| Schneider National Bulk Carriers Improves Driver Management with TMW’s DriverZone | ||||
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Driver managers found their existing system to be quite data rich, but they were sometimes challenged to quickly pinpoint needed information. To see specifics on a given driver, the manager had to sort through multiple screens of files from different programs. Issues that needed to be addressed or potential opportunities were being missed Says Paul Janco, Director of Business Systems, Schneider National Bulk Carriers, “Driver managers were regularly taking 2-3 hours per day sorting through non-critical data to find actionable needs. Our driver relationships, service and productivity were suffering.” In addition, the handoff between the day shift of regional driver managers and the night support shift at corporate was cumbersome. “We’re a 24/7 company, and communication between the two teams |
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The Solution |
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Schneider turned to TMW to help them establish what they called “situational awareness.” They needed a tool that would enable operations to quickly and consistently establish clear visibility to critical facts. “We needed to move quickly to exception management, not laboriously look through data driver by driver,” says Janco. After spending time at virtually every Schneider Bulk field location working with their driver managers, TMW developed Driver Zone™ as the “Situational Awareness Tool” Schneider needed. It eliminates the unknowns, providing the real-time, instant visibility of all the driver details in a simplified, color-coded calendar-based view. The color-coding in DriverZone automatically flags problems to facilitate Schneider’s exception management. That includes load status, HOS updates, mobile communication message status, on-time delivery, safety concerns and driver productivity information, among others.DriverZone also features the ability to put notes right within a file to make communications between the day and night shifts simpler. |
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The Result |
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Driver managers save 2-3 hours per day that used to be spent sifting through data. More importantly, they can immediately see and react to urgent needs or opportunities, which improve company performance. DriverZone is especially helpful in facilitating smooth Start-of-Day (SOD) and End-of-Day (EOD) hand-offs between shifts, assuring that critical issues are seen and addressed, even though the two staffs are in different cities. “Providing this time back to the operations associates has given our driver managers the opportunity to proactively provide safe service, look for ways to lower our costs and truly manage driver performance and relationships as never before,” says George Grosshardt, Vice President & General Manager of Schneider National Bulk Carriers. The improvements have reached into virtually every area. Because the operations group can easily see when a driver is running late, they can address the issue proactively. This resulted in a 36% reduction of operations-related service failures. Also, because driver operations are easily monitored, SOD went from 2-3 hours to 30 minutes. Improved tracking also has Schneider experiencing accident cost reductions of 51%. DriverZone’s clearer information allows a driver manager to see a driver situation developing, and the increased efficiency provides more time to listen. “In the past, driver problems were often a surprise,” says Grossardt. “and there was not really sufficient time to listen to our drivers’ concerns effectively. DriverZone changes that." |
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Future Plans |
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Schneider sees DriverZone becoming a tool for more accurately forecasting freight levels to optimize utilization and service. Says Grossardt, “With DriverZone we can more quickly and precisely account for all drivers, loads and status. Because bulk loads are usually booked 2-3 days in advance, we can use this tool to drive our business.” The system also offers driver retention benefits because it makes it easy to track Hours of Service, match drivers with loads and maximize load opportunities. “We see DriverZone as making a significant impact on driver satisfaction and retention,” concludes Grosshardt. “And that’s important to Schneider’s bottom line.” “Providing this time back to the operations associates has given our Driver Managers the opportunity to proactively provide safe service, look for ways to lower our costs and truly manage driver performance and relationships as never before.” George GrosshardtVice President & General Manager Schneider National Bulk Carriers |
Schneider National Bulk Carriers Increases Productivity |
