A Q&A with Santa, and Fleet Manager Mrs Claus, of North Pole Inc
Adolfo De La Herran, President of Pointdirect Transport, Inc. has used Teletrac Navman GPS fleet management for five years – from day-one of starting his own fleet. Adolfo recently adopted the new Teletrac Navman ELD solution, which was certified by the FMCSA and is on the agency’s registry of certified ELDs. Here’s what Adolfo had to say when I asked him about getting ahead of the mandate and how eLogs help him stay compliant.
Why did you choose to adopt an ELD solution before the deadline?
Adolfo: I’ve seen immediate and long-term benefits from taking our operations digital. I’m a true believer in GPS fleet tracking technology and made it part of Pointdirect Transport from the day I opened the business. Sometimes, new technology can be a challenge for drivers, but I’ve seen firsthand that with the right training and communication it’s easily overcome and the benefits are worth it.
"Our drivers don’t want to go back to paper logs because the tablet takes care of practically all their work."
I see fleet owners on both sides of the fence when it comes to readying for the ELD mandate. Some are actively looking into vendors offering an Electronic Driver Logs solution. I also see a lot of carriers being stubborn and planning to wait until last minute to see what will happen. Those fleets will run into trouble.
I’d rather be ahead of the curve and get my fleet ahead of the regulations than deal with a drastic last minute change that could cost me business.
Installation in your trucks has begun. What are your plans to help truckers adapt to the new solution?
Adolfo: We actually did a roll-out of new tablets with Hours of Service (HOS) eLogs about a year ago, before ELDs were mandated.
Before this, our drivers were so tied to doing paper logs. They didn’t want to change at first, but we did a series of training seminars and welcomed drivers to attend as many times as they wanted. The adoption was easy after that. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback. Our drivers don’t want to go back to paper logs because the tablet takes care of practically all their work.
With the new ELD solution, there will be a few more changes we’ll roll out through the Teletrac Navman platform, but our drivers know it’ll help them do their job better and are read to adopt them.
What are some of the new features you’re most excited about?
Adolfo: Precision is going to be really important with ELD. We need to be compliant, but not keep drivers off the clock any longer than required. One feature that’ll help with this is ‘yard moves,’ which differentiates between time in the yard not necessarily spent driving, like moving trailers. Drivers can easily turn on ‘yard on-duty’ and not have it count toward drive time.
Another ELD-specific feature is the automated countdown clock. Previously, our drivers did this on their own. We were having issues with violations, so actually had to tell them to take 31 minute breaks instead of 30 minutes. Now, the tablet displays a down-to-the-second countdown and drivers get an audible and visual alert when they’ve met their required rest time. We get the same notice in the office. This eliminates the possibility of violations, but also lets us be exact and not waste a minute of valuable drive time.
Check back next week for Part II of my Q&A with Adolfo to learn how GPS fleet tracking has helped him grow the Pointdirect Transport business and improve his bottom line.
To see how DIRECTOR® ELD can help your business with compliance and efficiency, request a demo at http://www.teletracnavman.com/eld-demo.