As a new entrant in the trucking marketplace, ROLLZI LLC based in Seattle, Wash. is taking advantage of project44’s Real-Time Transportation Visibility (RTTV) platform to optimize operations and improve driver efficiency for a competitive advantage. ROLLZI launched operations in February of this year, providing full truckload service for general dry freight along the Interstate-5 corridor that runs through the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. “Part of our business model is to stick to I5 as close as we can,” says company co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Damien Hutchins, “stay on a dense lane, and make sure our trucks stay loaded.”
Using RTTV for an Edge in the Trucking Market
Today the company’s fleet numbers six trucks - four Kenworth T680s and two Volvo VNL 860s. ROLLZI gets the majority of its loads from brokers. The company has five drivers with Hutchins himself as the sixth and backup driver.
Hutchins got the idea for starting a trucking company when he was working for a digital freight broker. There he saw an opportunity for a trucking company to gain a market edge over existing motor carriers by leveraging the latest technology. “I saw a pretty interesting gap in the market,” says Hutchins. “A lot of venture capital is being invested into truck technology and there was another side that wasn’t using much of that technology. I thought if you figure out how to maximize all that new tech, there’s a lot to be gained. You can increase your margins by using technology to cut your operational costs and smooth out operations.”
Out-of-Control Check Calls
One of those key technologies for gaining an edge is project44’s advanced visibility platform. When a carrier connects its trucks to the platform, project44 shares shipment location information and provides predictive estimated time of arrivals to all the carrier’s customers or other stakeholders. By providing visibility and automating communications for the carrier, project44 makes a driver’s workday less hectic as it eliminates the need for the truck operator to take an increasing number of check calls, a big inefficiency in the industry today in Hutchin’s view.
“Back in the 80s, a driver made a phone call to their dispatcher when a load was picked up or dropped off,” says Hutchins. “In the 90s, we got cell phones so drivers made one check call a day. In the 2000s, we started getting apps and tracking on the cellphone. As the market fragmented more stakeholders wanted location updates and then check calls got out of control. That’s where we are today. Everybody wants to know where the driver is - the agent, the shipper, the receiver, the dispatcher, and fleet owner. So, you have to have a driver making five phone calls on a single load when everything might be going smoothly.”
Project44 saves a truck driver time from making numerous calls because a single connection to the platform enables communication with multiple parties. Because of that, a driver can focus on driving. “For a driver, project44 is huge,” says Hutchins. ”The reason is that all the brokers I work with have their own digital platforms, their own apps, and they all want you to track location through their app. That’s really hard and confusing for a driver when you work with multiple brokers every week.”
That single communication connection gives ROLLZI operational efficiency. “By letting me give all my customers information on my truck’s location, it smooths out operational processes,” says Hutchins. “Instead of having to take many check calls, they are much fewer. My drivers can just drive. And the truck’s location is visible to the broker, shipper, and everybody else who wants to see.”
Gaining Efficiency
Hutchins would recommend project44 to other carriers as a way to gain efficiency through a reduction in manual communication with their customers. “project44 eliminates lots of manual tasks,” says Hutchins. “And eliminating manual tasks eliminates unnecessary head count, and, at the end of the day, that reduces operational costs and increases the bottom line.”