A U.S.-based multinational energy company needed a comprehensive solution to align 150+ decentralized company-run van pools, offered as an employee transportation benefit. With no direct business owner assigned to the overall operation, the customer turned to Element as a trusted resource for vehicle sourcing, management assistance, consolidated billing and delivery of a consistent employee experience. The customer needed 150+ passenger vans equipped with specific amenities. The customer wanted Element directly involved as a business partner, to work with them to source and manage the units.

A national automotive supplier was looking to reduce the costs of its service fleet, which consisted of light, medium, and heavy trucks. The company also prioritized improving driver safety and sought recommendations on how to achieve these goals. The challenge was to find a solution that could help the company monitor its fleet, reduce costs, and enhance driver safety.

The customer, a company serving the energy industry, was facing a challenge of not having visibility into the location of all its vehicles at all times. This was particularly problematic when an emergency response was needed. The company did not have a handle on its inventory and did not know where all its vehicles were located. In addition, the customer’s DOT-related compliance was ineffective, and it wanted to increase compliance in case of an audit.

The customer’s sales reps transport sensitive medical equipment to surgery centers/hospitals to oversee eye surgeries. The equipment needs to be securely transported in the vehicle but also between the vehicle and the operating room. Instances of damage to the equipment from moving around in the truck and damage occurring after the equipment was unloaded were noted as well as safety concerns for the drivers.

A director at a leading oil and gas pipeline company set an initiative to cut costs by 1 cent per mile within his department. The cost-saving measures had to be reasonable to implement and not hinder current business processes. The company needed to find a way to analyze their enormous amount of fleet data to uncover potential savings opportunities and recommend a course of action to achieve the desired results.

The construction tool manufacturer was looking to optimize its fleet of 1,400 vehicles to maximize productivity, improve safety, and decrease maintenance costs. The company also had specific fuel efficiency sustainability guidelines based on its European parent company’s fleet. The company faced issues with ergonomics, limited visibility due to upfitting design, loading weight distribution, exceeding allowed weight of loads and excessive idling, all of which impacted safety, maintenance, depreciation and fuel economy.

An energy utility company was looking to reduce costs and improve driver safety. The company managed its fleet in-house, only outsourcing upfitting specifications/design and maintenance to separate third parties. The company decided to move to an outsourced model, where Element Fleet Management would spec and facilitate vehicle engineering, ordering and delivery, as well as manage fuel cards, safety and maintenance.

An electric utility company was tasked internally to drive down operating costs. The focus was specifically placed on reducing accidents/liability and fuel spend. The company was looking for a solution that could help them enforce speeding policies, decrease idling, increase seat belt use and reduce erratic driving behaviors.

A global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products noticed their maintenance costs were increasing for their fleet of delivery tractors. The customer was currently cycling their tractors after seven to eight years with 700,000 to 800,000 miles. They asked Element Fleet Management’s Strategic Consulting team to analyze their replacement parameters and recommend an optimal time to cycle the tractors.

A large beverage company was looking to add CNG trucks to their fleet of vehicles as part of a broader, corporate “green” initiative. However, the addition of these trucks also needed to make good business sense. The customer enlisted the help of an outside provider to lead the initial CNG pilot program. Unfortunately, the program did not go well. The trucks were spec’d incorrectly, fuel tank systems were recalled causing additional delays, and onsite fueling services were not available. The initial pilot took 18 months to get all 67 trucks in service. The customer was not satisfied with the pricing or service with their current vendor and turned to the experts at Element Fleet Management to oversee the second pilot.

The customer, a business services company, was under intense pressure to reduce costs associated with its material handling equipment used in its facilities. The customer operated approximately 70 units, mostly forklifts, in 11 sites around the United States. Each facility handled its own maintenance needs using a variety of manufacturers/providers. There was no centralized oversight or visibility into costs and effectiveness. The lack of centralized oversight led to a lack of visibility into the actual number of units and the costs associated with their maintenance.

