FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary Kelly, Media Relations
Phone: 609-252-8160
E-mail:kelly@alk.com
Fax: 609-252-8166
Slow Economy and Overcapacity Dominate Fifth Annual
ALK Transportation Technology Summit
Fuel and Driver Turnover Concerns Fade for the Moment
Princeton, New Jersey - May 4, 2009 - The ongoing economic crisis, serious overcapacity, and the sometimes brutal competition among transportation providers drove the presentations and many private conversations at the annual ALK Transportation Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J. For the fifth year, ALK Technologies brought together leading technology providers and senior executives in this unique thought leader symposium which ran from April 20th-22nd. ALK Technologies is the leading worldwide developer of GPS navigation, routing, mileage, and mapping solutions.
ALK Technologies founder and Princeton University professor, Dr. Alain Kornhauser challenged attendees to confront economic and competitive issues with increased efficiency and technological innovation. "The challenge is real-time management of mobile assets," he told the gathering.
In his "Industry Outlook: One Year Later" keynote, John White, president of U.S. Xpress, Inc., Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of the largest truckload carriers in North America, framed the current situation. "Demand is down in all sectors. The truckload industry has seen the steepest six-month drop in tonnage ever," he said. "I don't think we've seen the bottom yet." Despite all, White remains optimistic though, "We will power through this," he said.
Dave Ward, partner, ThoughtDrivers, and previously CEO of Ward Trucking for 16 years, stressed the importance of equipment utilization to profitability. Unused space on trucks is the trucking business equivalent of inventory, he said. But filling trucks and bringing down per-truck operating costs isn't easy. "Moving freight from point A to point B is like playing checkers," Ward said. "Making money at it is more like chess." Ward told the conference he expects the economy will begin to revive in 12 to 18 months.
The event's attendance of more than 100 senior level transportation, logistics, and technology executives reinforced that the industry will navigate these tough times efficiently. The conference highlighted emerging industry issues and focused on how technology can provide valuable solutions to help address transportation and logistics challenges. Presenters offered a host of ideas and examples of technology driving cost control and safety including:
Navigation-Based Services - Dr. Alain Kornhauser, Founder & Chairman - ALK Technologies
Industry Outlook: One Year Later - John White, President - U.S. Xpress, Inc.
Benefits from Improved Route-line Control Case Study - Benjamin Murphy - VP, TMW Optimization Software & John White, President - U.S. Xpress, Inc.
Optimized Delivery & Customer Service Case Study - Jeff Sibio, Strategic Vertical Marketing Director, Transportation & Logistics – Intermec; Desmond Smith, Director of Networks Services – GeoPost UK; Dan Popkin, Vice President, CoPilot Sales - ALK Technologies
Software as a Service Model Case Study - Ernie Betancourt, CEO - Innovative Computing Corp. & Chris Stephens, CFO - Titan Transfer
Flexible In-Cab Integration Solutions - Randy Boyles, VP, Tailored Solutions - PeopleNet
Enhanced Fleet Safety Via Integrated GPS Navigation - Tom Flies, Senior Vice President- Product Strategy - Xata Corporation & Bernie Cassetori, Vice President, Fleet Management – U.S.
Foodservice
Improving Fleet Profitability through Safety and Driver Performance Management - Cindy Nelson, VP, Marketing & Bus. Dev. – EBE Technologies & John Hazenfield, CIO - DistTech
Capabilities-Driven Strategy: A Business Blueprint for Carriers - Dave Ward, Partner - ThoughtDrivers
Reality-Based Driver Pay and Pricing Forum – Moderator - Thorny Embly, Vice President – Central Penn Transport
TL Carrier Roundtable - Moderator - Aaron Huff, Senior Editor – Commercial Carrier Journal
LTL Carrier Roundtable - Moderator - Dave Ward, Partner - ThoughtDrivers
Shipper, Private Fleet & 3PL Roundtable - Moderator – Gregg Lanyard, Principal Product Strategy Manager – Oracle
Pricing and Bidding Technology: LTL Carrier and Shipper Case Studies – Brad Gregory, Director, Software Alliances - SMC3
ALK Map Data and Development Roadmap - Mike Bodden, CTO - ALK Technologies
Daimler Fleetboard – CoPilot Truck Navigation Case Study – Hans Kamutzki, CEO - Microdoc GmbH
CoPilot Solutions Global Update - Michael Kornhauser, Vice President, Managing Director - CoPilot Solutions.
