Head on over to boothe 318 at TIA2022 for your chance to have a meet and greet with none other than the one-and-only Brad McMichael. Now you are probably confused and asking yourself, “Who is this Brad McMichael and Why would I want to meet him?”. Is he a famous Author? Nope. Television personality? Nada. Man of mystery? Perhaps. In fact, it is universally accepted that no one should smile in the office as much as Brad does on a Monday. If that’s not a mystery to all I don’t know what is. So while answering the question of “Who” Brad is might be VERY tough, telling you why you should meet him is not. Brad has come to TIA2022 to demo some really cool transportation technology from Tranztec. The kind of of tech that can integrate with all your existing systems kinda cool. The kind of tech that is going to save you a lot of money kinda cool. The kind of tech your business deserves in 2022 kinda cool. So head on over to boothe 318 and #BeCoolWithBrad and take a photo for your chance to win a $100 gift card ( oh yea, Micheal Ingersoll is there as well but I didn’t have time to fit him in this promo. ) See you at TIA2022!
Author Archives: tmiller
Tranztec to accelerate growth with investment from Tamarind-Hill
Founded in 2001 by experienced executives in the trucking industry, this first-time investment from outside investors will help Tranztec take advantage of a huge market opportunity and drive future growth.
Tranztec, a logistics technology leader, announced today it has closed a Series A funding round led by Tamarind Hill based in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 2001 by experienced executives in the trucking industry, this first-time investment from outside investors will help Tranztec take advantage of a huge market opportunity and drive future growth.
Right now is the right time, with the right partner”, said Toby Miller, Tranztec CEO and Co-Founder. “Our mission is to provide the visibility the supply chain expects in a platform that is accessible to everyone. Tranztec was built on integration. Connecting people to the data that matters most to them. It is our passion, legacy and future. It is this relentless pursuit of connection that drives everything that we do.”
Asked about the investment with Tranztec, Tamarind Hill’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Mark Shary said, “The logistics industry is undergoing a digital transformation that will continue to evolve and Tranztec’s VIA platform provides connectivity and visibility across the supply chain that includes carriers, brokers/third party logistics providers, shippers and suppliers. Tranztec’s user-friendly and easy to deploy platform addresses problems of manual processes, disconnected systems and miscommunications that lead to inefficiencies in the supply chain.”
The demand for transparency and visibility in shipping has exploded throughout the supply chain in recent years. While Tranztec’s VIA platform addresses many of these demands, additional funding allows an accelerated growth strategy to meet customers’ needs at an escalated pace. New capital will provide broader support for leading supply chain partners, transportation management systems and commercial vehicle telematics providers.
Former President and Founder of Pacejet Larry DeLeon, an experienced software executive in the digital supply chain space, is joining Tranztec as Chief Operating Officer to help build on its success.
Further details of the investment have not been disclosed.
What We Learned At Trimble’s Insight User Conference 2020
We recently attended Trimble’s 2020 Insight User Conference. It has been a long-time favorite of ours over the years and a great chance to catch up with our favorite customers.
With this year’s event going virtual, we wondered what to expect. There would be no travel, no booth to build, none of the famous food, and perhaps the saddest of all… no Disney World (the show was originally scheduled to take place in Orlando, FL this year).
Furthermore, we worried about how the networking events would work as making connections with like-minded individuals in our space is really one of the main draws to tradeshows in general for us.
With this said, we put our concerns aside, attended Insight, and it really turned out to be a great experience. Here are our main takeaways from Insight 2020:
The industry truly is better when we all come together.
This year’s theme was “We Are One” and essentially Trimble invited any vendor to the show that wanted to come. For the first time in years, Insight was a place where telematics solutions, optimization software, integrators, and even competing TMS platforms were allowed to attend under one roof. This created an un-paralleled experience where you could truly connect and absorb knowledge from everyone in the industry all in one place.
It is about the connections, the journey, and the experience…not the destination.
It is sometimes easy to forget in all the fanfare of an industry tradeshow (the venue, the entertainment, the food) what it is really all about… the people you share it with. This year we were blessed to spend 3 days connecting and sharing experiences with hundreds of the industry’s top talent, and whether in person or remote, this is really what makes a Trimble show, a Trimble show.
The world is changing, but we are going to make it.
