Last December, we visited Steve Minter at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Steve has been rolling out our Quadrant solution throughout the state in the vehicles he manages. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture is responsible for a wide range of activities, including:

• Regulation and inspection, (including every retail weigh scale in the state, eggs, amusement rides, pesticide use, and fuel pumps)
• Teens and tobacco
• A veterinary office
• A marketing division, (which runs farmers’ markets and promotes Kentucky agriculture products around the world)

Many people at the Department of Agriculture work remotely and by themselves. There are obvious safety concerns, which Steve has addressed using Quadrant to gain visibility into where vehicles are located. Steve helps ensure safety of workers by conducting remote physical vehicle inventory checks using Quadrant—something that was impossible to do before Quadrant. Steve has used Quadrant reporting to move from re-active to pro-active management of his fleet.

With innovative solutions like this, Steve’s long-term vision will provide a positive impact in all areas for which the Kentucky Department of Agriculture is responsible.  Customers, such as Steve, continue to show us new and innovative ways to use Quadrant on a day-to-day basis as a great telematics, automated GPS, and automatic vehicle location solution.

The American Transportation Research Institute just released their 2011 Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry 2011 Report. This annual report surveys more than 4,000 carriers to produce a rank ordering of the key issues the trucking industry sees for itself.

For Webtech Wireless, it was good to see that Onboard Truck Technology is a top 10 issue from the survey respondents. In fact, the graph above shows that for 85% of the trucking industry, onboard technology ranks 5 or higher. For 70% of the industry, it ranks 7 or higher.

Automated GPS and AVL solutions, like the ones we offer, can have an impact on several other of the critical issues raised in the survey. For example,

#2. Hours of Service. Both Quadrant In Cab and Quadrant Manager offer key HOS capabilities, including predictive in cab alerts.

#3. Driver Shortage. Customers tell us that it is the best drivers that stay around when they deploy a telematics solution. A professionally run organization that uses telematics and reporting to level the playing field, making all drivers accountable, is more likely to attract better drivers.

#4. CSA. Good compliance with CSA rules can be enabled through a telematics deployment and automated HOS solution (see #2).

#5. Fuel. Customers use our solutions to monitor idling, driver behaviour and fuel economy, which enables them to increase their fleet fuel economy and lower their fuel costs.

#9. Onboard Truck Technology. Need we say more?

We are pleased to be positioned to help customers solve five out of the top ten issues that the American Transportation Research Institute has identified for 2011.

For six decades, National Foods has been dedicated to delivering fresh eggs from their rural farms to customers all over Everett, Washington.

With customer service as a main priority, Kevin Bookey, Transportation Manager was concerned on how to best manage their 160 drivers and over 90 tractors and straight truck fleet. Kevin knew he needed better accountability and visibility into what the trucks were doing every day.

Using the Webtech Wireless Quadrant solution, National Foods was able to save costs while improving efficiency. Everyday National Foods delivers their fresh farm eggs to a number of businesses, primarily restaurants, who require precise delivery times. Their business plan estimated that unloading and delivery should not take longer than one hour. Once Quadrant was installed, Kevin was able to narrow down and identify delivery stops that took as long as two and a half hours. Working in collaboration with their customers, National Foods was able to reduce the longer unloading times and increase the productivity of their employees.

As a family owned business, the owners often lose sleep worrying about the safety of their drivers and trucks. With the Quadrant solution, they receive the data they need to monitor driver behaviour, in order to reduce speeding and accident rates; giving the owners of National Foods a good night’s rest.

National Foods has had a positive change with customer interaction since implementing the Quadrant solution. Customer Service Representatives directly interact with Quadrant, allowing them to personally address customer’s questions about delivery times. Now, the customer is receiving more accurate information and the dispatchers are no longer interrupted with customer inquiries.

National Foods delivers their eggs using Webtech Wireless’ telematics solution. With Quadrant they are able to lower costs and improve customer service while lowering risks so that owners and managers can all sleep at night. All of this is for National Foods’ commitment so that that the people of Everett can enjoy meals made with the best and freshest eggs possible.

Mike Ward, Equipment Manager for Strike Construction, recently paid a visit to the Webtech Wireless head office. During his trip, we had the opportunity to sit down and gain a better understanding of Mike’s role and his use of our solutions. Strike Construction is a leader in pipeline integrity, maintenance, and new construction, focusing on the US Gulf States. When Mike joined Strike Construction in 2007 there were 187 employees. Today, there are over 1,800 employees and more than 450 pieces of yellow iron equipment used on their construction projects.

While Mike and his team have done amazing things with our Quadrant solution to track all of their equipment, his motive to visit us was to learn all about our products and facilities. This included visiting our top class manufacturing facilities and gaining insights into our build and delivery processes. The goal was to help Mike realize even more value from Strike Construction’s investment in Webtech Wireless telematics solutions.

