Routine Tasks Streamlined for Improved Efficiency

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

tung by steeply rising prices for fuel, labor and equipment, trucking executives say they are examining how they can redesign business processes to lower operating costs and increase worker and fleet efficiency.

Trucking executives said they were looking at everything from using software and technology to improve the efficiency of office workers and fleets, to streamlining — and reducing costs associated with — routine tasks such as billing, payroll, auditing the books, human resources and driver screening.

In some cases, trucking managers said they were outsourcing business services to keep the cost of doing business under control.

“You can’t suppress the cost of fuel, driver wages or equipment,” so you have to look at other areas where you can “press down on costs,” said Mark Cleveland, operations group president of ACS TripPak Services, a company that manages driver logs for trucking companies. TripPak is a unit of Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based company that provides data processing, customer service and information technology to industry and government agencies.

For the full story, see the Sept. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.