Terpening Trucking, headquartered in Syracuse, N.Y., delivers more than 400 million gallons of fuel products across seven states and Canada with a fleet of more than 60 vehicles. The company is using Vnomics’ In-Cab Advisor system to coach drivers in the cab.
Drivers receive audio alerts for improper speeding, shifting, hard acceleration and idling. Drivers can view their performance scorecards in the cab after each stop (ignition on/off event). The scorecards give a shifting score with a label of “excellent, acceptable, poor” and a graph that shows how well performed in each gear.
Terpening supervisors use an online portal to review driver safety and performance alerts from Vnomics each day to address adverse behavior. The top-and bottom-ranked driver scores are also displayed on a large screen in the drivers’ break room to encourage friendly competition.
Vnomics has proprietary algorithms that calculate the “true” fuel economy of vehicles and drivers. Load weight, terrain, temperature, headwind and other factors are removed from the mpg equation. The system also identifies the “potential” fuel economy based on the variables drivers and fleets can control.
Brian Brundige, safety director of Terpening, says the system has numerous reports such as one that shows what mpg drivers are getting on a trip versus what they could do.
“Every quarter I share that information in driver meetings,” he says.
Since partnering with Vnomics, Terpening has improved its fleet mpg by nine percent in the first two months of use and by 9.8 percent within the first two years. Safe driving miles have also increased by 73 percent, he says.
Click to see how these other carriers are using next-gen driver performance systems
Covenant Transport (Chattanooga, Tenn.): FuelOpps
Transport Distribution Company (Joplin, Mo.): PedalCoach