Strike Construction use Quadrant to solve these business challenges:

Maintenance: Using Quadrant’s maintenance features, Mike is able to proactively schedule when equipment will be taken out of service for maintenance. The result is better equipment utilization and no unplanned stoppages due to unforeseen breakages.

Billing: Equipment use is tracked with Quadrant and reconciled to actual project costs and billing. When there is a difference it is immediately flagged so that it can be appropriately dealt with, often resulting in increased revenue when equipment used on a project was not fully billed for all the hours it was used.

Utilization: Strike Construction manages more than $40M worth of equipment. Company success depends on this equipment being fully utilized. By using Quadrant’s geofence feature, Strike Construction can insure where equipment is at all times. If an individual piece of equipment is idle for a day, Mike and his team can check with the division using the equipment to see if it can be used somewhere else.

Mike told us that even with all these successes, the additional training and knowledge that he gained by spending two days with us will provide even more value to Strike Construction in the future. In Mike’s own words, he said this about the trip:

“All in all, I would have to say this was the best thing that could have happened to further Webtech and Strike’s relationship.”

If you or your company has implemented a Webtech Wireless solution, you have access to a wealth of information that’s probably worth a review. I met with Webtech Wireless Technical Writer, Andrew D’éstrubé, and he gave me a tour of what resources you can expect to find on the Go Resources site (resources.webtechwireless.com). So, if you’ve forgotten to check out your Go Resources portal lately, here’s an overview of what’s available.

The Go Resources portal has four sections, although you’ll only see one. Each section is designed for a different type of user login. The four user logins are Installer, Partner, Employee, and Quadrant. “Employee” is for Webtech Wireless employees, so I’ll describe the other three.

• The Installer section, as its name suggests, is designed for anyone who is tasked with installing Webtech Wireless hardware components (such as Locators or MDTs) on vehicles. If you’re an installer, you’ll get a link to this login along with hardware that’s shipped to you. The Installer section provides you with access to all the documentation you’ll need to install WebTech products, as well as information about certified training programs, news (upgrades), and contact information for installers if they need help.
• The Partner section is designed for third-party providers who develop solutions with Webtech Wireless. It includes news (describing resource updates), training (information the partners selling Webtech Wireless training courses), documentation (release notes, installation guides, compliance guides, and other resources), a sales toolkit (Tips & Tools for sales), contact information, and an FAQ (your resource for fundamental questions about wireless technologies).
• The Quadrant section is similar to the Partner section except that instead of the focus being on sales, it’s on professional services, “WebTech Wireless’ Professional Services is committed to driving the specific needs and goals of our customers’ projects to success”. It provides solution-oriented information on topics such as ROI, and how Quadrant saves companies money as well as information on Track & Trace Services, Transportation Services, Enterprise Services, and Services Brochures.

Our customers frequently report that the way they realize the best results from their AVL (automatic vehicle location) solution is knowing what to do with all the data the solution provides. Webtech Wireless solutions contain extensive tools (such as score cards and reports), designed to show you how your fleet is operating.

Here are 5 ways you can lower costs:

1.    Re-allocate Resources

A GPS/AVL fleet management solution allows you to see where your vehicles are in real time. Knowing this enables you to allocate resources where they’re most needed. For example, Webtech Wireless’ Quadrant Manager provides the Find Nearest Vehicle feature, which also shows the best route to the desired location. This saves you in fuel costs and provides better service to your customers. Simply put, increased visibility into your mobile assets lowers your operating costs.

Quadrant - Find Nearest Vehicle

2.    Reduce Unnecessary Idling

A truck burns one gallon of fuel per hour of idling. Idling times are shown to range from 500 to more than 4,000 hours per year. How much idling is unnecessary in your fleet?

“Depending on the cost of fuel, distance traveled, and the size of your fleet, a 0.1 mpg improvement in fuel economy justifies the entire cost of a telematics deployment.”
– Telematics Return on Investment: the Human Factor

3.    Improve Driver Behavior

Our customers tell us that, after unnecessary idling, driver behavior (speeding, fast accelerations, and harsh braking) wastes more fuel, thus driving up the costs of doing business. They find that improving driver behavior (i.e., training and motivation programs) is the best way to eliminate these wasteful practices.

Accidents are costly. The more serious the accident, the more time and attention management must give to deal with it. Vehicle repair costs can vary from $3,000 to $5,000 for a fender bender to $50,000 to $100,000 for a serious accident. Liability risk, human injury, and brand reputation all create significant risk for an organization.

