Situation

• Based in Ponoka, Alberta, Western Wheelers Inc. offers rig moving and heavy hauling trucking services to customers operating in the oil patch
• The company's dispatcher works from Lethbridge, Alberta
• The company wanted accurate information about time worked by each driver, as well as the operation and location of each truck

Approach

• Western Wheelers began researching potential solutions and discovered that TELUS could meet their needs
• After requesting an information package, Western Wheelers spoke to their TELUS representative about implementing a solution
• Every Western Wheelers truck is now fitted with a cellular-based GPS modem
• The TELUS Tracker application has been installed on computers at head office and in the field, where it provides management with all the real time and historical information they need

Business benefits

• The company always knows where every one of its trucks is, the speed it's traveling at and the actual time the driver has worked
• Thanks to the data provided by TELUS Tracker, Western Wheelers can ensure that its trucks and their cargo are always safe
• Customer queries about estimated time of arrival or billing can be answered accurately

Solution

Located in the heart of central Alberta, along the thriving Calgary-Edmonton corridor, the town of Ponoka is home base to Western Wheelers Inc., an 11-truck company that provides rig moving and heavy hauling services to companies operating in Western Canada's Oil Patch.

Western Wheeler's dispatcher works from Lethbridge, Alberta, and the company's trucks can be almost anywhere in the province at any time.  As a result, the company is heavily dependent on its communications.  "Our drivers have cell phones, so we can always reach them when they're on the road." says Administrator, Rita Odenbach.  "However we wanted a way to better confirm how much time they spent on each service call."

The management team at Western Wheelers began doing some research and quickly found a TELUS solution.  TELUS Tracker uses GPS monitoring to track fleets in real time, allowing the fleet owner to improve dispatch and scheduling and streamline vehicle maintenance.  It also establishes an in-vehicle platform that can easily integrate with other applications such as drivers' logs or vehicle monitoring solutions that can provide head office with information about tire pressure, the way the vehicle is operated, excessive idling and more.

After receiving an information package, they spoke to their TELUS representative about customizing a solution to suit their needs.

Every Western Wheelers truck is now fitted with a cellular-based GPS modem.  This device captures real time information about the truck's current status - its location, speed, direction of travel and ignition on/off state - transmitting it directly to the TELUS Tracker application installed at head office and on a number of laptop computers operated by employees in the field.  "Now we always know how close our drivers are and how long it will take them to respond to a service call," says Rita Odenbach.  "If clients want to know when to expect us, we can go online and tell them exactly."

Thanks to the solution's scalability, Western Wheelers was able to choose the capabilities it needs now, knowing they can leverage others at any time.  "We know we have a lot of idle time and we don't really need to keep track of it," says Odenbach.  "However, we can use the solution to monitor the operation of our trucks, making sure that both our drivers and their million dollar loads are safe at all times."

Finally, the solution will allow Western Wheelers to provide accurate billing information.  "If a client ever asks, we can tell them precisely what we did and when we did it," says Odenbach.

Western Wheelers drive still submit their timesheets, but now the company has access to real time and historic data and can generate reports on all truck activities for verification.  Employees know they will be paid for actual hours spent on the job, clients can be kept informed and Western Wheelers is confident that jobs are completed safely and in a reasonable amount of time.