ReedTMS Logistics (www.reedtms.com) is a family-owned, third-party logistics provider (3PL). The company delivers a broad range of 24/7 services, including:
ReedTMS has quadrupled in size since its founding over 20 years ago. It now operates a private fleet of 85 trucks and 400 dry vans, tankers, and other trailers. With these assets, ReedTMS handles close to 100,000 shipments a year, serving hundreds of customers across a variety of industries
“Powerfleet’s solutions gave us the tools we needed to run the most efficient—and profitable—trailer fleet.”
Chad Walz
VP Operations,
ReedTMS Logistics
Like all carriers, ReedTMS wanted to move more loads to increase revenue and profits. At the same time, the company wanted to control expenses and cut unnecessary costs.
A fixed asset base of tractors, trailers, and infrastructure means fixed costs. If you can ship more freight with those assets, while managing costs, naturally you’ll earn more revenue-dollars per cost-dollar. And that, of course, equals higher profits.
ReedTMS decided that the smartest way to ship more loads, cut costs, and boost profits would be to increase asset utilization. Specifically, the company wanted to:
With 80% of its business from dedicated or semi-private fleets, ReedTMS uses trailer pools to deliver the highest level of customer service. If it could reduce the size of those pools, without affecting service, it could reduce costs. And if ReedTMS could help its customers process trailers more quickly, it could maximize the capacity of those pools. Either way, the improved asset utilization would increase profit margins.
Trailer pools are also key to make the most efficient use of drivers’ time. ReedTMS wanted to operate its fleet 20-24 hours a day by effectively managing short hauls, with a high trailer-to-truck ratio. Short hauls could keep the assets moving, without exceeding any driver’s daily ELD limit of 14 hours. As an added bonus, this approach would make drivers happier, by letting them get home at the end of each day.
One downside of trailer pools is that empty trailers can dwell at a site for too long. This impacts both costs and revenue. For example, one ReedTMS customer received four loads in for every one load out, leaving many empty trailers to manage. As a result, drivers sometimes weren’t sure which trailers were empty, or where they were located. This could cause drivers to waste time searching for empties—and hit their 14-hour ELD limit. Without a backhaul, those drivers had to stay overnight and pay for a hotel. On top of that, the idle, empty trailers lost an opportunity to generate more revenue.
ReedTMS started monitoring trailer locations with a basic Track and Trace solution from PowerFleet. This was perfect for locating missing trailers, and it quickly generated a positive return on investment (ROI). (See details under “The Results,” below.)
But to achieve the highest level of efficiency—to proactively manage trailer pools, drivers, and empties in real time—ReedTMS decided it needed an even more capable solution. So it turned to PowerFleet’s Dry Van Trailer Tracking system.
This system lets you know exactly where and when a trailer starts and stops, how long it dwells, and whether it’s loaded or empty. What ReedTMS liked most about the system was its:
To install its new trailer tracking technology, ReedTMS needed to make the most efficient use of time, so it could keep fleet utilization high. To achieve this, the company used a two-prong approach.
First, ReedTMS ordered any new trailers it needed with the Dry Van Tracking System pre-installed. PowerFleet worked directly with the trailer OEMs to make this process smooth and reliable.
Second, for its existing trailers, ReedTMS installed Dry Van Tracking devices during normal planned maintenance (PMs). Fortunately, at most, the devices take only 60-90 minutes to install. So mounting them didn’t overload resources or delay the trailers from getting back on the road.
As an added level of support, PowerFleet integrated its web-based Powerfleet IQ™ asset tracking software with the McLeod software that ReedTMS already used for dispatching. As a result, ReedTMS could see—in real time—trailer distance from landmarks, dwell times of idle trailers, “dropped balls” in the dispatch process, and much more. Ultimately, these combined systems will proactively match dispatch orders with live trailer locations, which will prevent dispatch errors from occurring in the first place.
