The Challenge:
Increase Driver Retention
Paper Transport knew that drivers were the backbone of their business, but they faced a problem with attracting and retaining new talent, partly due to outdated technology in their truck cabs. Potential drivers would take one look at the equipment in the cab and walk away from a job offer. With an eye on driver recruitment and retention, Paper Transport was looking to create an exemplary work environment — one where training is made simple and drivers could pursue their ambitions, like continuing their education of the industry to open doors to other opportunities such as attaining a position in company operations. With such an ambitious agenda, they knew it was time to modernize the communication systems in their fleet.
Recruiting and Retaining Drivers
Paper Transport has been in business for about 30 years, and one of its distinguishing characteristics has been that the company invests heavily in its people. The problem was that Paper Transport's cab communications system was antiquated and did not meet the needs of today's fleets. Prospective drivers would take one look at the hardware in the truck cabs and balk. "We had drivers on orientation day that would look at the system we were using and walk out just because of how complex they felt it was," Covach said. "It was very rigid and outdated."
There was no way of adding any in-house apps to the device so the fleet could be more productive. Worse, even basic messages such as which order to pick up next would routinely get muddled in the old cab communications system.
Given that driver retention is an ongoing challenge in the trucking industry, the outdated communications system was impeding Paper Transport from achieving their primary business objectives: driver retention and training.