The customer, a company serving the energy industry, was facing a challenge of not having visibility into the location of all its vehicles at all times. This was particularly problematic when an emergency response was needed. The company did not have a handle on its inventory and did not know where all its vehicles were located. In addition, the customer’s DOT-related compliance was ineffective, and it wanted to increase compliance in case of an audit.

The customer, a construction company, operated a fleet of tractor trailers to haul product in regional areas across the United States. They were struggling with a lack of standardization across their fleet and complying with legal standards. A specific challenge they faced was the “spring thaw” in northern Midwest states which requires trucks to reduce axle weight during spring months to protect roadways. To ensure compliance, the company either had to find a way to reduce axle weight or had to avoid the specified state highways during that time period. This was impacting their customer service, productivity and costs.

The customer was seeking third-party expertise to enhance their in-house garage operations. Element’s truck consulting team conducted a field study at several of the customer’s in-house garage shops and identified several issues. These included an excess of inventory parts, the absence of a tire policy, inconsistent use of the maintenance software system, varied training provided to mechanics, lack of centralized purchasing programs, absence of a preventive maintenance checklist leading to numerous errors, and discrepancies in safety practices.

The customer's stand-alone generator sets were experiencing high failure rates and were prone to theft. The trucks were diesel powered and the generator sets used gas to power their tools, resulting in frequent fueling mix-ups and higher maintenance costs. In addition, the current generators experienced a high rate of burnouts from being used so much and as gas was their source of power, drivers had to bring gas cans with them. Some field customers would not permit this and the trucks were not allowed on site – impacting our customer’s ability to service their customers.

The customer, an oil and gas company with a fleet size of 3,000, was facing issues with their current truck insert. The insert was not user-friendly and had limited payload capacity, which resulted in lower productivity and difficulty in complying with weight restrictions for road use. The truck inserts were too heavy, potentially illegal for road standards, and ergonomics were ignored for driver safety and comfort. The customer was looking for a solution that would follow company policies, be deemed as valuable to drivers, and comply with strict legal standards.

A large customer in the oil and gas industry had more than 100 truck specs across all businesses and functions, making it nearly impossible to efficiently reassign vehicles when needed. Reassigned vehicles required additional upfits upon arrival, or to be sent elsewhere. Too many specs also extended and complicated the ordering process. The customer was looking to reduce the number of specs available but would need to get buy-in from both the current drivers as well as key decision makers within the company.

A regionally-based paint store chain was looking to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in its fleet operations. They were using ½ ton and ¾ ton cargo and passenger vans for both their sales and delivery vehicles. The company wanted to become more streamlined in this area and decided to hand over the management of their fleet to the experts at Element and its Fleet Manager Program. One of the first tasks they assigned to Element was determining the best vehicle for their sales fleet.

A Canadian-based service provider was seeking a comprehensive solution to improve its fuel efficiency and drive down costs in their 183-service van fleet. The customer was utilizing multiple alternative fuel options such as propane conversion along with gas service vans. Despite maximizing fuel discounts, the customer needed to identify more cost-saving opportunities. The challenge was to find a solution that would not only reduce fuel consumption but also provide a substantial savings opportunity for the customer.

TrakMotive was using a few different workflows in order to process shipments and were unable to find an efficient way to ensure data was getting written back correctly. Team members were having to manually key in various repeated pieces of information into multiple systems leaving their business vulnerable to errors. With multiple systems and tabs open to process a shipment, their management team required they limit the number of carrier offerings so that they could try to reduce manual errors and time spent at the shipping workstation.

As RedStone’s client base grew in size and complexity, its legacy transportation management system (TMS) had trouble keeping up. It wasn’t able to scale with the business or support its diverse client needs. In addition, the TMS vendor announced it would not support 3PLs going forward. RedStone sought a TMS that could provide the flexibility it needed to meet its expanding 3PL needs and differentiate its services.

Shippers Express, a freight and logistics services company, was initially using MercuryGate as their transportation management system (TMS) provider. However, they found the system inflexible and slow-moving, especially when it came to making changes or generating new reports. The company also had to work through a third-party support provider, which further complicated the relationship. Shippers Express was in need of a more flexible and efficient TMS solution that could better cater to their needs.

