Staying competitive

Jan. 1, 2011
COMPANY: Nello Pistoresi & Son Inc. OPERATION: Food and grocery delivery service for 39 stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho PROBLEM: Based in Toppenish, WA, off I-82 where the Yakima River runs southeast to meet up with the Snake and Columbia Rivers, family-owned refrigerated and grocery fleet Nello Pistoresi & Son Inc. serves stores and warehouses in Washington, Oregon and a slice of western Idaho.

COMPANY:

Nello Pistoresi & Son Inc.

OPERATION:

Food and grocery delivery service for 39 stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho

PROBLEM:

Based in Toppenish, WA, off I-82 where the Yakima River runs southeast to meet up with the Snake and Columbia Rivers, family-owned refrigerated and grocery fleet Nello Pistoresi & Son Inc. serves stores and warehouses in Washington, Oregon and a slice of western Idaho. Dino Pistoresi, the company's CEO & president, is the grandson of the founder who began the company in 1929. Today they operate 18 power units and 75 refrigerated and dry van trailers, working with about 20 owner-operators to get the job done.

According to Dino Pistoresi, GPS monitoring and reporting has become a necessity. The company's grocery store customers require 98% on-time delivery and that means making the best possible use of all their assets through efficient routing and tracking in order to stay competitive and profitable. The regulatory compliance burden has also increased the need for better management tools, but the fleet required an affordable, easy-to-deploy system, Pistoresi notes, one right-sized to its operation.

SOLUTION:

To meet these needs, Pistoresi selected the TeleNav Asset Tracker system. The choice was influenced by an earlier experience with TeleNav's phone-based solution. This time, however, the devices are hardwired to the trucks.

“Taking the drivers off the phones and putting in a hardwired box mounted permanently in the vehicle works for us,” he says. “We can't see the drivers when they are off-duty anymore, but we can see where our trucks are to within 50 ft. all the time and that is what we really need.

“When we went through that blizzard in November, for instance, customers were calling to ask, ‘Where's my truck?’ We could tell them exactly where it was, how fast it was moving, and even what the weather was like in that area. It allowed them to plan for deliveries and allowed us to demonstrate that we were doing everything possible to meet their needs and expectations.”

Pistoresi says the company also uses the system to manage routes. “We can look at all the trucks on a map and see who is ahead of schedule and who is behind,” he notes. “Then we can make changes on the fly before there is a problem. In the past, we would easily spend $4,000 to $5,000 more per year moving freight before we could manage routing the way we do now.”

Pistoresi also finds the TeleNav system useful to help document any DOT reportable accidents, to audit driver logs, and even to help beat undeserved speeding tickets. “Our drivers really like the system now,” he says, “but they weren't so sure at first. When we beat the first speeding ticket for them, however, it helped to convince them that the system was good for them as well as good for the company and the customers.

“Things have been pretty tough over the past couple of years, but having the TeleNav Asset Tracker systems in the trucks is something we did not consider cutting,” Pistoresi says. “We just went through a DOT audit and it was the best we've had in years.”

The company has plenty of other plans for the TeleNav system, including moving to automated fuel tax reporting and electronic driver logs. “EOBRs are coming anyway,” he says. “We might as well be proactive. In fact, the system has so much potential we haven't even touched yet.”

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.  

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