Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/339485
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JULY 2014 39 technology Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info hours they would have remaining on their daily and weekly clocks. In May 2012, the company also implemented Manhattan Associates' optimized load planning tool, Driv- er&Load, which matches a network's loads with available equipment and drivers. The software instantly analyzes a large dataset of load origins and destinations, transit times, empty miles, available driving hours and more. "This really focused us on how we thought about things," Gomez said. "All of a sudden, we were giving (load planners) a tool to take away some of that manual process." By August 2012, John Christner was fully utilizing Driver&Load's recom- mendations and began using additional software from Manhattan to identify opportunities to drop, swap and relay loads to stay in compliance and keep its high service levels. "Service is the foundation of who we are and what we do," Gomez said. "To not deliver on time is not an option." Primary utilization By focusing on a single metric called "primary utilization" – the percentage of recommended driver-load matches that load planners actually use – John Christner is accomplishing its goals in areas such as deadhead mileage, miles per truck and seated truck count. Deadhead mileage decreased by 1.2 percent and more than covered the cost for implementing Driver&Load. From May 2012 to this past April, the company's total miles increased by 1.8 percent – drivers have seen this directly in their paychecks – and its seated truck count increased by 8.7 percent. "We improved our deadhead and recovered some of our total miles, but we realized that we are not going to recover to pre-ELD levels," Gomez said. "We initially saw our retention go down and empty seats go up, but we have since recovered to where we were at." Another area Driver&Load helps to improve retention is to automate driver requests for time off. When a driver asks for time off in advance, the soft- ware determines the most convenient way to route the driver home. "Previously, that was someone else's problem," Gomez said. "That doesn't cross a person's mind when the event is a week away." Insurance, Inc. www. w AITAInsurance.com For more information, please visit: AITAonline.com AITAonline.com Saving you money, mile after mile! Providing Products and Services to the Transportation Industry Since 1997 Visit our website for more information AITAonline.com Visit us at GATS Booth # 13039 Jim Gomez, vice president of operational compliance for John Christner Trucking, said the fleet uses an automated load planning pro- cess to overcome the productiv- ity losses from using ELDs.