Ward Trucking recently added two new applications to its suite of solutions from ALK Technologies. The company has implemented ALK|FleetSuite Tolls and PC*Miler|Streets for use by all three of its operating divisions: Ward Trucking, Ward Truckload Express and Forward Logistics. Ward has been a PC*Miler customer for five years.
ALK is a developer of industry-standard routing, mileage and mapping software, including its flagship product, PC*Miler. PC*Miler, designed to provide accurate truck-specific routing, is available to motor carriers, private fleets, shippers and logistics companies to plan loads, pay drivers and calculate freight charges.
Ward Truckload Express, one of Ward’s trucking divisions, operates 160 power units serving the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States. “With the new tolls and street-level routing software, we will be sending optimized routes to drivers over our GeoLogic Solutions mobile communications system,” says Mike Zupon, director of management information systems for Altoona, Penn.-based Ward. Zupon said the ALK|FleetSuite Tolls and PC*Miler|Streets software will save Ward Truckload Express about $50,000 annually.
Ward Trucking, the long-established less-than-truckload division, serves the Middle Atlantic States from 20 service centers with a fleet of 450 trucks. The LTL operation uses PC*Miler|Streets for state fuel tax reporting and more. “We also use it for our zoned costing system,” Zupon says. “We figure out mileage from a service center to different delivery points and use that in formulating costing information.”
According to Mike Euker, Ward’s director of line haul, by using both ALK|FleetSuite Tolls and PC*Miler|Streets to optimize line-haul routes, Ward will realize savings of more than $100,000 a year. “Line-haul runs add up,” says Zupon. “It’s amazing how a nip here and a tuck there will add up.”
In addition to optimizing line-haul routes, PC*Miler|Streets provides directions for Ward’s truckload drivers to delivery and pickup locations once they have left the interstates. According to Ed Siciliano, vice president of sales and marketing for Princeton, N.J.-based ALK, there is a growing need among fleets for more precise information to optimize operations, costing and more.
“For example, Ward is a forward-looking company using PC*Miler|Streets for more than the obvious ability to route drivers dock-to-dock, but also for more precise tax reporting, route planning and costing,” Siciliano says. “Toll costs are rising significantly, and many more toll roads are being proposed. Fleets increasingly need exact toll costs for credible quotes, selecting the best routes and reconciling expenses.”
ALK|FleetSuite Tolls – designed to provide pinpoint toll accuracy for rate quotes, billing and driver settlement – features a constantly updated database that provides accurate information from 110 toll and government entities in 30 states. It includes 17 toll discount programs such as EZ Tag, E-ZPass, Cruise Card and SunPass. Users also can select the criteria necessary for an accurate toll amount – the number of axles on the unit, for example, and in some cases, the time of day.
