvements."

During Mardi Gras and other busy events, AI Dash Cams also help crews navigate crowded city streets. "If providers are unfamiliar with certain routes, we can remotely tap into the dash cam and give them turn-by-turn navigation to get to the hospital," said Gerry Figueroa, Operations Administrative Major, Special Events. "It helps us get patients the care they need faster and more safely."

Samsara video footage exonerates and protects drivers

In addition to improved coaching and live navigation, video captured by Samsara AI Dash Cams enables the City to protect their drivers against false claims. "When ambulances are driving with lights and sirens, we become targets, and having video footage can help us exonerate our drivers," said Palmisano. "In one instance, a driver hit one of our ambulances at an intersection, and when a supervisor got on scene, he was able to pull the Samsara footage and clearly show the police officer that NOEMS had the green light."

Easy-to-follow digital workflows improve accuracy and communication.

In 2020, Sterling Crane Canada transitioned to digital systems for purchase orders and job tracking, but their maintenance and safety processes remained paper-based. As a result, incomplete paperwork, especially DVIRs, were a common issue. Documents from all over Canada had to be physically sent to headquarters in Edmonton, slowing down operations and oftentimes leading to missed filings. 

With Samsara Connected Workflows, Sterling Crane Canada has transformed their operations by streamlining workflows, enforcing accuracy, improving communication, and increasing accountability across the company. Now, when inspections are completed, regardless of location, data is recorded and sent to headquarters in real time, enabling faster decision-making and improved communication. Building on this success, Sterling Crane Canada is now focused on digitizing safety forms to further reduce delays, minimize errors, and eliminate lost time for drivers, operators, and technicians. 

Quick-connecting Driver App reduces frustration and increases compliance.

As Canadian regulations continued to evolve, Sterling Crane Canada needed a technology partner that would ensure they were compliant with HOS and Canadian ELD mandates while remaining agile and adaptable to future changes. Their previous compliance app suffered from poor connections and inconsistent coverage, frustrating drivers and making it difficult for them to use. Sterling Crane Canada needed an app strong enough to handle the demands of their workforce. 

The Samsara Driver App’s user-friendliness and reliability helped Sterling Crane Canada significantly improve driver productivity and compliance. These changes have saved US$1.2 million in driver downtime and improved driver satisfaction. Additionally, with 30% of Sterling Crane Canada’s fleet now under the ELD mandate, drivers can connect quickly and easily, making tasks like DVIRs and HOS tracking more efficient. As a result, Sterling Crane Canada has saved over US$1.5 million in operator and driver labour costs by eliminating the time spent troubleshooting and navigating unreliable apps that used to crash or fail to connect, allowing drivers to instead focus on their core tasks. These savings are being reinvested into new equipment, upgrading existing equipment, additional training for technicians, rewards and incentives for drivers, and more. 

Consolidating Samsara’s easy third-party integrations into one dashboard.

Before switching to Samsara, Sterling Crane Canada was using multiple disconnected point solutions, which made it difficult to gather and trust the information they were receiving. This led to operational inefficiencies, maintenance oversights, and limited compliance, which they quickly sought to address. 

Using Samsara’s turnkey third-party integrations, they now seamlessly share real-time data with their fleet management software, consolidating everything into a single, unified dashboard. These integrations offer real-time visibility into key metrics, allowing for more informed decision-making and proactive maintenance opportunities. 

The seamless connection of Samsara’s easy-to-implement integrations with their fleet management system consolidated all of Sterling Crane Canada’s data and reporting, providing valuable operational insights that have significantly reduced equipment maintenance costs and minimized unplanned downtime. “Our previous telematics provider required a custom-built integration. With Samsara we were able to integrate with our fleet management software—Fleet Cost and Care NexGen—seamlessly to get our DVIR , ELD, engine hours, odometer readings, and everything in one place," said Gopan. 

Prior to Samsara, inspection notifications were often missed due to the lack of automatic reporting in a single location or incomplete information. Now, when inspections take place anywhere in Canada, the compliance team is immediately notified of the inspection score and how well the equipment passed or not, with pictures and reports included for more detailed reviews. This has allowed Sterling Crane Canada to consolidate all the necessary inspection information into their maintenance work orders, providing a single, accurate view.

Samsara’s straightforward third-party integrations have inspired Sterling Crane Canada to explore additional ways to enhance safety and compliance, including integrating their tire pressure monitoring system. With the intensity of Canadian winters causing tire pressure to drop, they will be able to use the PressurePro System integration to identify wear and tear in their tires that they previously could not. “Using APIs to connect data to our fleet management software has been huge for us. We're excited to implement even more soon,” said Goodridge.

Samsara helps NOEMS modernize asset tracking and improve decision-making

During events like Mardi Gras, NOEMS’ Command Post becomes the nerve center of EMS response. Before Samsara, commanders at the Command Post used manual methods to try and track assets and coordinate which assets to respond to calls. "We were using magnetic and cork boards with maps on them to move pins or magnets around the maps as units would respond to calls for service," said Chris Keller, Deputy Chief of Operations. "Now, we can issue Asset Tags to our bike teams and SRVs, as well as mutual aid units working the event. Having location data for every asset along the parade route has been priceless. Samsara has elevated us to the 21st century, allowing us to use technology to always make the best command-level decisions."