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Dana Transport Systems Improves Safety and Customer Service With ISR FleetTrack Dana Transport System, Inc., of West Deptford, N.J., carries liquid petroleum products such as gasoline, jet fuel and lubricating oil for major oil companies, including BP/AMOCO, TOSCO, Motiva, WaWa, Mobil, Citgo and Sunoco. The company's 90 9,200 gallon capacity tanker trucks deliver product to service stations and airports in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and parts of New York and New England. Wanting to improve communications with its truck drivers, enhance customer service and promote safer driving practices, Dana's managers decided last May to invest in an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system. After studying available products, the company purchased the ISR FleetTrack AVL system from Integrated Systems Research (ISR) of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. "We needed a system in which three or four dispatchers on each shift could quickly locate our trucks on the road and communicate with them," said Michael E. Torrissi, Dana's general manager. "Our work schedule is always changing because we run a Just-In-Time delivery service," he said. "Consequently, each truck carries four or five loads of fuel on each shift and, depending on the situation, we may have to push a delivery back or forward -- or change the product mix. The ISR FleetTrack system allows us to communicate this information to our truck drivers. We started by putting the system in 28 trucks and we plan to bring five more online each month." The heart of the ISR FleetTrack system is a silent position monitor that enables communication between truck and dispatcher through a CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) wireless network. ISR FleetTrack continuously records data of a truck's operation, including its speed and location. It also notifies dispatchers when a truck deviates from a planned route, leaves a specified zone or is standing still for more than five minutes (or any predetermined period). The data can be played back at any time. "ISR FleetTrack allows fleet managers to communicate with a specific vehicle simply by clicking on its unique icon," said Yukie Novick, president of ISR. "An entire fleet can be tracked simultaneously. And to protect drivers during emergencies, ISR FleetTrack enables the use of remote panic buttons. The system also facilitates report generation because of its compatibility with such popular database applications as FoxPro® and Microsoft Access®." "We have received all we expected from ISR FleetTrack's vehicle location and customized reporting features," Torrissi said. "We use the report feature to confirm deliveries and create reports for our clients who demand information on where, when and what type of deliveries were made. The information is dropped into an e-mail file which is then sent to our clients. A company that gives us 40 to 50 loads per shift wants to be assured that deliveries are made on time," he said. "ISR FleetTrack's reporting abilities are very important," said Cary Campbell, national AVL segment manager for AT&T Advanced Wireless Services. "Customers want the ability to reference reports and determine where their vehicles have been -- something the dispatcher can't keep track of every minute. ISR FleetTrack enables them to look at the history of each vehicle." The vehicle location feature has proved to be very important to the company, which employs 14 dispatchers who, working in shifts, are on the job 24 hours a day. By simply clicking a mouse dispatchers can see every truck on the road superimposed against a map on their computer screens. "It has helped us build better customer relations," Torrissi said. "Now we can give an honest answer when a customer wants to know when a truck will arrive. It's a pretty neat system when you consider that I can quickly locate a truck's position and instantly send a message to the driver." In addition to creating reports and tracking vehicles, Torrissi said he has used additional functions available in ISR FleetTrack to monitor vehicle speeds and driver performance. "In Trenton there are two sharp curves coming out of the fueling terminal," Torrissi said. "Using ISR FleetTrack, we have been able to enforce a speed limit in that area. If a driver exceeds the speed, a flag goes up on the dispatcher's screen and I get a report." The result has been improved driving habits among Dana's truck drivers. "Michael has become a sort of fleet management visionary,'' said Louise Chaney, a database developer and systems integrator whose company, Satellite Tracking Systems Inc. of Mickelson, NJ provided the system to Dana. "The more Dana uses ISR FleetTrack, the more ideas Michael comes up with on how to use the system for improving his fleet and making his operation run more smoothly and efficiently. ISR has responded to all of Michael's ideas and has provided an array of system enhancements and modifications that have greatly expanded Dana's fleet monitoring and reporting capabilities." "The system has been well worth the investment," said Butch Biddle, a Dana dispatcher. "We have a policy in which drivers have to call in before they load up. This enables us to make changes to an order. If drivers get involved with their work and forget to call, we can click on them and send a message. It's a great system." Biddle recalled that prior to installation of the ISR FleetTrack system, communicating with drivers was difficult. "You would have to call a terminal or delivery stop to see if they had arrived. That was the only way to track them. It was very time consuming," he said. In addition to saving time, ISR FleetTrack has reduced the company's phone bills, Torrissi said. "It has also helped us plan the growth of our business. We want to expand our territory further south and west and add trucks without enlarging our dispatch center. ISR FleetTrack can help us do that. In the near future we plan to use ISR FleetTrack to help generate payroll," he said. "Dana Transport's use of the FleetTrack system reflects a growing trend among companies that want to take control of their mobile assets," said Novick. "In the past, fleet managers had to radio a driver to a truck's location. Now, with the click of a button, they can see the location of their entire fleet." "In our business there is a lot of competition," Torrissi said. "The winner is the company that can deliver the best service to the customer. We believe ISR FleetTrack helps us do that." |