National Distributors
SkyBitz Keeps Tabs on National Distributors Trailers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico
Situation
National Distributors Inc., Sellersburg, Ind., provides warehousing, distribution and transportation services. Their truckload operation spans the continent and includes terminals from California to Indiana and Texas to Michigan. National Distributors has been a SkyBitz customer since 2004.
“We run about 330 power units and 800 trailers,” said Peri Standlee, senior development manager for National Distributors. “We run primarily from the Midwest to the Southwest, Mexico and up into Canada. We’re international.”
Solution
SkyBitz InSight trailer tracking uses satellites rather than cellular-based systems for communications, which provides virtually universal coverage. That enables National Distributors to track their trailers over international borders, which is particularly useful across the Rio Grande where Mexican carriers pull National Distributors’ trailers. “We can be sure those trailers are where they’re supposed to be,” Standlee said.
SkyBitz is helping National Distributors use its entire trailer fleet more efficiently. “It’s helping us with detention. It keeps trailers from sitting,” Standlee said.
National Distributors’ SkyBitz units report automatically once a day. Of course, the units can be polled for a location any time, “if a customer calls and says I need to know where that trailer is right now or if we have a suspicion that it’s been moved,” Standlee said.
Results
SkyBitz trailer tracking has benefited National Distributors’ drivers. “When we send a driver after a trailer, we know for sure it is there,” she explained. Without trailer tracking, dispatchers weren’t always sure. Drivers had to physically check customer locations.
“Drivers like it,” Standlee said. “It reduces their running-around time. With the new hours of service in effect, they don’t have time to be hunting for trailers. We can tell them where they are and they can go get them.”
National Distributors tested other trailer tracking units before deciding to install InSight Tracking from SkyBitz. The company decided on SkyBitz for a number of reasons.
“The battery life was very important to us, the fact that it was able to be untethered from the tractor and still last for years. And the customer service is awesome. Their response to customer needs whether it’s functionality on the web site or whether I’ve got a problem and I call them, they immediately respond,” Standlee explained.
Standlee also said the hardware was easy to install. “That was another factor in choosing SkyBitz. Our shop can do all the installations in a short amount of time and we don’t need any outside installers.”