We have been attending the TMW Insight Show for about 20 years now and every year we meet new exciting people as learn something new. Perhaps this year’s biggest lesson was learned from the venue itself. Because Trimble had no venue, they had to learn to adapt to the times, they had to figure out how to still accomplish what their customers and partners have come to expect out of an Insight show, and they had to do it in a few short months.
Insight should be something that inspires all of us in this these tough times. It is a beacon that shines light on just because the world has changed, and the task ahead now seem impossible, doesn’t mean that there isn’t always a solution waiting just around the corner to be discovered.
COVID has hit the world hard, but we are going to come out of this stronger, with a whole new set of tools we would have not bothered to learn without it, and we are going to the best we have ever been.
We look forward to seeing everyone in person again next year, in the meantime, stay safe, and keep moving forward.
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
The Road to Recovery: Getting back to Normal
Normal.
It is a comforting word. As the COVID-19 virus extends its reach across our country, those who have lost or will lose loved ones will wake up to a new normal. To those families, Tranztec extends our deepest sympathies. You endure the greatest of losses this pandemic has to offer and our hearts go out to you.
For the rest of us, the consequences are not as grave but in many cases still life altering. COVID-19 is stealing our Normal. For some this means the loss of a job, for others the loss of their business. Most face long lines to greet us when purchasing the items we need, while others are finding they have no access to these necessities at all. Every day brings with it a new set of challenges that each of us must overcome. Rethinking how we live, work and play.
As a transportation management platform provider, we wondered what role we could play in the bigger picture to help those in our communities? After much thought, today we are pleased to announce a few changes to our VIA platform that we think will help get us closer to normal.
First, we have added a free option to the VIA sign-up page. On the road to recovery many are having to remotely work and find new ways to conduct business. This will be different for every person and every business – we’re just hoping this helps that effort in some small way. This free subscription is not a limited time offer, you are welcome to continue using the platform for as long as you like in the future.
Second, we are opening VIA up to ALL companies that need it regardless of their business sector. This will allow charities, disaster organizations, and small businesses of any variety the ability to better see and manage their supply chain, so the right stuff gets to the right people who need it most. Goods donations, charity lines, medical supplies or whatever logistical information needs to be managed.
Lastly, we are making VIA Mobile available to charities and disaster organizations at no cost during this difficult period to allow for GPS tracking, content, and disinfection status of much-needed resources.
This is our start. In the coming days as we get new information we will reevaluate and look at other areas we may be able to improve and continue to offer help and support to those in need. In this small way we can hopefully help get us closer to normal.
Toby Miller
CEO, Tranztec Solutions
For more information or to sign up for VIA please see our website at www.tranztec.com
We Are Attending Geotab Connect 2020
We are kicking the year off right with another visit to one of our favorite shows of the year – The Geotab Connect Conference. This year the conference is being held in beautiful downtown San Diego and we are expecting quite a turn out.
We have been partners with Geotab for about 4 years now and our VIA® Mobile application runs on hundreds of trucks using the Geotab solution across the country.
This year we will be introducing the Geotab Marketplace to an a completely new version of VIA® Mobile which we are referring to as V3.
V3 is the biggest update VIA® Mobile has ever received and boasts a whole new list of features we can’t wait to show to our customers. Here is a quick summary of what our new app offers to Geotab customers.
Everything We Had Before – Improved & Re-Imagined
Every screen and every feature of VIA® Mobile has been completely re-worked for V3. With this said, there isn’t one thing you can’t do in V3 that you could do in the past. If you are unfamiliar with our current app, here is a brief summary of what it does.
- VIA® Mobile is a driver workflow application
that works as an add-on to your Geotab DRIVE app and allows drivers to send and
receive load and stop information straight from your company’s transportation
management system. Data shared includes:
- Position Reports
- Arrival / Departure Status
- Instant Messaging
- Trailer #
- BOL #
- Reference #
- Piece Count
- Hours of Service
- Proof of Delivery (Image Capture)
- And much more!
- The VIA® Mobile application also integrates your
Geotab telematic device with just about every major TMS on the market
including, but not limited to:
- TMWSuite
- TruckMate
- TL2000
- Innovative ICC
- 3GTMS
- McLeod
- And Many More!