If technology truly drives transportation productivity, GeoPost, a parcel delivery service in the United Kingdom, is already prepared. Jeff Sibio, director, industry marketing - transportation & logistics for Intermec introduced the GeoPost optimized delivery and customer service case study. Desmond Smith, director of network services for GeoPost, described a finely-tuned parcel delivery network that has integrated established technologies in an advanced operations system that includes dynamic routing and CoPilot Live turn-by-turn navigation for drivers on Intermec handheld devices. GeoPost, wholly owned by La Poste, the French postal service, operates more than 23,000 vehicles. GeoPost's optimization technology, developed by ALK, was cited by Dr. Kornhauser during last year's Summit as an example of how to achieve the real-timemanagement of mobile assets he has advocated at prior Technology Summits.
With an eye to North American truckload operations, Ben Murphy, vice president TMW Optimization Software, said that technology is helping companies hold operating costs as low as possible. Applications that optimize fuel purchases on the road can save from 4 to 11 cents per gallon or approximately $1,100 per year, per truck, Murphy said. John White, president of U.S. Xpress, reinforced the ROI associated with using TMW Systems' IDSC ExpertFuel, "It has allowed significant controls over our second largest expense, resulting in millions of dollars of cost avoidance on an annual basis."
Ernie Betancourt, president of Innovative Computing Corporation, Brentwood, Tennessee, discussed the value of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), particularly for small to mid-sized carriers. Rather than pay to license, install, and maintain software on their own premises, SaaS enables carriers to work over the Internet, with access to critical applications and data from virtually anywhere. SaaS works for small but fast-growing carriers, said Chris Stephens, chief financial officer for Titan Transfer of Shelbyville, Tennessee, which was founded in 2000 with 22 trucks. Titan started using Innovative's SaaS offerings: IES Access and Access Plus in 2001. The company has been able to grow to 280 tractors without having to upgrade or replace its basic operational software.
Tom Flies, senior vice president, product management for Minneapolis-based XATA Corporation, made the case for onboard navigation focusing on driver safety and the importance of "Eyes on the Road". The analysis of drivers' eye movements revealed that voice commands help drivers keep their eyes on the road, reducing driver distraction. On average, speech input helps keep drivers' eyes on the road 200-300% more than for drivers using manual input. Real-time, turn-by-turn directions have been shown to improve driver safety, he said, with a resulting positive impact on the bottom line. "The productivity effect is huge," he said. Bernie Cassetori, vice president, fleet management for U.S. Foodservice, which uses CoPilot Truck turn-by-turn navigation through XATA, said that integrated navigation is especially valuable for new drivers.
Participant Jay Sewell, president of Sewell Motor Express, a truckload motor carrier operating 150 trucks, summed up his thoughts on the annual event, "I look forward to the updates on technology. In these hard economic times it is important to stay up on products and services that will help your business become more profitable. I also enjoy the "real life" presentations from those in our industry that are able to give examples of how they deal with the day-to-day issues of trucking. Each year I meet new individuals from the industry that give me new ideas to incorporate into my business."
For more information on ALK's fifth annual transportation technology summit, visit www.alk.com/techsummit2009.
About ALK Technologies
Since 1979, ALK Technologies has developed innovative mobile navigation and transportation technology solutions. ALK's award-winning CoPilot Live GPS software is the navigation based services platform of choice for mobile operators, hardware OEMs and systems integrators globally. ALK's PC*MILER routing, mileage and mapping solutions are used by over 22,000 transportation, logistics and manufacturing companies worldwide. For more information on ALK Technologies, visit www.alk.com or www.alk.eu.com.
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