Driver turnover reached crisis levels for John Christner Trucking after it started using electronic logs in December, 2011. When the implementation began the company had 800 trucks. By April, 2012, the software was running on all of its trucks–all 700 of them, that is. The majority of the 100 drivers who quit were independent operators; the remainder came from its leased operator program.
John Christner Trucking specializes in temperature-controlled truckload services. Its fleet is comprised entirely of owner-operators. The reason drivers quit was obvious. Their earnings had fallen along with the company’s productivity. Miles per truck decreased by nine percent in five months.
“We knew we would need some help,” said Quek Song, vice president of information technology.
Song and other executives focused on the load planning process when the impact of electronic logs came into full view. Drivers were no longer using paper logbooks to cover up inefficiencies in their routes, such as detention time at shipping and receiving locations. It was difficult, if not impossible, for load planners to wrap their heads around everything it would take to stay compliant, keep drivers happy, and customer service levels high.
“We had a culture of using manual processes. Everything we did was manual,” said Jim Gomez, Jr., vice president of operational compliance for the Sapulpa, Okla.-based carrier. “In the e-log world, efficiencies are what they are. We needed technology to help us to improve on the inefficiencies that are out of our control and those that obviously we had direct control over.”
“We needed a tool to help us plan,” he added.
Concurrent with the roll out of electronic logs the company started using the Virtual Hours of Service software from Add-On Systems. The tool utilizes its dispatch and real-time tracking data to monitor drive time and project the number of hours drivers will have available over the next two to three days.
