Hoskins Equipment: Taking a unified approach to operational excellence
An integrated approach to driver safety, asset protection, and consolidated video gave Hoskins Equipment unprecedented visibility into their operations.
Meet Hoskins Equipment
Hoskins Equipment needed better visibility to achieve operational excellence across thousands pieces of equipment, 45 vehicles, and multiple sites.
As leaders in high-reach equipment rentals, keeping up with their standard of excellence meant that Hoskins Equipment needed a way to operate more efficiently. Lacking clear visibility into their physical operations, Hoskins sought a solution that would enable them to stretch their resources further so they can work better, faster.
Hoskins saw an opportunity to digitize their processes and take a unified approach to their operations across their drivers, assets, and facilities. At the top of their list was finding an integrated solution that can consolidate these solutions within a single pane of glass—empowering Hoskins to maximize efficiency and centralize their operations.
Centralized platform transforms their operations
With the Samsara Connected Operations Cloud, Hoskins unified their operations within a single integrated platform. By centralizing data and workstreams across driver safety, asset management, and consolidated video, Hoskins was able to transform their operations—decreasing incidents, reducing costs, and improving back-office efficiency.
Integrated platform approach consolidates data and processes
Leverage existing cameras for seamless deployment
Prior to Samsara, Hoskins used an antiquated camera system that was hosted onsite on an old server, powered by an open-source camera management system that required them to manually parse through hours of footage. The back-office team would be overwhelmed with requests for footage to aid in investigations of theft and employee conflicts. Exporting, uploading, and sharing the footage introduced long latency times, and because the camera system only worked on a desktop with a specific operating system, it was always disconnecting.
As Hoskins was evaluating various technology vendors, Samsara’s ease of use and flexibility stood out. Hoskins already had cameras installed, but because of Samsara’s ability to integrate with existing infrastructure, they were able to leverage their existing equipment for additional visibility at their sites. Thanks to Samsara’s Connected Operations platform, Hoskins was able to unify data across Site Visibility, Dash Cameras, and Asset Gateways—all within a single dashboard.
Taking a unified approach to their operations
Hoskins’ previous security camera system was outdated and required tedious, manual review to track down critical video footage. Using Samsara’s integrated platform approach, Hoskins was able to leverage their existing onsite camera infrastructure and consolidate visibility. Now, they can access their vehicle camera streams, camera footage, and asset locations all within a single dashboard.
LEARN MORETransform onsite security with Samsara Site Visibility
Streamline incident investigation and improve security
Anyone on Hoskins’ team, even non-IT users, can now manage video retrieval with ease using Site Visibility. Instead of having a single point of contact handling all footage-related tasks, Site Visibility allowed Hoskins to democratize their organizational security, expanding camera management duties to both IT and line-of-business staff. On top of granting access to more IT stakeholders using granular permissions, Samsara’s ease-of-use enabled Hoskins to easily train non-tech employees on how to use the platform so they can get up and running, fast.
Now, the Hoskins team can rapidly find and share key footage, reducing footage review from a few hours/days to a few minutes per request. For example, Hoskins used Samsara footage to aid in the investigation of an incident involving personal property theft. Using Intelligent Search features, they easily reviewed the footage to identify and arrest the culprits involved, saving thousands of dollars in lost property.
Intelligent Search and AI features accelerate video retrieval
Hoskins no longer needs to manually sift through hours of footage with Site Visibility.
Both IT and line-of-business users can now leverage Samsara’s Intelligent Search and AI features to reduce the time it takes to review footage from a few hours/days to a few minutes per request.
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Elevate your safety program with video-based coaching
Preventative in-cab alerts and video-based safety decrease on-the-road incidents
After Hoskins’ main insurance carrier dropped their coverage, their new insurance carrier charged them 500% above market rate. The Hoskins team took this as an opportunity to revamp their safety program.
Upon adopting Samsara dual-facing AI Dash Cams, Hoskins was able to proactively coach drivers on safe habits, improve visibility across their fleet, and decrease incidents. Auto-uploaded footage of safety events enhanced driver coaching, and in-cab alerts helped prevent incidents before they occur. As a result, Hoskins reduced the number of harsh events from dozens a day to a few per month, a 97% decrease. They also leveraged on-demand video retrieval to exonerate innocent drivers from not-at-fault incidents and avoid costly lawsuits.
Increased visibility improves driver safety and protect from false blame
With insurance costs rising due to on-the-road incidents, Hoskins needed a way to more effectively identify and coach risky driving behavior. Samsara AI Dash Cams increased visibility across their fleet, improved driver coaching, and decreased incidents. As a result, Hoskins reduced the number of harsh events by 97%.
LEARN MOREDynamically track high-value assets
Recovering lost or stolen assets reduces significant costs
Hoskins has more than 1,400 assets with an average value of about $10,000 per unit. But before Samsara, they had no way to track these high-value assets, which were sometimes lost or stolen.