In addition, PowerFleet introduced ReedTMS to its Powerfleet IQ™ Analytics platform. This “big data” application crunches numbers from multiple sources to uncover deeper insights into operations. For example, ReedTMS plans to use FleetView IQ to integrate its trailer tracking and dispatch systems with ELOG, GPS, ELD and engine data from its tractor management system.
“From finding lost trailers and right-sizing our trailer pools to reducing new trailer buys, our tracking system has added over $1 million to our bottom line.”
Chad Walz
VP Operations,
ReedTMS Logistics
Initially, the value of trailer tracking for ReedTMS was simply in finding trailers. For example, one customer would share trailers with different carriers, which sometimes resulted in a misplaced unit. Tracking the location of these “lost” trailers enabled ReedTMS to recover them easily. That alone saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital costs. Not to mention the cost of man-hours (and aggravation) it would have spent filing insurance claims.
But by switching to the Dry Van Trailer Tracking system—with its advanced cargo and load sensing, as well as “live” trailer location tracking—ReedTMS has been able to do (and save) much more:
The Powerfleet IQ software report that ReedTMS uses the most is an “Idle Trailer Summary.” It shows how long a trailer has been sitting still. Focusing on this data has helped ReedTMS reduce dwell time significantly. Management believes it can cut the average down to as little as 5 days.
ReedTMS uses this data to proactively manage customers and increase asset utilization. For example, if a loaded trailer remains at a customer site too long, ReedTMS will ask the customer to prioritize shipment, or charge the customer a storage fee. On the other hand, if a trailer in a customer’s dedicated pool sits empty on a regular basis, ReedTMS will pull the asset to use elsewhere and charge the customer less for the smaller pool.
By using advanced asset tracking technology, ReedTMS has been able to proactively manage its trailer pools, drivers, and empties—and improve dispatch efficiency. This visibility and control has helped the company increase asset utilization, reduce costs, and achieve its goals for revenue-per-asset.
ReedTMS now spends much less time waiting to pick up loaded trailers, unload trailers after delivery, and put empty trailers back into service.
“The key to our business is asset allocation and utilization, and I.D. Systems’ Logistics Visibility Solutions gave us the tools we needed to run the most efficient—and profitable—trailer fleet,” said Chad Walz, Vice President of Operations for ReedTMS Logistics. “From finding lost trailers and right-sizing our trailer pools to reducing new trailer buys, our tracking system has added over $1 million to our bottom line.”
Powerfleet transforms the way organizations manage mobile business assets — like forklifts, cargo trailers, and connected cars. Our technologies control, track, analyze, and optimize hundreds of thousands of these assets all over the world. We help organizations be safer, improve efficiency, and cut costs.
Challenge: In a Hyper-competitive Market, Do More with What You Have to Cut Costs
Five years ago, a leading multinational food & beverage company deployed Powerfleet’s® forklift telematics system to improve material handling safety. The project was a big success. Based on its initial return on investment (ROI), the Company rolled out Powerfleet on more than 2,500 pieces of material handling equipment across almost 100 of its food and beverage manufacturing and distribution sites in North America.
But with more than $60 million invested in its material handling fleet—and a labor cost of over $200 million to run that fleet—the Customer wanted to find out if Powerfleet could save it even more money.
This Company has a long history of using cutting-edge supply chain technology. For example, it is a leader in blockchain technology for sharing data securely across the food supply chain to help ensure food safety. The Company’s Center of Excellence (CoE) focuses on continuous improvement in manufacturing and distribution, with data as its life blood.
To find new ways to reduce material handling costs, one of the key data sets the CoE wanted to understand better was the relationship between lift truck safety and productivity.
With Powerfleet forklift telematics already in place across the Company’s entire fleet of lift trucks, the CoE didn’t have to look far to find the data-driven solution it needed.
Solution: Powerfleet IQ™ Forklift Analytics
To gain deeper insight into the cost of lift truck safety vs. operator efficiency vs. material handling velocity, the Company licensed Powerfleet IQ Analytics, a Powerfleet software option, to link data from multiple sources.
