Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/85089
RANDMCNALLY'S TND 760 AND TRUCK PC PRODUCTS HAVE A STATS FEATURE THAT PROVIDES DRIVERS WITH AN ONBOARD SCORECARD OF FUEL ECONOMY, IDLE TIME, HARD BRAKING, ENGINE OVERREVVING AND OTHER MEA- SURES. BEYOND DRIVING ntil recently, new drivers for TransAm Trucking were being trained for 2½ hours on how to record hours of service prop- erly on paper logbooks. Now training takes 15 minutes, and no paper is involved. "The learning curve is much less," says Russ McElliot, president of the Olathe, Kan.-based company. Similar to most commercial driving positions, working for TransAm has become U "We simplify some things for the driver to make the process more PEOPLENET VICE PRESIDENT OF TAILORED SOLUTIONS more complex. Drivers face new regulations and are expected to meet higher per- formance standards – but that doesn't mean more training time. At TransAm, the opposite has been true since 2008 when the company began installing a new in-cab computing platform from Blue Tree Systems. Today, a driver turns on the ignition and sees his per- formance metrics from the previous workday. Color-cod- ed bar charts give insight into how his mpg, speed, rpm and engine idle time compare to the current fl eet average. TransAm began using this daily reporting system last accurate." – RANDY BOYLES, November. Since then, drivers in the bottom 20 percent of mpg have improved by 0.1 mpg on average. Assuming the trend holds, McElliot estimates an annual savings of $1.8 million in fuel. "It gives drivers more real-time information," he says. "Everyone does better with instant feedback." In December, TransAm converted to electronic logs from Blue Tree Systems. A feature called HOS Advisor is available at the press of a button. Drivers have live information on remaining hours and advice for what duty status will yield the TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY SPEEDS DRIVER-OFFICE INTERACTION, WORKFLOW BY AARON HUFF most productive use of their remain- ing time. "(HOS Advisor) makes it much easier for our support staff," McElliot says. "The interaction that drivers have with safety and compliance since we went to HOS Advisor has been reduced by half." Besides simplifying compliance, drivers use the technology to breeze through pretrip inspections, plan routes and communicate with the offi ce electronically. Drivers also can view settlement and payroll details and track their progress through required training. Just as consumers are replacing personal computers with smartphones and tablets, the transportation industry is embracing next-generation technol- ogy to increase driver productivity. In particular, touchscreen displays and custom-tailored workfl ow applications are changing how drivers interact with COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MARCH 2012 67