New Exciting Features – Raising The Bar On Driver Retention and Productivity
Beyond bringing back every feature, VIA® Mobile V3 also adds an entirely new set of features we are extremely excited about which include:
- Driver Tasks System (available now)
- Perhaps the biggest and most anticipated feature launching with V3 is our new tasks system. Tasks allow operations to create custom tasks that a driver has to perform and check-off on their mobile app before arriving or departing from a stop.
- Driver Points of Interest (coming soon)
- Points of interest are another huge change coming with V3. This feature vastly improves the driver’s quality of life by providing information to nearby rest stops, re-fueling locations, food, and just about anything else the driver is looking for in order to make their life easier on the road.
- Available Loads (coming soon)
- VIA® Mobile V3 has also greatly improved our loads screen by now allowing drivers to not only see their assigned loads but browse through a list of available loads from companies they are currently working with in which they can choose to accept or decline.
- Signature Capture (coming soon)
- This has been a requested feature since we launched VIA® Mobile and we are proud to say it will soon be a reality in 2020. Drivers will be able to capture signatures on their mobile device using the built-in touch screen.
James King & Brad McMichael will be representing Tranztec this year at Geotab Connect and would love to show you how our new mobile app can help your business. We strongly recommend you come and say hi if you happen to see them there (just look for the guys wearing the Tranztec logo polos).
We look forward to seeing you there!
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
Happy Holidays From Everyone At Tranztec
It’s finally that time of year again… chestnuts roasting over an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, you know how the song goes…
At Tranztec, we feel we have a lot to be grateful for and wanted to share some of the things in which we will be giving thanks for this holiday season.
We want to say thank you to our team. You truly are the foundation that holds us together and we could never express enough gratitude to how much we truly appreciate the work that each of you do at Tranztec. We are very proud of what we have accomplished in 2019 in both growing our products and customer base – we can’t wait until 2020.
We want to say thank you to our customers (both new and old). It is because of your faith and commitment in our products and services that we have been able to grow as a company and make our own aspirations become a reality. We are so excited that our offerings have been able to aid you in becoming the best your company can be. Every time we hear you tell us how much our platforms have helped; we feel truly blessed to have been a part of it.
We want to say thank you to our partners. You push us to continue to better ourselves and our platforms by deploying and battle-testing our technology across 100s of fleets across the nation. In 2019, we have continued to expand upon our partnership pool by teaming up with even more leaders in the trucking technology space. At the same time, we continue to strengthen the bonds with our existing partners, and we believe this bond has been truly remarkable.
2019 really has been a special year for us at Tranztec, and we believe we have laid the building blocks for an incredible 2020. To everyone, we mentioned above, we can’t wait to spend the new year with you and many more to come!
…So, I’m offering this simple phrase to kids from one to ninety-two, although it’s been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you!
Happy Holidays & A Happy New Year from everyone at Tranztec!
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
What Is Driver Workflow & Why Is It Important?
As an operator of a trucking company, you are probably using a Transportation Management System (TMS) such as TMW or McLeod. These systems allow your operations team to effectively plan and manage their freight enabling you to better meet your customer’s expectations and grow your business.
You recognize the importance of a TMS, without it your internal operations wouldn’t have the tools they need to be as successful as possible, but what about the most important piece of your operations staff… your drivers?
Are your drivers able to easily access information to the loads your internal staff has spent so much time planning and optimizing?
The industry term you will hear thrown around a lot for solving this problem is called “driver workflow” and essentially it is providing your drivers screen in which they can see and interact with the planned loads in your TMS system.
A proper driver workflow application will allow your dispatch team to send load information to your drivers and well as provide step-by-step instructions on how to deliver said loads.
But where do you find driver workflow applications and what are some features that you should be looking for in choosing the one that is right for you?
Most modern MobileComm / ELD providers are providing driver workflow interface in the software used on their devices. When choosing an MobileComm / ELD, look something that fits your eye on both features and driver usability.
If you already have invested in a telematics provider, there are also several add-on options on the market that allow you to add the driver workflow experience to a driver’s cell phone in the form of an app instead of completely re-investing in new hardware.
