COMPANY: Progressive Transport, Denver, NC
OPERATION: Over-the-road truckload carrier serving the U.S. and Canada, primarily focusing on locations east of the Mississippi River
Problem:
One bad incident can sometimes bring about necessary change. It can put the future of any trucking fleet in jeopardy. In the case of Progressive Transport, which operates 17 trucks with 25 drivers, it can also bring about a radical business shift.
Earlier this year, one of Progressive’s over-the-road tractor-trailers was involved in a highway incident and the resulting CSA score spike opened the eyes of Don Payseur, who founded the company in 1995 and still serves as CEO today.
“I wanted to control that spike and get it down,” he says. “We had a rollover accident and if we had an [electronic onboard recorder or EOBR] before the accident, we would have known that driver was an unsafe driver.”
About a year ago, Progressive had implemented an e-log solution from uDrove in its fleet operated primarily by owner-operators. Following the accident, however, Payseur realized he needed more data and trend reporting from his vehicles to try and prevent future incidents.
“We started out with the simple e-log system,” he says. “Because of the rollover, we decided to upgrade to the EOBR. I wanted to monitor idling and speed. I just wanted to get a better picture of what my drivers were doing in the truck.”
Solution:
Payseur went back to uDrove, the supplier of its e-log solution. uDrove offered a more robust EOBR solution that is installed directly on smartphone and tablet devices. In the case of Progressive, the technology is operating on a combination of company-provided and driver-owned devices.
“We’re using Lenovo Android tablets that I bought at Office Depot for about $100,” Payseur says. “And then I [added] AT&T hot spot [connectivity], so all the driver has to do is open it and go to the uDrove site. Everything they need to do their job is there.”
The uDrove technology not only provides log capabilities, but it is also offering Payseur a host of other data, including idling, route and fuel mileage reports, and tracking, which allows customers to know where their freight is at any given time. He says the system pings the truck every 15 minutes, allowing Progressive to know the progress of the route as it develops.
“For instance, we had a 5 a.m. delivery [scheduled] and the customer called looking for the truck [when it didn’t arrive on time],” he says. “I was able to see that the driver was literally parked on the side of the building [where he was taking a nap after arriving at the location early]. To me, that is amazing technology.”
But the installation of the software was anything but smooth. In fact, the announcement of additional EOBR reporting led to an overhaul in the Progressive driving force. “After I announced I wanted to install EOBRs, most of the [owner-operators] quit,” Payseur recalls. “Now I have company drivers.”
Payseur says he first looked into uDrove technology three years ago, but “decided I wasn’t ready for it. I decided to revisit it about a year ago.”
Logbook violations is another area where the uDrove technology has been very successful. “We were having big trouble with logbook violations,” Payseur notes. “Since the introduction of the EOBRs, we have been stopped numerous times only to pass the logbook inspections because of the EOBRs. One driver was stopped three times in three days and received good inspections because of no logbook issues.”
The data from the devices is uploaded to the cloud for access by Progressive through a user-friendly website, Payseur says, although work is underway to create an interface to allow the fleet to pull the data into its own systems. However the data is accessed, though, Payseur says it is providing a big assist in improving the operations of Progressive Transport.
“It’s enough data for me to run my company better,” he says. “And the data I get is pretty darn accurate. I’m having a tremendous experience with it. It has driven a lot of efficiencies in the short time that we’ve used it.”
