Driver training: CAB Logistics goes online to streamline safety (with video)

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Updated Jul 12, 2021

Until last year, CAB Logistics was holding a company-wide safety meeting every quarter. To accommodate all 250 drivers, the meeting had to be repeated for two or three consecutive days. The result was several days of lost productivity.

CAB Logistics has two divisions. One transports frac sand for the oil and gas industry; the other operates a private, white-label fleet for FedEx Freight.

Rocky Lott, director of IT for CAB Logistics, talked about the benefits of using an online learning management system at the Infinit-i Boot Camp on April 20. Attendees created a free training video on distracted driving.

In early 2014, Rocky Lott attended the Infinit-i Boot Camp. This free event, hosted by Vertical Alliance Group, takes place once or twice each month in Texas for small groups of new and prospective clients.

The two-day event is packed with information about a Web-based learning management system (LMS) and communications platform called Infinit-i (pronounced “infinity”), and is filled with Texas hospitality.

CAB Logistics decided to implement Infinit-i soon after Lott returned. “We wanted to streamline the way we were managing safety,” said Lott, the director of information technology for the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier.

About 700 companies, mostly in the trucking industry, subscribe to Infinit-i. The subscription includes immediate access to 350 training videos that Virtual Alliance created for drivers, fleet administrators and other types of company employees such as warehouse and maintenance workers. Its clients also can add up to 30 custom training videos of their own, per year, for no extra cost.

Training can be assigned by administrators and accessed online by drivers and other employees from any device with an Internet connection and Web browser. The video courses cannot be fast-forwarded and come with built-in test questions to ensure the content has been received and understood.

The LMS documents training events and drivers receive a signed certificate when they complete courses.

Back to Boot Camp

On April 20, 2015, Lott returned to the boot camp held at the same location, the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. This time he wasn’t there to learn but to share results for what the technology has done. CCJ was invited to attend this event to gain an overview of the various administrative and reporting features of Infinit-i.

During the implementation in March, 2014, some drivers at CAB Logistics were resistant to the idea of online training. Their opinions changed quickly when they saw how easy and convenient it is to login to the web portal and complete their assigned courses, he said.

CAB Logistics assigns four training courses per month to drivers to complete at their convenience. While the company no longer holds quarterly safety meetings, drivers still have to complete all 12 online courses each quarter to be eligible for a safety bonus.

Vertical Alliance Group held the April 20-21 Boot Camp event at the historic Stock Yards in Fort Worth, Texas.Vertical Alliance Group held the April 20-21 Boot Camp event at the historic Stock Yards in Fort Worth, Texas.

One of the main reasons CAB Logistics decided to use Infinit-i was to document all of its driver training, he said. Lott believes a third-party system is an inherently better way to document the training so that the records are tamper proof and more defensible in court, if necessary.

The training videos have also added savings to the bottom line. Drivers have completed a series of 26 fuel efficiency videos; each is a few minutes long. Over the past year, the fleet’s mpg has increased by as much as five percent, he said, which equals about $8,000 a week in fuel costs.

CAB Logistics also has seen a significant improvement in its Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores, he added. As a future improvement, CAB Logistics plans to shorten its orientation training period for new drivers by having them complete some training online before coming to the office. This would allow the company to dispatch drivers at least one day earlier, he said.

One of the safety managers who attended the boot camp on April 20-21 told CCJ that her employer — a fleet that delivers propane and heating oil to residential customers in the Midwest — will be implementing Infinit-i this year. Like most software systems, the pricing is based on the number of users and other factors.

Her company will be paying about $14,000 per year, she said, and company executives believe the software is a “no brainer” in terms of return on investment.

Blake Baumann, vice president of consultative services for Virtual Alliance Group, told the group that customer support is the backbone of the Infinit-i system. As part of the subscription, fleets get full administrative support from a dedicated Client Services team.

Everyone that uses the system, including drivers, can contact Client Services for any technical needs or to receive training. The team stays engaged with clients to help ensure their success, he said.

Attendees also caught a glimpse of a new tool that is under development called the Assessment Deck. Fleets will be able to use this tool to convert paper forms into electronic forms to capture and document information and create reports for things like vehicle inspections, internal audits, cargo claims, and more. Like Infinit-i, the online Assessment Deck has an administrative portal to assign forms to different groups and people in an organization. An e-mail can be sent to the appropriate people with a link to complete a form online.

For more information about the Infinit-i Boot Camp, click here.