Specifically, the Company wanted to use Powerfleet IQ to blend these data ingredients:
Before launching a new technology for its material handling workforce, the Company knew from experience it needed to plan carefully and be proactive about the way it would use the data.
One of the pitfalls of data-driven technology, like Powerfleet IQ Analytics, is that the data can be overwhelming. Another challenge is translating the data into action. All too often, a flood of data is received passively, without a clear vision of what to look for or how to react.
For any new system to succeed, the people who will get the data need to know ahead of time what they will be looking for—and exactly what they are supposed to do with it.
The Company knew that for Powerfleet IQ to be most effective, key employees—lift truck operators, line supervisors, facility managers, and corporate management—needed to care about the outcome. The Company had to make more than a financial investment; it had to engage and motivate these stakeholders.
The key to making workers care is accountability. So the Company devised a “carrot-and-stick” plan with both incentives for “good” behaviors and consequences for “bad” behaviors. Using Powerfleet IQ Analytics data, the Company:
Results: Deep Data Insights Cut Forklift Damage 85% while Meeting/Exceeding Pallet-Move Goals
To better measure what sites and people needed a better balance of material handling productivity and safety, Powerfleet worked closely with the Company to integrate its Kronos® time-card system and SAP® warehouse management system (WMS) with Powerfleet IQ Forklift Analytics. This created a whole new set of integrated data points, such as:
An excerpt of the latter type of chart is shown below, with the data aggregated by site. In this example, the “Demarest” site moves almost as many pallets as “Cresskill,” but with about half as many moderate and medium impact events. The user can click on any site to drill down into individual driver performance at that site, to determine which operators were at the root of the data.
Powerfleet and the Customer also built KPI scorecards, so all the critical metrics could be digested in one quick bite. The following examples focus on, respectively, forklift fleet safety and productivity, by site. In the KPI scorecard excerpted below, the screen shows the 7-day safety rankings and 30-day trends of each site, based on their forklift fleets’ rate of high and severe impacts. Green dots indicate compliance with corporate standards; yellow dots suggest improvement is needed. (Red dots would indicate a site’s performance is unacceptable.)
The next KPI scorecard excerpt ranks sites by forklift fleet efficiency, based on the amount of time vehicles spend in motion compared to the time vehicle operators are logged into the equipment. The “Demarest” site makes the most efficient use of its equipment—it has the highest ratio of motion (time vehicles are moving) to login (time drivers are logged in)—even though the site is average in its total hours of equipment usage. Conversely, although “Montvale” seems to be among the busiest sites, in terms of total hours of equipment usage, it is actually the lowest-performing in its ratio of vehicle motion time to driver login time.
“Powerfleet IQ Analytics drove much safer lift truck operations without a loss of material velocity: 85% less forklift damage and 100% of target pallet moves … for over $2 million in cost savings across the enterprise.”
The first key role of Powerfleet IQ was to validate data accuracy. One KPI scorecard monitored the health of system components—particularly to confirm that the Powerfleet vehicle-mounted hardware was collecting data normally and attributing it to identified operators. With validated data flowing smoothly, the Company went through a period of analysis over several months, without acting on the data. This enabled the Company to set expected benchmarks without rushing to judgment about individual operator performance. Importantly, the established benchmarks were ratios (not absolute numbers) to normalize performance across operators, vehicle types, and sites with different operating patterns.
Also significantly, Powerfleet IQ enabled different standards to be set for different vehicle types, and accounted for drivers who operated different types of vehicles in same shift or day.
Based on these benchmark ratios, the Company set up multiple KPI scorecards for different stakeholders: individual drivers (with daily, weekly, and monthly metrics); supervisors (focused on all drivers each shift); warehouse managers (with a view of the entire facility); and corporate management (with stack-ranking of all sites in a single view).
