We’re delighted to share that TR Group has won the Fruehauf Outstanding Contribution to Innovation Award at the 2024 Transporting New Zealand Awards. These awards recognise and celebrate those making an exceptional contribution to the road transport industry by way of innovation, safety, industry awareness, and training, or implemented processes that have had a positive outcome on staff and/or customers. 

TR’s submission was centred around removing the barriers drivers can experience when familiarising themselves with new vehicles. With so much advancement in vehicle technology, TR realised manuals are becoming thicker and more complex making driver induction increasingly difficult but more important than ever. However, schedules don’t always allow for drivers to familiarise themselves with a new vehicle, and retaining large quantities of information in one session is not always possible. To mitigate the risks associated with unfamiliar drivers, TR Group and DT Driver Training have produced a range of videos to support driver familiarisation with TR’s fleet.  

Darren Cottingham, TR Group’s GM Driving Tests Online explains: “We focused our approach on ensuring drivers have quick and easy access to the information they need to operate their vehicles safely, and efficiently. This resulted in development of a range of videos that are available on the TR Driver Training Portal. The content can easily be accessed by QR Code directly from the vehicle’s cab, or via YouTube. This gives drivers immediate access to bite-sized content that is easy to understand, enabling them to upskill as they need”.  

The Fruehauf Outstanding Contribution to Innovation Award recognises: 

Technical or mechanical innovations with demonstrable commercial applications that improve efficiency, safety and/or increase cost efficiency. Managerial or organisational innovations that result in improved business processes and/or more efficient handling of goods, improved client relations, or any other aspects of a business’s operation 

Encouragement or promotion of the benefits of innovative systems within an organisation or company or the industry as a whole. 

The judges said: “Sharing key safety information in an easy, simple and effective way using modern communication technology is a great example of innovation and something we need more of.” 

 “It is extremely important that drivers are familiar with a truck’s systems and understand all the controls they have in front of them when driving, and they can only do that if they’re provided with some kind of induction or on-boarding process to the respective vehicle.”