The Local Trucking BlogWelcome to the online community for local trucking, cartage, and P&D companies in North America

We were recently told about this guide from Software Advice on state and federal rebates for purchasing more fuel-efficient trucks. Check it out:

http://www.softwareadvice.com/scm/trucking-dispatch-comparison/#buyers-guide

-Jonathan Miller, Editor

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We read all the time about how Big Data will transform your life. We see headlines like this: “Big Trucking Company XYZ Saves $6 Million with Big Data.” You can read such an article here:

http://tinyurl.com/c6hu4bw

But what about the small-to-medium sized carrier?  Can a firm with 20 to 75 trucks use Big Data?

Of course you can.

For my customers — local trucking / cartage / P&D / intermodal carriers — I’ve seen the impact when my customers have tools to measure and monitor things like this:

• Driver revenue per hour (hugely valuable for employee drivers)
• Truck / route revenue, per day, week, month, quarter
• Profitability of certain customers (am I billing a lot but losing money on that big customer?)

You won’t have as many data points as the big guys, but who cares? The important thing is that you can develop your own KPIs—Key Performance Indicators—and track them.  You don’t need expensive consultants to get your own powerful Big Data. You just need to know what is happening in your company every day.

And let’s not forget operational data – info we need to get every order done and every job billed:

• Arrival / departure times and POD info as pickups and deliveries happen
• Detention charges that you can actually document and justify
• List of daily or weekly pickups that need to get schedule but aren’t yet scheduled
• Complete rating information in one place so anyone can auto-rate on the fly

For more information, contact me.  Let’s work together to develop your KPI’s and get you the tools to measure them.

You can contact Jonathan Miller at 630-517-0705 or jmiller@jsysoftware.com.

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