“There are so many unknown losses from accidents. There is lack of productivity when we all have to turn our attention to managing an accident. All kinds of personnel wasting their time dealing with the accident and managing the consequences. The cost itself can be really bad. Trucks are down, customers are upset, and it is an amplification of a problem.”
–Kevin Bookey, National Foods, Transportation Manager

4.    Eliminate Paper-based Reporting

Webtech Wireless’ Quadrant solution provides state-of-the-art Hours of Service (HOS) reporting that will save you thousands of dollars in errors, overtime, and even non-compliance fines. Without an electronic on-board reporting tool (EOBR) solution, the most common practice is for paperwork to be completed at the end of the day—almost always billed as overtime hours. Quadrant’s MDT device records HOS information automatically and reports it to head office in real time.

5.    Minimize Risk

Minimizing risk pro-actively also lowers operating costs. For example, fines for inaccurate fuel-tax reporting can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Companies take enormous risk with manual records. Once a fuel tax audit starts, it is almost impossible to predict how long and expensive the resulting audit will be for the company. After fuel tax reporting is automated, this risk is vastly reduced.

Founded in 1881, Canadian Pacific (CP) is one of Canada’s oldest railway companies. Today, CP is leading a technological revolution applying technology throughout its operations and supply chain. Jim Barr, Business Manager, introduced our Quadrant solution to its InterModal operations (moving freight between trains and its customers).

Before Quadrant, CP’s drivers were waiting up to an hour to be dispatched—not just waiting for a call, but actually on hold for an hour. With the installation of Quadrant in all of its contracted delivery trucks, CP not only knows where each truck is, our In-Cab solution eliminates the need for mobile phone communication to dispatch drivers. Saving many minutes every day across hundreds of drivers is a significant cost savings for CP.

Many of CP’s primary customers run very large distribution centres. By using Quadrant’s geofencing features, CP has been able to identify distribution centres with very long stop times. In many cases, CP has a contractual agreement with the customer on the maximum amount of wait time at the distribution centre. CP is now able to work with those customers who are not meeting their contractual obligations.

In the words of Jim Barr, “CP saw a significant overall reduction in trucking costs by improving our fleet performance using Quadrant.”

Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), the second largest wood producer in the United States, is headquartered in the shadow of Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range in Northern California. SPI manages forests with a hundred year time frame in one of the most environmentally protected states in the US.

Steve Gaston, SPI Information Services Manager, has led efforts to improve business results for SPI by introducing, managing, and leveraging our Quadrant solution for their truck fleet. One area of improvement has been for their logging truck operations.

Due to weather constraints, logging in the Cascade Range can only operate for eight months of the year. SPI mills run twelve months of the year, so twelve month’s worth of log supply has to be moved out of the mountains in eight months.

Steve has seen numerous benefits from deploying Quadrant. He, his IT team, and operations have coordinated to make Quadrant part of a complete business solution to drive better results at SPI.

One improvement has been the elimination of daily cell phone calls with dispatch, a time consuming part of every day that has been eliminated by automated messaging directly to the drivers using our MDT3100 in cab solution.

By automating all the business paperwork, using geofences, and training the logging drivers to provide information via our MDT, twenty to thirty minutes of driver overtime has been saved every day. While this cost saving has been significant, dispatch and operations now have a continuously updated view of what every truck is doing, in addition to knowing where it is.

The bottom line is that SPI have used Quadrant to improve their bottom line. They were able to pull the same log volume out of their logging operations with 15% fewer loads at the end of their last season. Significantly lower costs and SPI’s mills have enough logs to keep them running all winter.

Training – “a huge leap forward”

In April, Julia Degen, Training Manager for Webtech Wireless, traveled to Oklahoma City to train a new client, Blue Knight Energy. She facilitated a three-day training session for 14 managers and IT personnel. She comments that due to the training, “they have already realized some great benefits from our system”. One enthusiastic training participant commented that the Webtech Wireless solution and the training represent a “huge leap forward” for their company’s bottom line. She continues, “By the end of our three days together, the participants were able to articulate exactly how to get their return on investment”.

Training Manager, Julia Degen, leads a Quadrant training session.

About Webtech Wireless Training Solutions

Julia has made a career of providing consulting services to high-risk industries where safety is paramount. Her experience providing training to high-risk industries, such as mining, has given her a wealth of knowledge and experience when meeting with the many fleet operators, safety staff (HOS), dispatchers and others deploying telematics solutions for their trucking fleets.

Implementing a wireless AVL solution in a fleet requires much more that installing hardware (Quadrant LOCATORS and MDT IN-CAB devices), or configuring software (Quadrant MANAGER). “Webtech Wireless training programs are not just about product training; they’re about designing a business solution and change management strategy within the company”, she asserts.