This data hierarchy enabled a rapid, logical flow of information and decisions. Corporate management identified high- and low-performing sites. Facility managers saw where they ranked compared to other sites, and where they stood in relation to the target benchmarks. Line supervisors drilled down to understand which forklift operators were high achievers—and which needed refresher training. And forklift operators could see in black-and-white where they stood.
In the end, the food & beverage Company was able to drive much safer lift truck operations while maintaining high material velocity through its distribution system. The result was an 85% reduction in forklift damage costs with 100% achievement of target pallet moves.
Why Did Powerfleet IQ Analytics work so well?
“We worked with Powerfleet to integrate data from several systems and set up new benchmarks for safety and productivity. We validated the data, then analyzed it to identify specific opportunities to improve. By focusing on the sites and people that needed the most improvement, we were able to reduce forklift damage costs 85% while maintaining—or exceeding—our goals for pallet moves.”
— National Warehouse Manager
Conclusion: New Ways of Combining and Analyzing Lift Truck Data Can Radically Improve Material Handling Operations
Using Powerfleet IQ forklift analytics, this food and beverage Company was able to change the way it measured and balanced productivity (pallets moved) with safety (forklift collisions) and efficiency (active time on equipment vs. paid time). This data enabled a new approach to material handling discipline, with high-performers rewarded with financial and other incentives, and low-performers trained to improve. The bottom line was a stronger safety culture, with a new way to measure and manage productivity.
Powerfleet transforms the way organizations manage mobile business assets — like forklifts, cargo trailers, and connected cars. Our technologies control, track, analyze, and optimize hundreds of thousands of these assets all over the world. We help organizations be safer, improve efficiency, and cut costs.
“Since adding Powerfleet®, our business grew, our fleet grew, however, our need for trailers did not grow proportionately, due to the increased utilization that tracking helped provide.”
Tim Parker
Vice President of Service Operations
Forward Air
Forward Air Corporation is a leading provider of time- definite surface transportation and related logistics services to the North American air freight and expedited LTL market. In 2007, Forward Air began deploying the Powerfleet trailer tracking devices across its LTL trailer fleet, supporting deliveries through its central hub in Columbus, Ohio and 11 regional hubs to 85 cities across North America. Since implementation of the system began, Forward Air has grown its core business and added three new business groups.
“Forward Air added new services such as intermodal drayage, pool distribution, expedited truck load operations, and a door-to-door offering- Forward Air Complete,” explains Tim Parker, Forward Air’s Vice President of Service Operations. “These new services required equipment to be placed at customer locations and to occasionally be pulled by non-FAF power units. The visibility and control of our equipment was significantly reduced. Adding Powerfleet Track-and-Trace improved visibility at every location.”
After initially using Powerfleet to react to questions about how their trailers were being used, the company’s application of the system evolved with more active use, removing the need for manual yard checks. As a result, identification of misused assets became more efficient, and the manpower dedicated to daily monitoring of each site’s inventory was reduced.
Operations managers at each of Forward Air’s 85 local stations use Powerfleet to perform yard checks at their locations, as well as at customer yards that belong to their pool. The Powerfleet FleetView platform website dormancy reporting capabilities are then used to help identify excess trailers that can be eliminated from their pool.
In 2010, Forward Air began replacing their existing Powerfleet tracking devices with Powerfleet’s new Track-and-Trace product. Benefits of the low-cost device include the ability to ping for trailer location on demand, which is critical to locating stolen assets or other moving targets. With an up-to-date trailer position, drivers on trailer search missions can be routed directly for pick up, saving valuable hours of service and fuel costs dedicated to hunting for misplaced units. Maintenance budgets have also benefited from the addition of the new devices due to ease of installation and battery replacement, plus the assistance it provides maintenance managers in scheduling service.
After initially using Powerfleet to react to questions about how their trailers were being used, the company’s application of the system evolved with more active use, removing the need for manual yard checks. As a result, identification of misused assets became more efficient, and the manpower dedicated to daily monitoring of each site’s inventory was reduced.
