HGV operators could be saddled with costs totalling thousands of pounds without realising it, a ROI calculator launched by fleet workshop software specialist r2c has shown.

The ROI (return on investment) calculator analyses the time it takes to do even the most basic workshop tasks - from filling out a vehicle check form to making a call to chase an invoice - and assigns values based on typical hourly rates for the employees tasked with them.

Using a time and cost algorithm to identify just how much even the simplest of jobs are costing an HGV operator or workshop, the ROI calculator has revealed the potential waste and lack of productivity for many manual processes.

As an example, r2c has worked out that a fleet with 100 vehicles, working a five-day week and doing one driver check per vehicle a day, could incur over £3,000 a week in costs just to complete this task.

Using this data, r2c has also shown that huge savings could be made by simply automating tasks which are currently done manually on paper, such as driver walk around checks, defect reporting and invoicing and work authorisation.

The ROI calculator allows users to input their exact set up, such as number of bays, vehicles, and employees, in order to generate the potential savings to be made by switching to a digital management system.

It estimates, as an example that a 100-strong fleet being managed by five technicians could be making savings of nearly £1,800 per week, potentially almost £95,000 per year, through automation.

These savings are based on a 100 vehicle fleet, working five days a week and carrying out one check per vehicle per day. In addition the savings include the cost of implementing the r2c system.

The savings include a £955 per week saving on driver checks, £417 per week on defect management, £367 per week on workshop saving and £51 per week on invoicing

The company says significant savings can be made for smaller fleets as well. It calculates that a 15-strong vehicle fleet with one technician could still make weekly savings of £286.50 on driver digital checks, £51 a week on invoicing processes and £14.25 on defect management

Ash Connell, r2c commercial director, said: “At a time when businesses are under increasing cost and taxation pressures, this calculator demonstrates how significant savings can be made by simply switching away from dated paper-based systems.

“And because the calculator factors in the cost of buying and running the r2c software, it gives workshop managers a true return on investment figure.”

The ROI calculator is adaptable to every business’ needs, allowing a multitude of variables to be inputted, including fleet size, number of checks per day, the hourly rate paid fordrivers and technicians, and even the time taken for a paper job sheet to be handed over andfiled away.

Once the report is finished, a summary will be emailed for transport managers to share with others in their company.

Connell added: “Our extensive experience shows that workshops are consistently under-estimating the true labour costs of their operations, so we built this calculator to highlight the time and cost saving benefits that are available through using a digital workshop management system.”