Customer Stories

Church Transportation

Church Transportation was having an issue with reliable visibility of their trailers which resulted in trailers going missing or being misappropriated by their customers as storage units. While they conducted physical asset checks, these were infrequent and time-consuming. Between yard checks, drivers and other employees manually tracked the company’s assets, which was not only prone to human error but also consumed valuable labor hours that could have been better utilized elsewhere.

Background

Church Transportation & Logistics is a Birmingham, AL based truckload transportation provider. The company was founded in March 2000 with one truck and one trailer. Over the years the company has grown to 70 trucks and 125 trailers and expanded its business services. Church Transportation turned to Powerfleet in 2014 to help transform how the company maintains reliable asset visibility and increase utilization.

Situation

Church Transportation needed a real-time visibility solution for their fleet that could improve their day-to-day processes and tracking capabilities.

Task

The following areas of concern were presented to Powerfleet to solve:

Increase utilization of trailers
Reduce the need for manual and time-consuming yard checks
Improve visibility, reliability, and frequency asset reporting
Improve customer accountability through more accurate data

Church Transportation relies on a quick turnaround for their trailers since they work with a smaller but more efficient asset pool than most companies in the industry. A trailer sitting idle in a customer’s yard is an asset that can’t be utilized elsewhere. Without better visibility, assets could, and have, ended up lost, which costs Church Transportation valuable time and money.

Action

Church Transportation and Logistics operates its fleet with good tractor to trailer ratios, lower than most companies in the industry. Their profitability comes through a fast turnaround time for their trailers to keep the pool moving. With access to Powerfleet’s increased reporting capabilities, Church Transportation can see when a trailer is idle for longer than ten days and reach out to the customer to better understand the situation.

Powerfleet’s solution:

Provided frequent and accurate visibility of trailers
Reduced the need for time-consuming manual yard checks
Provided intuitive reporting features that can be tailored to customer specifications
Improved trailer turnaround times and utilization
Reduced the overall risk of theft or misuse

“Two years ago, we could buy a dry van trailer for $30,000 – today, they are $50,000. Some receivers use our trailers as an extension of their warehouse. One of our customers has 20-25 of our trailers at any given time. Powerfleet’s solution has allowed me to see when a trailer has been dropped for more than seven to ten days. Powerfleet’s solution lets us see where our trailers are at any time and enables better communication with our customers because we are armed with accurate data to hold them accountable,”

- Fenn Church, President & CEO

Church Transportation

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