Safety Information and Updates

In the world of logistics, supply chain details, and cutting-edge technology, it's easy for conversations to feel a bit dry. Concepts like route planning or inventory tracking might seem like mundane necessities, but they're the backbone that powers seamless experiences for everyone involved. At the heart of it all is a simple goal: delivering top-notch service to customers and a smoother workday for teams. By investing in smart technology, supply strategies, and transport efficiencies, operations, dispatch, and safety groups can streamline processes that benefit drivers and clients alike. Here's a fresh look at key recommendations and their real-world impact on daily operations.

Harnessing Technology for Smarter Operations

Start with the basics: Outfit fuel transport vehicles with GPS tracking to give dispatchers a live view of driver locations. This empowers teams to tweak schedules, assign follow-up loads, and manage timelines remotely, all without pulling drivers away from the road for check-ins.

A tailored dispatch system is a game-changer, offering full visibility into customer sites. Orders flow into the platform and are pushed digitally to drivers' in-cab tablets, where they can view and mark off deliveries. This setup simplifies scheduling for monitored tanks and automated systems, with tank data uploaded twice daily to a shared platform accessible by both dispatch and customers.

For fueling operations, integrate barcode scanning on trucks to capture precise gallon breakdowns during multi-site or equipment drops. This not only speeds up the process for drivers but also generates detailed records that eliminate paperwork hassles. Customers gain quick access to these receipts and bills of lading (BOLs) via an online portal, making backend reconciliation effortless—no lost documents or delays.

On the lubricants front, apply barcoding to track products from warehouse entry to customer delivery. Scanning at every stage provides a complete traceability chain, which is crucial for quickly addressing any rare quality issues by pinpointing affected items. Drivers can scan items upon delivery for instant digital confirmations, which can be emailed to stakeholders. This cuts down on administrative work for everyone, from PO matching to inventory management.

Lubricant routes should also leverage electronic dispatching to tablets, enabling real-time updates and progress tracking. Routes can be fine-tuned based on location, past orders, business hours, and preferred delivery slots, leading to more efficient trips that minimize disruptions and maximize productivity.

For rack-based customers, link financial and contract systems with terminal access badges (TABs) and exchange platforms. This setup lets wholesalers manage overlapping contracts across various products and locations seamlessly, with real-time gallon tracking via automated emails or on-demand reports. It keeps pricing and allocations clear, allowing customers to adapt to market shifts and optimize their spending without friction.

Strategic Terminal Placement for Maximum Efficiency

Positioning terminals thoughtfully can boost performance for both self-serve rack customers and your own delivery fleet. Focus on geography and local demand to offer diverse product options through multiple access points.

Having several pull points acts as a safeguard against supply disruptions like outages or shipping delays. It also enables flexible pricing strategies within a single location—for instance, directing drivers to select from spot deals, fixed allocations, or rack options to mitigate market volatility, all without rerouting to another site and wasting time.

Ideally, terminals should align with high-demand customer areas. This overlap enhances driver efficiency for deliveries and provides convenient pickup spots for rack users. In dense urban zones like Boston, where hazardous material regulations limit routes and timings, nearby options help optimize paths and make the most of available hours.

Enhancing Transportation for Drivers and Customers

Prioritizing driver ease is key, and that starts with robust dispatching tools. Use a customized database to map out daily routes that account for customer needs, load requirements, and shift constraints—it's a complex puzzle, but the payoff is huge. Routes are delivered to drivers' tablets, ensuring clear instructions and live updates for dispatch. This facilitates quick adjustments amid the industry's inevitable curveballs.

Combine this with GPS for accurate ETAs, allowing customer service to update clients without interrupting drivers. It's a dual win: safer roads by reducing phone use and better service through reliable communication.

Ultimately, embracing these practices is about continuous improvement—refining tools and processes to elevate the overall experience for customers, drivers, and your team. By focusing on efficiency and innovation, operators can turn everyday operations into a competitive edge.

Friendly reminder that December 16th 2019 is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) hard deadline for the Electronic Logging Device Mandate. There have been some "soft" deadlines and delays on this mandate over the last several years but there is no indication we will see another delay, so if your fleet is not fully converted to ELD, definitely get moving on that ASAP.  

We have personally been running E Logs for almost a decade, it made sense for our fleet and our footprint and we like the accuracy and uniformity of the data we get from our system. I will say there is definitely a learning curve involved in making a change over of any kind though, especially one involving software.  But this particular change actually does really make life easier in the big picture when it comes to making sure you are in HOS compliance, and in terms of pulling information for any kind of audit or certification, etc. 

Anyway - if you haven't moved your fleet to ELDs, the time is now. Don't wait til you are fined to get compliant. Good luck! 

This summer we had another successful round of our annual "Safety Jeopardy" game at Driver Safety meetings. We've discussed before how we try to cover as much relevant safety info and training as possible to all our drivers at our monthly meetings. Safety Jeopardy has the same goal, but even the Safety Department will admit it's more fun to review safety stats and info via Jeopardy. 

It's easy to lose sight of the truly monumental amount of information that drivers need to know and remember on multiple topics in order to do their jobs safely, and Jeopardy is a fun way to refresh everyone's memory with a little friendly competition. 

Looks like the team enjoyed it, based on those smiles (even Ed Burke and some Sales Reps got in on the action!)

This week the White House signed off on a final version of the proposed regulation to require e-logs to be used across the trucking industry in order to more efficiently track driver hours for both employers and, more importantly, to ensure DOT hours of service compliance.

The DOT has announced that the final language of the regulation and its effective dates will be published by the end of this month.

E-logs have been a contentious issue in the trucking industry for the past several years - So much so, in fact, that the proposed regulations have been pushed off and delayed several times.

There’s some consensus that e-logs are a good thing, a lot of the issue is a feeling that implementation costs etc.  affect smaller fleets and owner operators much more severely than say larger, or national fleets. That’s very true. There’s also concern about yet another mandate.

A pretty good summary on what the for and against arguments are that I read was recently published on a CCJ Point-Counterpoint Recap and you can read the whole thing here:( Point-Counterpoint: Truckers Square off in Debate)   (As an aside, CCJ is an excellent news source on all things trucking)

For our part, we have been using e-logs for quite some time and would never go back. It definitely simplifies tracking compliance for the DOT, and even more importantly it saves our drivers from the time and aggravation paper logs can be the source of.  However, we’re a pretty large fleet, so it made sense for us and our drivers, that may not be the case for everyone.

It will be interesting to see what the final ruling looks like and how long fleets will have to implement, and if there will be any exceptions for smaller operators.

What are your thoughts on the e-log mandate?