Corsicana Bedding, a producer of quality mattresses, was facing challenges with its load communications. The company was dealing with complex and numerous communications around loads, which was becoming cumbersome. For instance, some loads had as many as 20 emails going back and forth. This was making it difficult for the company to keep track of what was covered. As a result, Corsicana was seeking a transportation management system (TMS) that could increase automation and streamline operations. The company wanted a TMS that would enable new business initiatives.

Bemis Manufacturing Company’s Sheboygan Falls location is the major North American distribution hub for all of its proprietary products. But getting its products to various regional markets required enormous amounts of time and manual labor for determining the best routing options. The company’s original scheduling system, built to handle the transportation realities of 15-20 years ago, had provided Bemis with a competitive advantage in years past, but was now falling behind current business needs. Bemis’ network required five individuals to perform routing analysis and planning, taking into account multiple locations, carriers, along with factors like LTL versus truck load stop-off and many other data points. This led to huge variations and calculations for any one plan or date.

ODW Logistics, a full-service 3PL provider, was facing challenges with its transportation management system (TMS) which was built in the 1990s for a truckload business. The TMS was not able to support the company's goals to acquire new business and offer differentiated services, especially in the less-than-truckload (LTL) and brokerage environment. The company needed a TMS that could support the non-asset sides of the business and leverage its in-house database and development expertise. It was also important for the new TMS to support and strengthen the company's competitive advantage of delivering fast, customized services that allowed customers to adjust to changing market demands.

Dynamic Logistix, a logistics services provider, was in the process of building its service offerings and needed a cutting-edge transportation management system (TMS) to provide mid-market transport and logistics customers with a comprehensive solution that supported the complete “order to settlement” lifecycle. The company's CEO, Jeff Auslander, had experience with a range of Tier 1 TMS companies and systems and was looking for a solution that would provide personalized service and attention. The company also needed a TMS that could integrate quickly and reliably to save money and start delivering savings to customers.

Bestway Freight Solutions, a high-growth 3PL, was looking to improve its technology and expand its LTL business for continued growth. The company had outgrown its transportation management system (TMS), which was causing it to miss out on opportunities. The company needed a TMS that would allow faster execution on each load each day, enable rapid carrier onboarding, and provide customers with instant access to their accounts. The company's growth ambitions required the ability to serve its customers' TL and LTL needs. Winning both award types from its largest customers would allow Bestway to move from a TL-LTL split of around 95/5 to 50/50. Executives also knew that growth through headcount alone was a risky proposition, so a fundamental technology change was needed.

Crane Worldwide Logistics needed to find a technology solution to serve as the backbone for their new managed transportation business unit. As a massive provider of other logistics services, Crane had technologies in place for their freight and brokerage divisions. However, these technologies were broker-only platforms, which lacked the 3PL functionality and scalability that Crane required for managed transportation services. The Crane team had previous experience with other full-service TMS platforms and wanted a solution they could configure to their needs while maximizing their value and ROI. Crane also wanted a technology that let them scale globally to support their customers worldwide.

NFI, a fully integrated North American supply chain solutions provider, was using two TMS platforms to operate its business. Due to NFI’s growth and its evolving levels of sophistication, the company identified opportunities to expand their technological focus to maximize productivity in an effort to pass on savings to customers. The company was facing challenges in managing cross-docking from a consolidation or visibility standpoint. The legacy TMS couldn't handle the complexity of cross-docking, creating gaps in the process.

Crowley Logistics Inc., a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corp., sought to bid on the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) largest surface transportation contract to date. The scale and complexity of this project was a first for Crowley, requiring it to establish a new department to support the work and partner with a transportation management system (TMS) provider that could address the complexity and demands of the contract, specifically the execution of the LTL and freight optimization requirements. This project was made even more challenging with the addition of new DoD expectations regarding the frequency and type of communications from Crowley, along with new requirements for freight tendering. When considering TMS providers, Crowley’s approach included the question “How do we accomplish the unknown?” This contract was full of “firsts” for the DoD and for Crowley; the new demands and new business approaches made it imperative to find a fundamentally different kind of TMS that could be responsive to these unknowns.