Operations managers at each of Forward Air’s 85 local stations use Powerfleet to perform yard checks at their locations, as well as at customer yards that belong to their pool. The Powerfleet FleetView platform website dormancy reporting capabilities are then used to help identify excess trailers that can be eliminated from their pool.
In 2010, Forward Air began replacing their existing Powerfleet tracking devices with Powerfleet’s new Track-and-Trace product. Benefits of the low-cost device include the ability to ping for trailer location on demand, which is critical to locating stolen assets or other moving targets. With an up-to-date trailer position, drivers on trailer search missions can be routed directly for pick up, saving valuable hours of service and fuel costs dedicated to hunting for misplaced units. Maintenance budgets have also benefited from the addition of the new devices due to ease of installation and battery replacement, plus the assistance it provides maintenance managers in scheduling service.
The benefits of Track-and-Trace have extended to Forward Air’s customers as well. Forward Air customers can access the VIP website to monitor the location and security of their loads.
“The quick set up and intuitive format of the VIP website has allowed us to extend the value of the product directly to our customers,” added Parker. “Our customers can log in to the website and view their specific information to help them better manage their equipment and utilization levels. We also rarely have to burden our customers with manual yard checks. Instead, the customers are empowered to quickly ascertain their equipment and utilization levels.”
Powerfleet has helped Forward Air improve their trailer fleet utilization by 15%, while also improving bottom line performance by an estimated $500,000 per year.
Powerfleet transforms the way organizations manage mobile business assets — like forklifts, cargo trailers, and connected cars. Our technologies control, track, analyze, and optimize hundreds of thousands of these assets all over the world. We help organizations be safer, improve efficiency, and cut costs.
“Without Powerfleet for Logistics solutions, the odds of recovering stolen goods are low. Word is likely to be out on the street that Knight is not a desired target given our tracking capabilities.”
Richard Martin
Corporate Director of Security,
Knight Transportation, Inc.
In Long Beach, CA, a Knight Transportation driver reported that his truck and trailer were missing. The security department immediately enabled Emergency Track on its Powerfleet for Logistics system to begin the trailer location process. It was discovered that the trailer traveled throughout the previous night ending its journey in Rialto, CA at 8:51 a.m. The authorities were notified of the stolen trailer and were told exactly where it was parked, based on the last location delivered by the Powerfleet system. Surveillancewas immediately established across from a large warehouse facility.
Mission Success– The missing trailer came out of the warehouse hooked to a different tractor. The rig was followed by police and the driver was arrested. The authorities recovered all 111 televisions valued at over $100,000, as well as the tractor. Interestingly, a container was also retrieved containing fabric worth over $250,000 that wasn’t yet reported stolen. Several more arrests were made at the scene.
A Knight Transportation tractor and trailer were reported missing during a particularly busy night in the middle of the peak holiday season. Using the VeriWise system’s reporting features, authorities were able to pinpoint the last known location of the trailer in Compton, CA. Upon arrival at the site, the tractor and trailer, minus the cargo, were recovered. Knight security personnel then back-tracked through the location history of the trailer provided by the system’s best-in-class user interface. It was discovered that the trailer had been parked for several hours the night before in Long Beach, CA at the site of a warehouse and storage facility.
Victorious Recovery – A search warrant was obtained for the warehouse where the authorities found the stolen load of electronics equipment valued at over $335,000. Two additional stolen loads were recovered as well. Over 200 televisions were recovered that were shipped from China and reported stolen. In addition, a load of cosmetics was also recovered and returned to its owners.
Estimated Recovered Value: Over $1 Million. Powerfleet not only improves the efficiency of managing Knight Transportation’s trailer fleet by increasing overall trailer utilization, it also provides a critical security benefit in greatly increasing the chances of recovering stolen cargo.
Powerfleet transforms the way organizations manage mobile business assets — like forklifts, cargo trailers, and connected cars. Our technologies control, track, analyze, and optimize hundreds of thousands of these assets all over the world. We help organizations be safer, improve efficiency, and cut costs.
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