Using Samsara Asset Tracking, Hoskins is now able to to dynamically track their assets. With Samsara Unpowered Asset Gateways, Hoskins can track and get full visibility into assets without a power source. For powered equipment, Samsara’s Powered Asset Gateways offer real-time GPS insights into equipment location and usage. And when GPS connection is out of range, Hoskins is able to rely on Samsara’s customer service team to surface approximate locations using GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) data instead. Data collected when connection is spotty isn’t lost either; Samsara AGs continue to track assets in the background, and once connection is re-established, Hoskins is able to recover missing data history.
Since adopting AGs, Hoskins has been able to find lost units, recover stolen units, and resolve usage disputes with customers. In one example, Hoskins was able to streamline a theft investigation for two forklifts, saving thousands of dollars in lost assets.
Track and protect high value assets
Lost or stolen equipment had long troubled the Hoskins team, so they needed a better way to protect their high-value assets. With Samsara Asset Gateways, Hoskins can dynamically track and get full visibility into their equipment fleet as well as other assets in the field. Now, Hoskins is able to recover lost or stolen units and resolve usage disputes with customers, saving them thousands of dollars annually.
“We had consistent issues with lost and stolen equipment that have already started to improve since partnering with Samsara. We’ve used the Asset Gateways to help us find lost units, recover stolen units, and resolve usage disputes with customers.”
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Hoskins Equipment faced challenges tracking their high-reach equipment when used indoors in large facilities, such as stadiums and malls. Connectivity was often unreliable and this limitation caused significant inefficiencies, as drivers and technicians spent hours searching for misplaced equipment. Additionally, equipment loss and theft put strain on Hoskins both operationally and financially. They needed a solution to reduce downtime, improve asset visibility, and ensure customer satisfaction.
Hoskins Equipment implemented the Samsara Asset Tag, a robust Bluetooth-enabled asset-tracking solution. “Samsara Asset Tags are simple, reliable, and cost-effective,” said Alek Javier, IT Project Manager at Hoskins Equipment. “We’ve tried other solutions, but none have matched the performance or ease of use of Samsara.”
Unlike traditional GPS trackers, the Asset Tag is a bluetooth-first device which utilizes amplified bluetooth signals to make them observable by the surrounding Samsara network. This advanced technology allowed Hoskins to easily locate assets across sprawling job sites.
Moreover, the flexible mounting options and compact size meant install was easy and took 1 minute, down from 15-45 minutes with traditional trackers. Hoskins technicians quickly deployed their first 75 Asset Tags across a wide range of assets, including non-powered attachments like forklift buckets and platforms, saving between 17.5 to 55 hours in installation time.
The size and convenience of the Asset Tag further enabled Hoskins to track nearly all assets in its fleet, something that was previously unattainable with traditional, costlier tracking solutions. While they continue using larger Samsara Asset Gateways for high-value, high-utilization equipment requiring detailed diagnostics, the Asset Tag has expanded their tracking capabilities, and they intend to implement the Asset Tag across 90% of all future fleet additions.
Since implementing the Asset Tag, Hoskins Equipment has experienced remarkable improvements in operational efficiency and asset utilization. Lost or stolen equipment could cost between $30,000-$50,000 per unit. With Asset Tags, Hoskins can mitigate replacement costs. Staff can now locate equipment within minutes, saving hours of search time and allowing sales and service teams to focus on revenue-generating activities. Furthermore, without reliable tracking, Hoskins often faced the challenging task of billing customers for lost assets, sometimes amounting to $30,000-$50,000 per unit. Additionally, staff time was diverted from productive tasks to locate missing equipment, impacting revenue and operational efficiency. With Samsara Asset Tag, Hoskins minimizes these costly disruptions, reducing replacement fees and improving customer satisfaction. The Asset Tag’s rugged design has also proven highly resilient, withstanding the physical demands of an equipment rental environment.
By improving visibility into asset locations and reducing equipment loss, Samsara has enhanced Hoskins relationships with its customers. “With Samsara, we’ve drastically reduced time spent locating assets,” said Javier. “Now, we can focus on delivering for our customers, not searching for lost equipment.”
The Asset Tag helps Hoskins Equipment track and protect their $53M equipment fleet
With over 2,300 pieces of equipment Hoskins needed a convenient, easy-to-install solution for tracking their smaller assets. The Samsara Asset Tag provided consistent, real-time visibility and drastically reduced time spent locating equipment. The convenience of the Asset Tag enables Hoskins to track smaller assets that were previously unmonitored. While they continue to use Samsara Asset Gateways to monitor equipment maintenance and utilization, they plan to implement the Asset Tag across upwards of 90% of all future fleet additions, expanding their tracking capabilities significantly.
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