Although Wooster Motor Ways had a computerized dispatch system as well as the EDI and e-mail load tendering and acceptance capabilities needed to successfully compete with larger carriers, the company was lacking the technology infrastructure required to gauge the performance of each facet of the operation at any given point in time. Also, nearly all of WMW’s rating was conducted manually, which meant that Load Planners did not have the capability to maximize each vehicle’s profitability. WMW needed an enterprise management solution that could enable real-time visibility across the entire organization and also allow the carrier to auto-rate shipments.

In September 2003, Wooster Motor Ways implemented TMWSuite and ResultsNow by TMWTM to help increase efficiencies and profitability.

One of the first orders of business in conjunction with the implementation was to rewrite WMW’s rate schedules to make them more consistent and then to load the tables for each customer directly into TMWSuite, which seamlessly integrates all the carrier’s information systems. This action has enabled shipments to be auto-rated at the point of order entry. Now, when a Customer Service agent enters a shipment to be tendered into the system, the Load Planners not only have visibility to basic information such as available vehicles, loading times and destinations, but they can also see the profit margin details for each load – which is automatically calculated. This information enables WMW to match higher-margin loads with lower-profit ones on the same truck to maximize its Revenue Per Mile and Per Truck.

Using ResultsNow, a web-based performance monitoring application, WMW created attainable daily goals and minimums for each of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including Revenue Per Truck Per Day, Revenue Per Truck Per Mile, Deadhead Percentage, On-time Performance and Auto-Rating Percentage.

To ensure that everyone in Operations, Rating, Customer Service and Load Planning is “on the same page” in real time, WMW posts the ResultsNow “scorecard” for each KPI on a 54-inch screen in its Operations Center as well as on the Intranet. The system automatically refreshes the data every hour so that employees can easily determine in what areas the company is excelling and where the areas of improvement are.

With the implementation of TMWSuite and ResultsNow, Wooster Motor Way’s percentage of auto-rated loads has increased from about 20% to nearly 90%. Consequently, the carrier has experienced a substantial spike in its financial performance.

“We’ve seen a 16% increase in Revenue Per Truck Per Mile,” said Paul M. Williams, president of WMW.

Meanwhile, the visual impact of the continuously refreshed ResultsNow scorecard for each KPI has also had a significant impact on the operation.

“We’re a very goal-oriented company, and our people want to be at the top of the ‘grade level’ for each metric,” added Williams. “We’ve improved our score for every metric and become more consistent in our performance because TMWSuite and ResultsNow have allowed us to make more profitable decisions.”

Future Plans________________________________________

Now that Wooster Motor Ways has real-time visibility into its performance metrics, the carrier plans to add other KPIs to its ResultsNow scorecard and also track driver turnover percentage by each individual driver manager. Additionally, WMW has plans to base the incentive pay for Operations and Customer Service personnel largely on the “grade level” achieved for certain metrics.

“Human nature makes us all want to reach our goals.
Posting our ResultsNow scorecard so that everyone
in the company can see our performance in real time
has had a significant impact on our overall
Operating Ratio, Revenue Per Truck and
Auto-Rating Percentage.”

– Paul M. Williams, president, Wooster Motor Ways