COMPANY:
CENTRAL OREGON TRUCK CO.
OPERATION:
Flatbed hauler operating 178 tractors and 200 trailers across the U.S. and Canada
PROBLEM:
Flatbed carrier Central Oregon Truck Co. (COTC) serves the Lower 48 and most of Canada. Named after its location (the company is located in Prineville, OR, which is the dead center of Oregon on a map), COTC was founded in 1992 as a single-truck operation. Just 19 years later, that single-truck operation delivering construction materials has grown to include 178 trucks and drivers, and some 200 trailers. The fleet now includes Kenworth and Peterbilt models, none more than four years old, with a combination of flatbeds, curtain vans and roll-top trailers.
But with that growth came a maze of safety, human resource, and compliance management functions. Ultimately, COTC needed to make its human resources functions more efficient, and that included maintaining compliance with CSA and securing all regulatory compliance, employee, and other management files.
“We needed to ensure the integrity of our files, that they were complete and well-maintained,” says Paul Coil, chief financial officer.
SOLUTION:
Central turned to Compli, a Portland, OR-based provider of web-based safety, human resources, and compliance management software. The solution was a program that automates business processes, distribution of information, and proof of completion among other functions. In addition, employees have online access to training, policies, forms, procedures and other documents. Each action taken is tracked in an electronic personnel file. Managers can then take that information and produce a variety of reports to ensure compliance with company, state, and federal regulations.
It was exactly what Central Oregon needed. “We've seen software that has bits and pieces of what Compli has, but they have the most complete [solution],” Coil says. “The capabilities are expanding and expanding rapidly.”
Compli customized the software for Central Oregon and held a two-day on-site rollout meeting. The software has reduced and, in some cases, eliminated paperwork altogether, Coil says, and the time to process a new hire has been cut from hours to minutes. Coil adds that since documents are stored off-site in the “cloud,” they are never lost. “We have total integrity of our files,” he says.
The system integrates nicely with Central Oregon's other software, including the company's Pro-Tread training and its PeopleNet systems. And because all the information throughout the system is updated automatically, there have been other efficiencies. “This ensures that the base of what we are interacting with is accurate at all times,” Coil says. “It eliminates human error.”
One of the other benefits of the system is its ability to pull data directly from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website daily, automatically downloading any reports generated from within the site with Central Oregon's employer code. This allows for near real-time visibility into the actions of drivers, Coil says. If there is a violation report, the Compli software will automatically generate a corrective action form and distribute that to the driver's supervisor.
Before purchasing the software, which was fully implemented in June, Coil admits there was some trepidation. “It took us a while to get [our minds] around what the full potential of the program is,” he says. “We were a reluctant purchaser…but the more we get into it,” the happier the fleet has become with the decision.
