Winnowing the Choices of Technology: Look for the Benefit

A National Research Council study suggests people are eager to use technology to make business processes more efficient, but that it may take some digging to determine which are the best tools.

In an age where truck cabs look more like airplane cockpits and information managers have more technological wares available to them than ever before, trucking experts and executives can be overwhelmed by it all.

However, some carriers have found that this beast can be tamed.

"We learned a few years back we were too quick to jump to technology," said Corey England, vice president at C.R. England, a 2,500-unit truckload carrier based in Salt Lake City. "You've got to know the benefits before you start. You have to ask yourself, is there a quantitative benefit to adopting the technology? Is it worth it?"

England said the company has become more technologically savvy " and a little more cautious" -- over the past few years.

The refrigerated carrier uses satellites so drivers and dispatchers can communicate when temperature-sensitive loads are picked up. Its entire dispatch system -- from billing and booking to finding a load -- is automated.

Schneider National, Green Bay, Wis., is another big carrier that makes extensive use of technology.

In a recent issue of Information Week magazine ranking the top 500 corporate users of information technology, Schneider placed 50th, second to FDX Corp. in the transportation sector and tops among carriers.

Other carriers ranked were J.B. Hunt Transportation Services (98), USFreightways Corp. (128) and CNF Transportation (496).

"Schneider utilizes technology in virtually every aspect of the business," said the company's vice president, Mark Mullins. "Technology supports essentially all of our business processes from the time we recruit new drivers through the time we bill our customers for transportation services."

The largest truckload carrier in the United States with about 15,000 trucks, Schneider has developed or integrated more than 200 information technology applications, including two-way mobile communications, Internet ordering and shipment tracking, and many other software products.

The carrier uses its satellite tracking system to keep in close contact with drivers, Mullins said. The majority of customer billing is also done by bouncing the information off orbiting satellites. Bills of lading and driver logs received in the mail are scanned and stored electronically.

For the full story, see the June 7 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.