Furniture Transportation Leader Converts to PeopleNet's Onboard Computing System
PeopleNet Technology Enhances Four Truckers' Fuel Tax Reporting and Electronic Driver Logging
MINNEAPOLIS - Sept. 1, 2004 - PeopleNet, the leading provider of onboard computing and mobile communications systems to the nation's transportation industry, today announced that Four Truckers, Inc. has equipped its fleet with PeopleNet's onboard computing and mobile communications system.
Four Truckers provides specialized less-than-truckload and dedicated transportation services to furniture retailers in the 10 western states and four western provinces of Canada. Its customer base includes more than 300 manufacturers based close to its headquarters in Morganton, N.C. The 26-year-old company relies on a fleet of 120 tractors and 260 trailers, including 30 independent owner-operators.
With $22 million in sales last year and just more than 200 employees, Four Truckers is the "optimum size for specialized furniture transportation," according to President Eric Clarke. "We're the right size to take care of customers and have personal relationships with our people."
Clarke credits technology for providing the tools to strengthen those bonds. "To provide the customized and innovative transportation options we offer," he says, "we depend upon a number of technologies including document imaging, mobile communication and radio frequency bar coding and fully integrated real-time shipment tracking."
To continue to upgrade the firm's technology offerings, Clarke upgraded his mobile communications capability by switching to the PeopleNet system last December. While he had been running GPS satellite tracking for 10 years, he wanted something more - and more tailored to his company's size.
"We don't have the need for an AS/400," he explained. "PeopleNet offered vehicle performance monitoring and reporting through PerformX that ran off a PC server. We felt the system was designed more for fleets our size."
The system offered Four Truckers, which uses Melton Technologies Horizon fleet management software, two critical management tools that have enhanced performance. The first, eDriver Logs, is PeopleNet's paperless log keeping system. "The drivers that have tested it love it because it improves quality of life," says Clarke. "They don't have to put pencil to paper and it's more accurate. We want to drive our loads legally and log them legally."
In addition, the PeopleNet system allowed for faster and more accurate fuel tax reporting. "Our drivers don't have to fill out fuel sheets and trip sheets any more because the system collects them automatically," he said. "We had one support person in the office spending more than 90 percent of her time keying the information in and she can do other things for us now."
Headquartered in Minneapolis, PeopleNet is the leading provider of Internet-based onboard computing and mobile communications systems to the long-haul transportation and metro-based fleet industries. The company serves carriers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information about PeopleNet, call 888-346-3486, e-mail info@peoplenetonline.com, or visit www.peoplenetonline.com.
The PeopleNet system has become the standard for GPS-based location tracking, two-way voice and data communications, and Internet-based fleet business tools to provide consistent, reliable communication between business owners, dispatchers, drivers and shippers. A key feature of the system is OTAP (over-the-air programming), which allows PeopleNet to make system upgrades without taking vehicles off the road.