Top Three Reasons to Take Training

Training develops knowledge and skills with the objective of uncovering how learners will do their job with a new tool. To ensure an implementation goes smoothly, clients usually cite the following reasons for training:

• ROI/Cut Costs – ensure the company quickly reaps the cost-saving rewards of the new technology.
• Safety – increase awareness of safety standards using new tools and technology.
• Consistency – ensure users understand best practices according to the benchmarks for success set by the company.

How it Works

Webtech Wireless’ Professional Services Group, of which the Training department is a constituent part, works with clients to develop industry-appropriate training solutions to the company they’re working with. Webtech Wireless’ trainers collaborate with the Professional Services Group engineers to meet the same aims as the installation.

Julia describes her training strategy as a blend of formal training (gained from years of experience and customer knowledge) and hands-on experience focusing on developing real-world skills (where participants get to practice different strategies on their computers). This allows her to balance her training between planning and spontaneity—dispelling any notions that systems’ training is inherently boring. “Knowing who will be there is important”, she contends as this informs her about their pain points—what challenges they face.

Their training documentation library now includes materials appropriate for a diverse range of industries; so many documents can be adapted, although the training team often creates custom hot sheets, as required.

“Implementations are becoming more and more complex, especially as Webtech Wireless acquires larger clients”, comments Julia, “so our training continues to be in high demand too”.

After Training Support

Julia states that her post-training strategy is always to follow up with the client. “By providing support through the entire implementation process, I find out who they are and what their concerns are, which of course leads to better customer care.”

As a company grows and changes, she sometimes provides repeat training sessions to support new employees or take the company to the next level in their business development.

Blue Knight Energy: What they do

Blue Knight Energy picks up crude oil from well sites and transports it to a processing location for their many different customers. The fleet is 218 vehicles. They operate in a heavily regulated industry: the drivers must track their hours of service, the product they transport is a hazardous material, some of their jobs sites are considered high risk due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S)—a highly poisonous and flammable component of natural gas.

Of the top industry issues in the transportation sector today, many are evident in the day-to-day operations of Blue Knight (economy, CSA (comprehensive safety analysis 2010), government regulations, Hours of Service, fuel issues, on-board truck technology) and Webtech Wireless is able to impact all of these areas for this customer.

For more information about Webtech Wireless training, visit http://webtechwireless.com/en/services/training/ or email training at training@webtechwireless.com

Webtech Wireless announces the launch of its new corporate identity, unveiled last week to employees worldwide, and being rolled-out across all of the Company’s operations over the coming months. The new identity will be applied to all marketing and communications materials, including the launch of a new website slated for early next month.

The new identity organizes and rationalizes the Company’s brands under a single corporate (umbrella) brand, with its three distinct product brands. Each is based on a common visual platform of icons, typefaces and colours, effectively creating a unified brand family.

“The idea of rebranding Webtech Wireless was first raised following the acquisition of Grey Island and its InterFleet® and NextBus® brands. It was clear that we were transitioning from a single solution company (Quadrant®) to one that could offer a comprehensive set of tightly integrated business solutions to an ever increasing variety of customers,” said Scott Edmonds, Webtech Wireless’ President and Chief Executive Officer. Adding, “The new brand identity is a logical step that communicates, to all stakeholders, that we continue to provide very specialized products and services, and that these are strengthened even more as an integral part of the new Webtech Wireless brand family.”

Introduction of new brand identity brings together the Company’s three product brands under one corporate umbrella brand

The new Webtech Wireless logo icon, a “W” constructed of three stylized arrows, will be used for the Corporate, InterFleet and Quadrant brands. Its design subtly conveys both corporate and product brand attributes: precise, efficient, direct, purposeful, fast and focused. The NextBus brand, a leading brand in the transit sector with a significant end-user audience, will sport its own icon—an “N” constructed of two stylized arrows in motion – that additionally conveys a dynamic, friendly brand personality to resonate with transit authorities and transit users. Both icons were designed to work well in web and mobile applications, where their use has superseded more traditional communications mediums.

With the launch, the Company will also reinvigorate its “Telematics for the Planet®” tag line, by applying it to all of its activities. Telematics for the Planet represents a multifaceted commitment to develop cost effective, location-based technologies that benefit our environment by reducing vehicle use and resultant CO2 and pollutant generation, as well as making reference to the Company’s global presence.

The new branding platform also sees the introduction of terminology that groups the Company’s various products into subgroups—MANAGER, LOCATOR, IN-CAB, etc.—thereby presenting a more cohesive and comprehensive solution to the marketplace. The platform also has the flexibility to incorporate additional brands in the future.

Webtech Wireless’ new identity not only encompasses the values of the Webtech Wireless brand and its products, but will also help it stand out against its competitors in an increasingly competitive marketplace.