After an extended period of double-digit growth, Perkins’ business had hit a plateau, with 24 months of about the same number of loads, customers and revenue. The very nature of Perkins specialized business means that there are volume swings since many of their loads aren’t recurring. However, because their deliveries are so time-critical, customers book many runs long in advance – from annual trade show dates to homebuilding timelines. Perkins saw the opportunity to fill more empty miles. The key was to find a way to more quickly and easily visualize their future schedule.

Perkins turned to ResultsNow by TMW for the tool they needed to increase loaded miles. The ResultsNow dashboard provides real-time visibility of future loads, clearly showing gaps and opportunities. They review intermediate term plans, as well as short term opportunities, allowing them to fill loads in as little as a 24-72 hour timeframe. Says Maiers, “Now every day in a simple 15-minute meeting we know what we’re loading, where we might be short and places where we need to increase the velocity of the fleet or make customer solicitations. It’s a daily roadmap for how to grow the business and service customers better.”

After being in place for just 12 months, ResultsNow helped Perkins increase their loaded miles by 12%. “Now that we can easily understand gaps and opportunities, we can seek out business to pair with our special deliveries and better manage the productivity of our fleet. By optimizing that capability, our revenue is up significantly,” adds Maiers. The ability to long-range forecast more accurately has also helped Perkins in other areas of the business. First, they are better able to satisfy more customer requests, preventing work going to competitors. In addition, the increase in loaded miles has improved satisfaction with their in-service drivers who are seeing higher pay from the added work.

Future Plans 

While early use of ResultsNow has focused on load management, now Perkins is utilizing another key metric of success – loads per week per in-service driver. By tracking and managing by this Key Performance Indicator, Perkins will be expanding their efforts to fine tune their efficiency and load management. In addition, they observe that there’s a direct connection between this KPI and driver satisfaction, so ResultsNow is also providing a powerful tool in recruitment
and retention.