Now that you know what driver workflow is and how to acquire it, here are a few core features we would recommend looking for on any driver workflow application you are considering buying:
- An easy-to-use interface for your drivers
- Real-time load status updates communicated directly back to your TMS
- Built in two-way instant messaging for fast communication with your drivers
- Ability to instantly change load information such as commodities, trailer number, & piece count
- Auto-arrival / departure functionality
If you are still looking for more information on driver workflow applications, give us a call, we have a strong background working with most of the top MobileComm / ELD providers in the industry as well as our own driver workflow app known as VIA® Mobile. We would be happy to give you some advice on a solution that would be best for you.
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
The Best Events To Attend At ATA MCE 2019
This year Tranztec will be attending the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, CA. This will be our 5th time attending this show in the last 5 years. This show has always been a great fit for us because we have numerous customers and partners that attend. In addition, we love leaning the current state of the industry, better understanding its biggest challenges and helping introduce new solutions to solve said challenges.
Here is a quick guide on some of the top events at ATA MCE that we are attending and why you should too:
Saturday – October 5th
ATA Grand Opening Reception (6:30PM – 7:30PM)
This is a great way to kick off the show. It is always a great venue to meet new people as well as catch up with current customers and colleagues. We always welcome the opportunity for some face time with of our most valued colleagues and hope to see you there.
Sunday – October 6th
Small Carrier Breakfast Meeting (7:00AM – 8:30AM)
If you are a small carrier, this is the perfect event for you. Not only is it a great networking event to meet others like yourself, it is educational as well. This meeting has proven invaluable for us as it allows us to connect as well as stay in touch with the challenges of a small carrier.
Cyber Security: Don’t Be the Next Victim Seminar (9:45AM – 11:00AM)
ATA has some of the best seminars of the year. Being in the software space, we know this is a topic that is only going to get hotter in the coming years and we look forward to hearing what some of the top industry leaders are doing to prevent becoming victims themselves.
ATA Exhibit Hall Grand Opening & Ceremony (1:00PM – 3:30PM)
This is one of the highlights of the show. It gives you a chance to connect with your current vendors as well as further educate yourself on other offering in the space. We look forward to seeing our partners (Samsara, OrbComm, Spireon, Geotab, McLeod, Rand, Teletrac, & Transflo are all attending this year) as well as building new exciting relationships while there.
The Big Reveal General Session (3:45PM – 5:00PM)
Each year the trucking industry ranks its top challenges through the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) annual Top Industry Issues Survey. This session serves as a chance for ATA members to be presented with the data collected and is something we always look forward to.
Monday – October 7th
Networking Breakfast (7:30AM – 8:00AM)
This is another great opportunity to start the day talking trucking with truckers – we never miss this event because we live and breathe this stuff!
ATA President & CEO Address (8:00AM – 9:30AM)
This is a “can’t miss event” that really cuts to the core of the trucking industry and the challenges it faces today. This is something we look forward to attending every year.
ATA Exhibit Hall Review (9:30AM – 12:00PM)
Day 2 of the exhibit hall is always a great showing. It is also is a second chance to get back to the exhibit hall and catch up on anything you missed and or wanted to further explore from the day before.
Legalized Marijuana & What Are Current Challenges To Trucking? (12:00PM – 2:15PM)
This is a hot topic that everyone is talking about right now. We are really looking forward to learning more about it from some of the industry’s top panelists.
Transport Topics Reception (5:00PM – 6:30PM)
Transport Topics is one of this industry’s top publications and we have yet to miss one of their receptions while attending ATA. It is a great place to meet the team behind the articles as well as new potential partners.
Tuesday – October 8th
ATA Exhibit Hall Grand Finale & Luncheon (10:15AM – 12:30PM)
This is the grand finale to one of our favorite events at the show. There are so many vendors doing cool things in this space and it is a great place for learning more about everyone’s products as well as forming long-last relationships that will help drive your business forward.
ATA Annual Reception, Banquet, & Entertainment (5:30PM – 10:00PM)
This is the event to beat at ATA MCE. Chris Spear will give his final thoughts on the industry as a whole and where it stands, a new chairman of the board will be appointed, and there will be live music entertainment. To top it off, this will all be presented while getting to share dinner and network with a wonderful group of friends, colleagues, and business partners in this space.
IF YOU SEE US THERE, STOP BY AND SAY HELLO!
