Huffman Trucking Critical Information Systems

Huffman Trucking Critical Information Systems
Huffman Trucking is a national transportation company based out of Cleveland, Ohio with logistic hubs in Los Angeles, California, St. Louis, Missouri, and Bayonne, New Jersey. They employ 1,400 employees, 925 drivers and 425 support personnel to operate 800 tractors and 2,100 45’ trailers. Huffman’s primary customers include automotive parts suppliers to major manufacturers, raw materials for manufacturers of plastic products, electronic consumer products, and the U.S. Government. They also cater to customers requiring special accommodations, such as wine, computers, munitions and other commodities.
Huffman Trucking started in Cleveland, Ohio by founder K. Hoffman in 1936 with one tractor trailer. The growth of the company stemmed from the need of courier services from the Midwest to the East Coast during World War II. By 1945 the company expanded to 16 tractors and 36 trailers. Huffman trucking continued to grow to the company it is today by internal sales and the acquisition of five eastern regional couriers. This growth has enabled the company to stay private and expected to earn revenues of over $600,000,000 in the fiscal year 2004.
Many of Huffman’s employees belong to a Union and negotiations are about to commence for contract renewal. I believe this is the perfect atmosphere to discuss and possible implement new procedures and technology into the shipping, transporting and receiving systems. Right now Huffman Trucking relies on hand written “time cards” so to speak from the employees that annotates time, mileage, gas usage, moving violations, breaks or stops and other information the employees use to justify their daily tasks. Although this is a system that works and has been working for years, there is quite a bit of gray area for both the employee and the company where inaccuracies can be easily recorded and overlooked. It is also time consuming for the finance department to have to wait...