LAS VEGAS—Truckload carrier and logistics operation Summitt Trucking saved more than $600,000 after adopting Spireon’s FleetLocate trailer-management solutions, the Solera company and fleet announced during Truckload 2022.
Summitt used the Spireon system to improve the fleet’s efficiency and its drivers’ productivity, despite the industrywide driver shortage and trailer production delays, they said during the Truckload Carrier Association’s annual convention at the Wynn Las Vegas this week.
David Summitt, president of Summitt Trucking, said it was imperative for his fleet to find a way to distinguish itself “in the current environment, which poses challenges spanning shortages of IT and operational personnel, driver recruitment, supply chain disruptions, trailer shortages.”
He said that Spireon’s end-to-end offering is helping. “FleetLocate is easy to use, Spireon’s customer support is outstanding, and its team of expert analysts has consistently delivered valuable, actionable insights that have significantly enhanced our business results,” Summitt said.
Roni Taylor, Spireon SVP of strategy and business development, told FleetOwner that because the company has nearly 400,000 trailers in its system, the tech company can provide benchmarking data for fleets to compare themselves to others. “David wanted to know how long his trailers sat idle versus our entire population with other carriers,” she said.
Scott Flerl, supervisor of Managed Services for Spireon, explained how the company was able to pull anonymized data from similar fleets to help Summitt—and other companies—see how it stacks up. “Trucking companies are notorious for comparing themselves to themselves,” he told FleetOwner. “If you’re a fleet that improved your utilization by 2% that might feel like an improvement—but if everyone else has improved theirs by 4% then that’s not very good.”
Based in Clarksville, Indiana, Summitt Trucking offers logistics and truckload services in the continental U.S. for a major shipper. Before it adopted Spireon’s trailer telematics solution, the fleet was sending five to 10 drivers per day to look for dozens of trailers stationed 30 miles away, Summitt said. Each trip to get one trailer cost the carrier $90 to $100 per hour in revenue. “We were spending more than $500,000 annually having our drivers go and look for empties,” he added.
Going on a year since it installed Spireon’s trailer tracking solution, IntelliScan cargo sensor, and cloud-based UI to manage its mixed trailer fleet, Summitt minimized driver time and saved the more than $500,000 in lost revenue, the fleet reported at TCA.
Summitt found more savings when it added Spireon’s Managed Services solution, which produced actionable data and analysis to help the carrier more efficiently allocate its capital resources. Spireon’s dedicated operations analysts produce customized reporting and can tackle bigger challenges such as spotting untapped revenue opportunities.
Summitt said there are now fewer idle trailers, which saved the fleet $144,000 last year. “Adding Managed Services to Spireon’s trailer tracking solution has helped my team save countless hours and realize its full potential,” he said.
