Pennsylvania-based PITT OHIO has been providing less-than-truckload (LTL), warehousing, and full truckload freight-shipping services for more than 40 years.
In a bid to make its trucking and delivery services more efficient, PITT OHIO replaced its legacy operating systems with an artificial intelligence-powered enterprise model that has saved the company more than $11 million since the platform was first launched.
In the brainstorming phase, the company sought to develop a system that was data-driven and reliable, and included dispatching, pickup and delivery information, all capable of managing PITT OHIO’s entire fleet of drivers across its U.S. operations centers. To make that happen, the new platform would need to:
- Automate manual processes and increase operational efficiency.
- Improve driver productivity and mobility through faster data entry and automatic population and transmission.
- Expedite the flow of accurate information across the system between departments, and maintain a new system of record.
- Digitize processes to save time and reduce paper waste and costs, in line with the company’s supply chain sustainability initiatives.
- Provide an intuitive user interface and experience for all team members, including dispatchers, managers and drivers.
- Grow business by increasing shipment counts and enhancing customer service with more available information and proactive communications.
- Maintain safety and compliance standards.
- Focus on hiring, training, technology and the retention of high-performing drivers, while enabling PITT OHIO to safely provide on-time service to customers.
- Modernize operations with a fast, secure, and reliable cloud-based system.
Because the company completes orders in a 12- to 18-hour cycle, moving to a real-time system was essential to its LTL business. That required PITT OHIO to have an unusually fast and effective flow of accurate data, built on a flexible platform that could scale in line with plans for future growth.
PITT OHIO tagged AI software developer Maven as a partner for the project. Maven also operates out of Pennsylvania, and specializes in AI software for trucking operations that supports reporting dashboards, optimizes dispatch routes, and enables easy access driver and customer data.
After bringing together stakeholders from both companies, Maven tested PITT OHIO’s new platform, trained employees, and offered feedback and support over the course of a tightly monitored rollout process. In the process, Maven was able to onboard more than 2,600 of PITT OHIO’s workers onto the system, including truck drivers, dispatchers, safety managers and operations managers. The new platform now provides a real-time snapshot of the company’s fleet operations, in addition to a mobile application for drivers that streamlines pickups and deliveries.
Between the start of the rollout in 2023 and first quarter of 2024, PITT OHIO estimates, the platform has saved the company roughly $11 million in costs, mostly in pickup and delivery operations, while saving drivers an average of 20 minutes a day. Other improvements include:
- Allowing drivers to access information at stops through a mobile app that can be taken outside the cabs of vehicles.
- Automatically signing drivers in and out of vehicles.
- Providing drivers with the ability to flag issues in real time to customer service if a delivery is refused, a customer is closed, or a redelivery is needed.
- Improving communication between drivers and dispatchers to provide updates on customer needs, weather concerns and traffic conditions.
- Sending digitized maintenance requests straight to truck depots automatically, so that repairs can be scheduled at the moment a vehicle returns.
The company further estimates that drivers have saved an average of 15 minutes per pickup at major distribution centers, thanks to the platform’s ability to automatically populate customer data. And when a competitor recently went out of business, PITT OHIO was able to absorb that company’s shipments into its network without having to bring on additional back-office staff, thanks to the improved communication system between dispatchers and drivers.
PITT OHIO said it expects to make additional improvements to its new system in the months to come. The company also continues to work with Maven’s team to identify areas where they can improve the system’s productivity, efficiency and profitability. On a larger scale, the strategies and insights derived from the initiative can be used as a model for modernizing outdated systems for other trucking and logistics companies across the industry.
Resource Links:
PITT OHIO, https://pittohio.com/
Maven, https://mavenmachines.com/
