A&R Transport Inc.

Founded in 1970, A&R Transport is a leader in the transportation of dry and liquid bulk commodities. Headquartered in Joliet, Ill., the company has a network of 20 terminals strategically located throughout the U.S. A&R currently operates a fleet of more than 625 vehicles nationwide.

Although A&R Transport had an existing fleet management solution, the platform did not provide the functionality or real-time visibility needed to seamlessly manage all three of the company’s assets: tractors, trailers and drivers. As a result, it wasn’t unusual for the carrier to lose track of trailers at customers’ facilities or lack complete details on the availability of drivers needed to dispatch loads. A&R wanted a solution that could significantly increase asset visibility to improve productivity and profitability.

After analyzing the enterprise management solutions available for trucking companies, A&R chose TMWSuite^TM from TMW Systems. This Windows®-based platform provides the carrier with an integrated suite of operations management software and services to address the end-to-end transportation process – from order entry through settlement to complete financials.

A&R also implemented ResultsNow by TMW^TM, a web-based performance “dashboard” monitoring application that automatically runs a list of real-time management reports based on the company’s specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The ResultsNow dashboard allows A&R to track improvements in each metric – and raise the visibility of this information within the organization. A&R has identified approximately seven KPIs that are critical to its success – including revenue per truck per day, loaded miles, order count, invoice delay, asset inactivity and deadhead miles – and measures them on a consistent basis.

“Once we saw a demonstration of ResultsNow, we were sold by the near real-time results that we could receive on our desktops,” said Andrew Mantey, Chief Operating Officer of A&R Transport. “The advantage is that we don’t have to wait for batch-processing to deliver this information at only certain times of the day.”

In addition, the carrier has also employed The Dawg, TMW’s performance notification application, to define “alert thresholds” for each KPI such as empty moves and load profitability. With near real-time transaction monitoring, The Dawg constantly scans the company’s systems for negative trends or operational bottlenecks. Any time there’s an exception that falls outside the threshold for any of A&R’s KPIs, The Dawg triggers an alert so that the carrier can take immediate corrective action.

The complete asset visibility and real-time performance monitoring capabilities provided by TMW’s technology has enabled A&R’s managers to not only become much more proactive with their customers but also more productive as well.

For instance, A&R has achieved a dramatic improvement in revenue per truck per day because managers can see where every truck in the system is and have instant data on the profitability of every proposed load.

In addition, TMWSuite has allowed A&R to keep better track of all drivers and dispatch them more efficiently to maximize their earning potential. Dispatchers can match the right driver with the right truck and the right load.

Among the tangible results that A&R has realized with TMWSuite are:

• 12% improvement in asset utilization
• 30% increase in the number of tractors added to the fleet without having to add dispatchers or driver managers
• 5% reduction in deadhead miles.

Using TMWSuite as the core technology platform, A&R has also been able to integrate best-in-class functionality for mobile communications and imaging to further enhance productivity.

“Our customers are demanding higher ‘quality of delivery’ every day,” remarked Mantey. “TMWSuite allows us to improve their perception of our capabilities by having the visibility needed to better manage our customers’ expectations.”