- Mike Little, Director
Mid South Baking Company
HP Hood LLC is one of the country’s largest branded dairy operators, with approximately 4,500 employees operating its 17 manufacturing plants throughout the U.S. The company also handles its own product distribution with more than 350 power units, including 10-wheel straight trucks and tractor-trailer units. As one of the nation’s leading dairy processors, HP Hood prides itself as an industry leader in all aspects including sustainability. The privately held company has joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. SmartWay’s collective goal is to reduce 33 to 66 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and up to 200,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year by 2012. | "Our fleet has saved $150 each month in mailing fees and reduced paper consump tion from 14 bankers’ boxes per month to just one per quarter." - Heidi Henderson, Logistics and Business Analyst |
A Platinum Member of Canada’s 50 best-managed companies, MacKinnon’s long-haul fleet is made up of 300 over-the-road flatbed and tandem dry-box vans. It just so happens that the company also has a premier safety record, winning eight consecutive TCA Safety Awards in its division. When asked about the secret to the company’s impeccable safety record, Senior Vice President of Operations Rick Miller explained, “We do our due diligence on drivers and have a very low turnover rate—well below 25 percent over the last eight to nine years. With that kind of retention, we’re able to build safety awareness and driver performance that supports a great record.”
| "MacKinnon’s 98.5% on the logbook portion was the highest rating ever earned by an over-the-road company." |
Based in Birmingham, Alabama, P&S Transport is a for-hire, specialty flat-bed carrier that has grown from 20 to 260 trucks since its start in 2004. All company trucks have PeopleNet onboard computing equipment. When fuel costs spiked to over $4.00 per gallon during the summer of 2008, PeopleNet implemented an MPG Guarantee Program that assessed all the various factors impacting fuel efficiency and saved P&S Transport $105,000 in hard-cost savings in just 45 days-with an average MPG increase of nearly 9%. |  "Achieving ROI in about a month far exceeded our expectations." |
USA Logistics Carriers has realized a fuel mileage increase of 1.5 miles per gallon across its entire truckload fleet of 600 power units and 2,000 trailers. The Texas-based company, specializing in across-the-border transport to and from Mexico, has seen its overall fuel mileage rise from 5.5 miles per gallon to 7—a 27% improvement-since implementing PeopleNet's Vehicle Management application to monitor both vehicle and driver performance in 2009. |  "After a year we increased MPG from 5.5 to 6.9." |
Customer service wasn't the issue. Driver-out-of service was. For Pollywog Transport, a small trucking firm serving some of the world's largest companies, exceptional service has always been key to success. But driver DOT citations for log violations were causing a high rate of driver-out-of-service. Despite the challenge, the fear of driver protest kept President Steve Teeple from investing in onboard communication technology. Today, he probably wonders why he waited so long, "I don't understand how anybody can run a trucking company without PeopleNet. This technology is a must-have for hands-on management." The long-haul fleet, with 33 power units and 90 trailers for refrigerated and dry commodity operations, now utilizes tracking, automated dispatch, electronic driver logs, automated fuel tax reporting and real-time performance tracking. The result: Driver-out-of-service from 90% to 35%. Driver productivity improved 30%. Reduced insurance costs 20% in the first year, an additional 10% the following year. Reduced ISS inspections...and more. Now, everyone is smiling. |  “In just under two years, we’ve brought our driver out of service down to 35%.” - Steve Teeple, President |
Iowa-based GSTC, Inc. has a stellar compliance record. Perfect, in fact. But that didn't stop Vice President and General Manager, Tom Schmidt, from taking proactive steps to ensure continued HOS compliance and avoid possible future fines that would blemish the company's record. Since 2005 GSTC has been utilizing PeopleNet's eDriver Logs, Automated Workflow and Vehicle Management applications. It was a move Tom calls, "An outstanding decision." The system helps prevent fines for HOS violations, saves paperwork for drivers and provide indisputable defense for deterring frivolous lawsuits. And it even made for a seamless and positive DOT compliance audit. "It was an incredibly smooth and pleasant process, thanks to eDriver Logs," says Schmidt. |  “With so much at stake—compliance, DOT audits and fines, insurance rates and most importantly safety—we have to ensure accurate logs. There is simply no more efficient way to do that than a system synching EOBRs to eDriver Logs and a GPS system.” |
Service First Distribution, transportation division of Mid South Baking Co., makes 7,500 deliveries of 1.5 million buns to 2,500 fast food restaurants from New Mexico to the Carolinas per week. At that clip, the quality of the company's delivery and distribution system is absolutely critical to accurate, on-time delivery of quality products. Continuously looking for ways to improve distribution productivity, the company was seeking a system to provide in-cab management data and greater visibility into vehicle status and the ability integrate data into backend systems. They found PeopleNet, and a comprehensive solution that drives impressive efficiencies across the fleet, from pick-up to delivery. What's more, Mid South Baking Co. reached ROI in less than a year. Very fast, indeed. | “We reached ROI in less than a year. Right off the bat. MPG jumped by .8, or approximately 15% fuel savings for 10 million miles.” |
