McAsphalt

McAsphalt Supports Faster Growth and Higher Profits with Geoforce Asset Tracking

As the industry leader in high-performance asphalt products, McAsphalt was looking at meteoric growth. But first, they had to figure out how to coordinate a growing pool of contract drivers to transport their highly sensitive product across the remotest regions of Canada.

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GEOFORCE ASSET TRACKING HELPS MCASPHALT TO:

100,

coordinated contract drivers

20,

cost savings

300,

growth in 2 years

Industry

Construction,
Transportation Logistics

Product Used

GT1,
GT2h

Problem Solved

Driver Safety,
Asset Utilization,
Service Verification,
Loss & Theft Prevention

CHALLENGE

Transporting product when every second counts

Every business that delivers a product to a customer’s site relies on speed and efficiency. But for McAsphalt, those capabilities are especially critical.

“It’s a non-stop business, because the asphalt we deliver to make the roads is a really hot temperature,” said Nazareno Tornese, Operations Manager for McAsphalt. “The product is loaded at 190 degrees Celsius. When it drops to 120, it’s no longer usable. And a single wasted load costs us more than $100,000.”

To ensure that the product reaches its destination on time, Tornese must coordinate schedules among more than 100 contractors while working around equipment breakdowns, unpredictable weather and communication blackouts in some of the most remote areas of Canada.

“It’s pretty difficult to lose visibility into the transport of a product that cannot stop,” Tornese explained. “If we can’t see the problem, we can’t fix it.” It also meant that McAsphalt couldn’t stay on top of strict hours-of-service and ELD laws.

In 2018, McAsphalt decided to address their unique logistical challenges with an innovative asset tracking system from Geoforce.

SOLUTION

Gaining full visibility into complex logistics

Because of their unique operational model, McAsphalt needed to track not only vehicles and equipment, but also contract drivers. To maintain visibility of the contract drivers change vehicles they pioneered the use of portable customized, dual-mode (cellular and satellite) Geoforce tracking devices that are easily assigned to move with a driver. When combined with ruggedized asset trackers for equipment and traditional GPS tracking devices on their company-owned vehicles, this innovative combination gives McAsphalt a complete picture of driver, vehicle and asset movement and also allows them to comply with hours-of-service requirements.

“Being able to track our contractors with Geoforce means that there are no information blackouts, even in places like the Yukon, where cellular coverage can drop for up to 12 hours,” said Tornese.

Integrating location and dispatch data

McAsphalt also uses the Geoforce API to integrate location data into their proprietary dispatch system, which enables Tornese to coordinate complicated logistics schedules, see progress in real time, and speed up reaction times when the unexpected happens.

“Geoforce helps me match the right driver to the right journey and comply with hours-of-service requirements. I can also see when something breaks down in real time and I can coordinate repairs or get another truck to rescue the load.”

RESULTS

Supporting meteoric growth

As a result of their quality product and exceptional service, McAsphalt has seen an astonishing 300% growth in just two years. Location data has become part of the business intelligence supporting that growth by enabling better decision-making, smoother operations, and greater profitability. In fact, Tornese calculates that McAsphalt saves as much as 20% by using Geoforce tracking devices to minimize late deliveries, spoiled loads, and idle/inactive time for drivers.

“There is no logistics company of our size today that can keep running without GPS. It’s part of the competitive advantage,” Tornese said. “Staying ahead in terms of technology adoption lets us compete with companies that are five times bigger than us. The market competition that we have is tough, but here we are. We’re growing and customers keep choosing us.”