PeopleNet recently announced that G&D Integrated — an asset-based logistics company headquartered in Morton, Ill. — is deploying PeopleNet in its fleet of 475 power units. PeopleNet is a Minneapolis-based provider of intelligent onboard communications and fleet management solutions in North America.
G&D Integrated provides trucking, distribution and integrated manufacturing services for diverse customers, primary among them Caterpillar, Komatsu and other makers of heavy mining equipment. G&D also serves retail customers such as Bon Ton and associated stores. G&D operates 22 facilities, and its fleet ranges 48 states, with the business concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast.
According to James Richardson, G&D’s chief information officer, this is the company’s first large-scale deployment of onboard computing technology. As their fleet has grown in recent years, he says, G&D recognized the need for operational data to control costs, including miles-per-gallon of fuel. “It came down to gathering data to measure, improve and realize cost savings,” Richardson says.
G&D selected PeopleNet after considering virtually every vendor that could integrate with its existing TMW software system. “PeopleNet had the most mature application and the most value adds to give us better control and information,” Richardson says. “We thought they were the most innovative, too. And in the end, the cost was right.”
“To me, the biggest thing is the amount of data we’re getting,” says Chad Parker, information systems manager. “To have this data and options like storing it in our own data center for our own archival purposes and our own reporting — that’s huge.”
Parker says that software integration and the ability to work with data in different ways was a critical factor in G&D’s choice. “That’s what really sets PeopleNet apart from everybody else,” Parker says. “Other players can do some of those things, but not all of them. PeopleNet gives us the data and the features, and we also get to decide what works best for our company.”
On the operations side, G&D plans to implement PeopleNet applications including PACOS, Fuel Tax and eDriver Logs, Richardson says. PeopleNet says PACOS is a geofencing system that automatically reports arrival and departure information; Fuel Tax gathers the necessary data and automates the process of fuel tax reporting; while eDriver Logs automatically tracks driver hours of service as required by the Department of Transportation.
PeopleNet deployment is currently under way, Richardson says.
