Swindon telematics company shortlisted for national award

Published by

Nicky Godding

Swindon vehicle telematics company, CMS SupaTrak, has been shortlisted for a national award, The Investor in People 2019, in the Outstanding Use of Technology category, for its work on helping to tackle environmental air pollution.

CMS has led the development of a mobile air monitoring device that can be fitted to refuse trucks to enable councils to monitor, and better understand, their local air quality.

Jason Airey, MD of CMS SupaTrak, said: We work closely with Barry Sheerman MP who chairs the UK Parliamentary Committee for Transport Safety (PACTS). Barry expressed his concern that whilst we were able to use technology to improve the safety of vehicles, nothing was being done to understand the damage that vehicles were causing to the environment with air pollution. We realised that we had a prefect solution to provide the monitoring. Waste vehicles regularly visit every location in the UK so would be an ideal way of collecting this vital data. Working in partnership with our colleagues and customers in the waste and environment industries we now have a device that fully-integrates with the vehicle’s onboard telematics and maps the air pollution accurately. This means that councils can now have definitive proof of how they are meeting Government guidelines on air quality and sight of where they are not.”

Jason Airey

Warwick-headquartered refuse vehicle manufacturer Dennis Eagle, which manufactures more than 1,000 units per year for UK local authorities and private sector contractors, has now fitted the equipment to its demonstration vehicle and one London Council, City of London, has been working closely with CMS to calibrate the monitors with their current static monitoring systems. Initial results have already enabled them to fill the gaps where they do not have static systems.

Jason added: “I am absolutely delighted that Investors in People have shortlisted us for this national Technology award. Shockingly the World Health Organisation estimates that around a million UK citizens will die from air pollution related diseases in the next 20 years if existing Government policies are followed. It’s clear that stronger policies, and more stringent monitoring of air quality is vital so I’m delighted that we’ve been able to lead the way in developing a solution for councils to gather that localised and accurate data they will need to bring about air quality improvements.”

This shortlisting comes after a period of substantial and positive internal change at CMS which resulted in the company being awarded international standards ISO ISO9001 and ISO14001 after passing their audits without a single area of non-compliance.

CMS will learn whether it has won the award on November 19.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.