James King & Brad McMichael will be representing Tranztec this year at the ATA Management Conference & Exhibition and we strongly recommend you come and say hi if you happen to see them there (just look for the guys wearing the Tranztec logo polos). We would love to meet you and help you discover how our solutions could help you grow.
If you won’t be attending any of the events mentioned above and still want to meet up, send us tweet, email, or give us a call. We look forward to speaking with you soon!
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
Why We Are Attending The IANA Intermodal Expo 2019
This year Tranztec will be attending the IANA Intermodal Expo in Longbeach, CA. This will be the first time in our 20 years in business we will be at this show. Why have we decided after so many years it was time to dip our feet in the intermodal water?
We feel there are 3 reasons this show is a good fit for us:
Our Product
About 5 years ago, we created our visual transportation management platform known as VIA®. We now have what we believe is the best supply chain visibility and transportation management platform on the market. VIA® has allowed hundreds of carriers and brokers to gain 100% visibility to their loads. We are excited to show our intermodal colleagues how we can help them as well.
Our Integrations
Since our humble beginnings, integration has always been at the core of our business. 20 years later, our integrations are used in tens of thousands of trucks across the world. Tranztec has become the standard integration layer for many of the top MobileComm and TMS vendors. How can we help our fellow intermodal comrades? We can build custom integrations between the solutions you rely on to streamline or even automate your business process entirely.
Our Partners
We proudly work with many of the intermodal solution providers attending this year’s show including, but not limited to AT&T, OrbComm, Zonar, Spireon, and many more. With this said, we not only welcome the face time opportunity with said partners, but with our shared customer base as well. We look forward to strengthening our current partnerships and creating new ones as well.
James King (VP of Product Management) & Brad McMichael (Sales & Marketing Manager) will be representing Tranztec this year at IANA and we strongly recommend you come and say hi if you happen to see them there (just look for the guys wearing the polos with the Tranztec logo on them). We would love to meet you and help you discover how our solutions could help you grow.
We look forward to seeing you there!
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.
Surviving the Trucking Apocalypse of 2019
It seems like every day we are reading about another trucking company closing its doors after 50 years in the business. This year alone, we have witnessed LME, Starlite Trucking, and Falcon Transport (to name a few) all perish unexpectedly. But why is this happening? In short… the costs of doing business have gone up substantially.
We are now living in a world of increased wages to drivers, increased insurance rates, and more expensive equipment. To add accelerant to the fire, many state’s standards for emissions have become increasingly strict forcing trucking companies to buy newer equipment sooner than originally planned.
In the past 3 years alone, the price of diesel fuel has gone up 50% costing trucking companies millions and cutting about $0.25 more per mile from their bottom line.
To top everything off, trucking companies are also forced to run on inflexible schedules due to the recent ELD mandate.
So how is a trucking company supposed to survive in a world of increased costs? In today’s market, if you want to endure, you have to run your trucking company more efficiently than ever before.
The companies that are able to increase margins by streamlining every process they have will thrive and the ones that do things the old way will surely meet an untimely demise.
Find solutions that allow you to visualize and analyze your entire operation and you will be able to quickly discover where you are losing out on profits.
Here are a few examples on how having proper visibility and data could help you:
- Say you have data on how much time one of your trucks is not being utilized. You can now use this truck to cover more loads instead of buying a 2nd truck. This enables the best ROI on your purchased equipment and when scaled properly, this turns into major savings.
- Say you are able to visualize where all your trucks are in proximity to your next pick-up location. You will be able to quickly choose the right truck for the job saving in not only fuel costs, but internal costs in planning out the load.
In both examples. having that insight will save you money and make you more successful… remember data is king.
When we started building out own VIA transportation management platform, we set out with the goal of creating technology that would help trucking companies with cutting costs. The examples listed above are only a few of the robust features we built into our platform and we continue to add to our product every day. We have helped hundreds of companies (large and small) maximize profits and we would love to show you what we can do for you. If you’re worried about surviving the trucking apocalypse, reach out to us, perhaps we can help.
We hope you enjoyed this blog, if you want to learn more about Tranztec or VIA, we would love to hear from you through our instant chat, social media, contact page, or phone.
You can also keep up to date on everything Tranztec by subscribing to our newsletter.