1. TOOLs And innOvATiOn
The
Technological Edge By Margie Church
The transportation industry may appear to be it we’ll save money, work faster, and be perceived as
primarily blue collar, but its inner workings are a leader. Some of it seems like pure wizardry and
anything but. This complex, challenging, and very some is downright cool, but the latest and greatest
competitive industry lives and dies by its informa- IT product isn’t always the best choice.
strategic tion technology (IT). How else would the moun-
tains of data it needs and generates be managed?
“We take a ‘Best in Class’ approach to determine
what is needed,” Fredde said. “We leverage every-
planning makes Andrews Transport is smaller than many of its thing the market has to offer against our current and
Andrews iT competitors, but the company’s looks are deceiving.
Inside Andrews is an organizational structure that is
future needs and perform a thorough analysis alone
and against competitive products before we decide.”
“Best in Class” lean and athletic from a business perspective. It in-
cludes Vice President and Chief Information Officer
When the company assessed its reporting systems
software, the investment and maintenance costs
Darin Fredde. His job is to develop an appropriate were evaluated along with the projected efficiencies.
IT framework that keeps pace with competitors and Fredde formed a team of users and involved them
at a cost point its customers appreciate. Andrews in the selection and implementation processes.
doesn’t overlook the human element either. “When our employees invested intellectual equity
Fredde’s strategic IT plan calls for a continual in the process, they embraced the selection of Great
evaluation of the company’s technology systems Plains (now Microsoft Dynamics GP) software and
to identify efficiencies and deficiencies, potential smoothed the way for overall acceptance among all
for improvements, and maturity levels. These days, its users,” he said. “Our success was so tremendous
there is a plethora of electronic gadgetry and new that the change was transparent to our customers.
software that purportedly makes us all more effi- The more we use the software, the more innovations
cient and accessible no matter where we are. With our employees make.”
12 Transport Today
2. In the transportation industry, there is a lot of Fredde agrees that modern technology is impor-
documentation and reconciling that must occur. tant but says that true innovation comes from un-
Those processes are usually addressed by duplicat- derstanding how to apply a specific technology for
ing headcount. The new software provides employ- maximum benefit. “Having the latest and greatest
ees with the ability to extract data themselves and technology in every tractor isn’t always necessary,”
Microsoft Dynamics GP
create custom reports at the speed of thought. “We he said. “We’ve proven time and again that evalu- is a business manage-
provide electronic tools that empower employees ating all the possibilities is a smarter move. At the ment solution that
and contain costs,” Fredde said. “The same number end of the day, our customers want two things: a safe provides growing and
midsize organizations
of employees can now process even more data in delivery and a fair cost. IT products are expensive, if with complete and
ways and at a pace we’ve never experienced before. we can provide the same high-quality performance scalable financial and
Great Plains software is also less complicated than at a lower cost, why wouldn’t we?” operational functional-
ity, such as advanced
our previous system and has great growth potential. Fredde oversees two teams he describes as lean, consolidation, business
Those are tremendous benefits for us and our cus- mean, and razor sharp. One is focused on system intelligence, report-
tomers,” he said. maintenance, and the other is charged with contin- ing, forecasting, and
budgeting. Because this
Great Plains has been mostly utilized for financial ual process improvement and problem solving for
functionality is avail-
management operations. The software is ideal for the long term. “We’ve been in business a long time,” able right out-of-the-
analytical accounting and bank reconciliation, and Fredde said. “Intelligent, strategic thinking has got- box, the company can
managing cash flow, collections, routine account- ten us here and will help us maintain our leadership integrate and automate
financial and opera-
ing tasks, automated expenses, and payables and position in years to come. Market pressure isn’t eas- tional processes more
receivables. Employees have been cross-trained on ing,” he said. “How we use IT to our advantage will rapidly.
the new software to increase job satisfaction and ef- help ensure our future.”
ficiency. It’s another reason that Andrews’ employee
turnover rate remains low.
Transport Today 13
