New England Motor Freight (NEMF) is one of the largest regional carriers in the northeast. With over 900 vehicles on the road every day, they know first hand how technology can improve efficiency within their organization.

Headquartered in Elizabeth, New Jersey, NEMF is an LTL (Less Than Truckload) carrier that provides pickup and delivery services throughout the eastern United States, Puerto Rico and eastern Canada. NEMF operates 27 terminals and has over 10,000 customers, approximately 65% of which are serviced on a daily basis.

To service thousands of customers on a daily basis, NEMF needed a dynamic dispatching tool that would complement their AS400 legacy system. "Our customers needed access to real-time information and immediate visibility to freight movements," stated Ken Ditmars, VP Information Technology, NEMF. "And we also wanted route visibility, so our dispatchers would have a more accurate way to determine a driver's location, and be able to add new pickups during the day."

While some LTL carriers prefer to develop their own solutions, NEMF chose to find a solution that was developed by experts and would meet the needs of their organization without taxing their IT staff. They turned to UPS Logistics Technologies and licensed MobileCast, a real-time dispatch and tracking application that provides the ability to dynamically assign new pickups to a driver's route.

Prior to implementing MobileCast, drivers would finish their deliveries and then call the dispatcher to see what pickups would be assigned. Often, drivers would have waited until something became available and, even then, pickups were not always dispatched to the most convenient driver.

"MobileCast gives us the ability to plan ahead," remarked James Bellino, Director of Operations Development. "Our dispatchers can check the route progress and see when and where to assign pickups. MobileCast has significantly improved our productivity."

NEMF has realized improved productivity in a number of areas, including:

• Reduced driver hours.

• Increased revenue per driver per hour.

• Increased serviceable stops per hour.

• Reduced overall miles per stop.

UPS Logistics Technologies has worked closely with NEMF to develop industry specific functionality within MobileCast. Some of the enhancements include the ability to dynamically change stop sequences while the route is in progress and the ability to add/remove stops. "This functionality has enabled us to react quickly when a customer has an immediate request," Bellino said.

UPS Logistics Technologies was able to seamlessly integrate MobileCast into their existing systems without requiring extensive training. Even driver training for the Intermec handheld and MobileCast application took less than an hour.

"Our Website also integrated with MobileCast. This allows our customers to check the status of their freight without picking up the phone," stated Bellino.

"The ability to have visibility and real-time information on our routes has revolutionized the way we do business and improved our customer service," remarked Ditmars.